It Didn't Work So Just Give Up?

The start of a new year is a time for many to set resolutions and revisit the previous year and see what worked and what didn't. Sometimes we set resolutions without resolve and without a clear How-To to support them. These are unlikely to work and when they don't work we can easily internalise that as evidence that we "can't do" it "doesn't work" and this then sets as the belief "I can never do it". It may be a belief that you have had evidence of from many such experiences. But here's the thing.

"It didn't work" is really a short version "It didn't work this time, this way."

Think the message through fully. No short versions. Think it through and be specific on what didn't work. The short version cuts the context and removes important information we need to learn from the experience.

Because it didn't work this way, this time, could mean any number of things.

For example:

You didn't prepare adequately.
You need a different way to get to where you want to be.
You gave up too soon.
You didn't have the tools you needed to help you do it.
You didn't have the knowledge you needed to do it.
You didn't follow through on it
You didn't know how.
You didn't have a plan that allowed you to follow through to do it.
You allowed other things to be more important than doing it.
You didn't really want to do it.
Not doing it pays off in some other way.
You didn’t believe yourself when you said you were going to do it.
Your intention and your actions were not aligned.

Whatever the reason - and there may be a combination of these, or others, it isn't simply "It didn't work."

"It didn't work", is the start, not the finish.

Consider something you attempted to do that didn't work.
Revisit that thing that didn't work and review the reasons that may have been present in it not working and get to know what the blocks are that you need to overcome in order to do it.

This can be hard to do alone.
Seek help from someone if you need to.
That's a positive step that you can see as evidence that you are indeed ready to make positive improvement in your life.

And by the way. The start of the year is just like any other time.

Start Now.
Whenever that is.





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Social Media No Use For Your Business? Think Again.

Many business owners still think that they don't need to know about online tools to promote their business and protect their brand.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here's why.

It doesn't matter if you are online with your business, people can still talk about you, can still complain about you and what you are doing offline, and still rubbish you without you being online to see it happen. Understand, you can go online and add new revenue streams to your business, or you can stay with your face against the glass in your shop waiting for people to wander past and hope some of them find themselves inside your store. Hopefully to buy something you have for sale.

Either way, that's another issue and doesn't alter the fact that you can monitor your brand reputation online with or without a website.  Whether or not you like to use the computer or social media. Whether or not you think that the internet is ruining lives and is not for you.

Here's a classic case that just came across my desk.

How Harvey Norman Avoids PR Disaster Using Social Media

 The world is changing and if the market doesn't like what you're doing in your business, or in your marketing, you can forget the focus groups - they will let you know without thinking twice about it.

So what are you doing to monitor your brand online?

How will you get to know how to navigate this strange new environment?

Are you prepared to step-up and learn some new things or are you going to just plod along pretending things are like they were before the world got wired and the customers had a way to express their feelings about Everything?

Related Posts

How To Set Goals - And Reach Them
The Dirty Secrets Business Needs To Know About Social Media
Why You Need To Build Your Mailing List And How To Do It
How To Get Your Local Business Found Online



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Would You Rather A Fixed Price Or Pay By The Hour?

Interesting post today on Twitter and published to my Daily (which I love by the way, and is a great way to catch up on fantastic content that I missed by my Twitter pals, and also to showcase their fine contributions to my Twitter Experience),  was by copywriter Divine Write on his blog which relates why he chose to switch to hourly after 8 years’ fixed price. He makes a good case study and it is a topic that is one that has been on my mind for a little while now. 

With the difficulties in the economy, it seems that everyone is trying to save money and cutting back on all kinds of things. Not always things that they can afford to cut out. Marketing and help in their business would be an example of where it might be more prudent to spend money to ensure the business develops, but sometimes people look for easy answers and 'a penny saved', or at least not spent, may look like a deal, when nothing else is factored into the equation. 


 Considerations

From  the client point-of-view there is much benefit in a fixed price. It makes it easy to budget for the expense and it means that any time lagging and delay that happens which is your fault, isn't at your expense. This is a definite advantage for a client who is tardy with getting their work done and in a way, an incentive for the business provider working with them, to think about charging for time!

A fixed  monthly sum when averaged out can compare quite favourably with wages of employees who are there all the time and are being paid, when they are being productive and when they are not.

For the freelancer or consultant working with a business, it can perhaps seem more attractive to potential clients for a pay-by-the-hour option. Is it really better from the client point-of-view? I suppose clients will have a variety of views and for some an hourly rate might be better some times and not so at other times, or with particular contractors they hire.

I'm not sure it can ever be a win-lose game to work out. There is no win, if you can't get the help you need to do the things you want to do in your business but don't have the skills in-house to do. And if they have wasted away in diminished circumstances because nobody wants to pay them then they can't help anyone. (NOTE: It is fascinating to me that while some are pinching every penny, they will happily put their hand-in-pocket if there is a rah-rah 'dog and pony show' with all the glitz and puffery and self-congratulatory hoopla;  just to be gouged and left wounded by the affair. But that is perhaps a topic for another day... )

So perhaps I should put it out to you the readers.

Would you rather pay by the hour, or pay on a fixed price?

Would you be more inclined to start work with a someone if you can do it at an hourly rate?


Please share your thoughts and reasoning in the comments section below.








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Lindy Asimus

Lindy Asimus
Business Coach
Mobile: 0403 365855
lindyasimus@gmail.com
www.lindyasimus.com
www.designbusinessengineering.com
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How To Get Your Business Found Online.

Business owners are often sitting ducks when it comes to the amount of no information, misinformation and sometimes outright lies they are told about getting their business found online.

They pay people to help them with their websites and are given as evidence of their 'success' that they can find their website when they look for it by name! This is deceptive and very dismal practice.

Other lies that are told to business owners is that they have to pay to advertise their business online and while they are having the money prised from their hand, they are told nothing about the benefit of organic (which they don't have to pay for) search.

In other cases people are sold websites with no contact details, flash sites that appear to Google as basically a blank space, and yet others that look very fancy, but have no chance of being found online, with pictures that take an age to download, poor coding with no descriptions, no content that relates to the key topic and no chance of being useful. Sometimes even with typos.

So what is a business owner to do? How do they tell the shysters from the people who actually have the skills and the intention to provide a site at a reasonable cost that can be managed easily and kept up-to-date?

Like anything else, it is important to know what you need to know to purchase well. This is a good habit to form, since it means that you can hire good help for whatever you might be looking for, as well as understand what is important to YOUR customers when it comes to looking at your offers.

For your website, the key is getting the information you want people to know about you, on the site from the outset.

For local businesses, looking to service the local market, then keep these things in mind:

Website Checklist

• Your phone number clearly visible in a prominent position. Don't make them have to look for it!
• Location - with map is a good idea if you have a store or premises where customers visit.
• What You Do - amazing how often I see websites where I have to hunt to find out what business they are in.
• Locations you service (if you go to customers)
• How to order online (or by phone) if people out of area want to buy from you
• Contact email. Forms are okay but many people like to know what your email address is so they know you are a real person not some scam artist. 
• Contact links to your other social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook - if you use these! Don't put them on there if your only tweet is from 18 months ago. More on social media and local business here
• Link to your blog. And yes, you should have a blog and it should be posted to regularly
• Description of your business in the code for your site.

Good links to your site from other sites is important, so look for opportunities to get links from authoritative sites. That will help you get found online. Check out the free directories that you can submit a link for local traffic.

There are many free products that can get you found online - even when you don't have a website.  Expect to pay for quality information from your advisors.

Before all this though, think about your strategy for your website and your presence online. Think about how it fits within your overall strategy for growing your business.

What purpose do you want it to serve?
How will you resource it?
How will you measure how well it is working?
How will you integrate what you are doing online with your offline marketing?
How will you monitor the statistics on your traffic and interpret them?

Planning is imperative for a good web experience. Even if your website is doing well, it can do better.

Like anything else in your business, you need to know the right questions to ask, and the way to oversee your results and review, review, review. Tweaking can be a simple thing that brings great results.  Get your website analyzed and really know what situation you are in right now, so you can take steps to always be improving.

And make sure that you have a way for me to buy something from your website if I visit!

This by no means a comprehensive list but if you start with the basics right, your website will have a much better chance to provide you with good results.

Contact me if you'd like more information.

Related Posts

How To Set Goals - And Reach Them

The Dirty Secrets Business Needs To Know About Social Media

Why You Need To Build Your Mailing List And How To Do It

How To Get Your Local Business Found Online

Lindy Asimus
Business Coach
Mobile: 0403 365855
lindyasimus@gmail.com
www.lindyasimus.com
www.designbusinessengineering.com
If you'd like to know more about me, visit

Contact Me
Actionbites Blog William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle

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William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle

Time Management Guide

Time management comes up again and again as a topic of interest
for people in business. Here's a short how-to to help you improve your
time management habits


Set Priorities

One of the biggest drains on time can be the trap of spending time on
things that don't have to be done - by us.

Think about the tasks that you have to do.
Draw up a list and look at them objectively.

-------------------------------------------
Separate into blocks:

Things that have to be done

Some things need to be done in business. By someone. If they are things
that need to be done AND they are things that could be done by anyone,
then the question that must be asked, then it begs the question - is
this something that could be done by someone else, at a lower $per hour
rate than your work, or by someone with better skills to do that task.
It is pointless if your earning rate is over $100 an hour, to be doing
work that could be done (and possibly more effectively) by someone whose
pay rate is $20 an hour.

Are you getting involved in tasks that you should be delegating?

If you probably should but don't have anyone to whom you can delegate this,
then it might be time to consider outsourcing to a virtual assistant (like a
personal assistant that you hire outside the business for odd pieces of work
when you don't have an employee in house who can do it. You only pay for the
actual hours they work on your behalf.) This might only need a few hours a week
but could help clear your desk of work you've been putting off - or not doing
at all! (You can contact Lindy Asimus for more information if you are interested
in finding a virtual assistant).


Things that have to be done by you

If you have been brutally honest, you'll probably have cleared some things out of
your list so now you're down to the core of things that only you can do. When you
sort your list and clarify those things that only you can do - then prioritise them.


Work out what you need to be able to get these done.

Do you have everything you need to do these tasks?

What other resources do you need to finalise these tasks?

If you need something to happen before the tasks can be finalised, arrange for
someone to do that, or do it yourself (if only you can do it) and get it that
one step closer to being finished.


Things that are good to be done


Ask yourself:

What would happen if you did them?

What would happen if you didn't do them?

In light of that, are they really necessary?

Can they be delegated to someone? If so do that.

If they are really worth doing, then add them to
the other lists - Things that have to be done and
Things that have to be done by you.

The rest - Delegate Or Delete

If they don't belong on these two prime lists, or the Delegate list,
then perhaps they don't need to be done at all and can be removed.

Part of the art of spending your time well, is
to very clearly understand the value of your time.

Set clear priorities

Be clear on how you spend your time and learn to say
"No" to things that are not your priority, or that don't reflect
the value of your time.


Get organized

Write everything down that needs to be done - and deal with it as above.

Block out your diary times

Going to the gym? Good, block it out in your diary before the week begins.
Know at a glance, when you are available, and when you are not,
according to your priorities.


Make meetings work for you

Every meeting should have an agenda and an outcome you want to achieve
from the meeting. Do you really need a meeting, or could you accomplish
the same thing over the phone or by sending an email?  Meetings are a
time sink and if you must be at one, make sure you get something of value
out of that meeting, commensurate with the cost incurred in holding it.

Many times we attend meetings that never reach a conclusion, or have
actions that are never followed up on or reported about.

Look at your previous meetings and assess the return on your investment
for attending them.

Did anything worthwhile come from them?

Ask: Is there a better way to get to the result?

If a meeting is the answer, then before the meeting, write down the result
you want from it and make sure it achieves the outcomes you want.




Thinking Of Getting A Business
 

Lindy Asimus
Business Coach
Mobile: 0403 365855
lindyasimus@gmail.com
www.lindyasimus.com
www.designbusinessengineering.com
If you'd like to know more about me, visit
Australia's Marketing Mentor

Contact Me

Actionbites Blog Purpose Then Strategy

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Purpose Then Strategy

We're in the final days of an election campaign and this has brought about a lot of opinions on whether we 'need' or 'don't need' items around infrastructure and specifically a reliable National Broadband Network. It mirrors opinions around other issues such as whether businesses ‘need’ to be online and using marketing online as a part of their business strategy. Frankly someone using wireless broadband in their house successfully, doesn't mean that it is appropriate for sustaining a national rollout for the next generation. But you have to know something about the topic, in order to understand that these are different contexts, and that different solutions may be the appropriate choice for the issues at hand.

The same is true in business.

Here’s the thing. If a country needs a high speed internet service, or a business needs an overall online marketing presence on the web, then the right way to do it is something that can only be judged after review of the information available, based on merit . If the business has an online presence – or not – determining the right course of action, needs to be done in an environment where all the issues are laid out and examined, as part of that decision making process. No matter whether that decision is: Yes to proceeding, or No.
Understanding the background issues and the facets that will have an impact on what comes after the decision, is fundamental to getting great outcomes.

Example Case: Your Company Starting A Website

Take as an example, a company starting a website. The website needs to fulfil your expectations of what you want it to deliver.So it should follow the form that will allow it to successfully do the thing for which it was designed.

If the purpose of the exercise is to create an additional sales channel for the business, then it is going to need elements that satisfy different desires. It needs to satisfy the end user, the owner and the web developer, to the degree that they can produce a website with the functionality to do, that for which it has been produced.

Lets look at this as a project for a website for a business owner.
Just suppose...

The Company wants:

• To make sales through a new sales channel
• To generate prospects for ongoing sales
• Enhance reputation and positioning
• Ownership and functionality of the site so that changes can be made in-house, easily as needed.


This requires:

• The business to be found by search engines on the first page
• Promotion to attract the right kind of traffic to find it
• A means of capturing visitors who will be interested in receiving future offers and information
• Technical capacity to allow for the smooth transaction of sales
• An ongoing budget with funds to drive the marketing and promotions through this new sales channel
• Functionality that allows the owner of the site to manage the content in-house.


Customers - People searching for it want:

• To find what they are looking for
• Good information to inform them about the products
• To be able to buy what they are looking for easily
• To be able to find out how to get what they want from you
• How to contact you if they wish to
• How to resolve a problem if they have one
• Ease of fulfilment of their purchase
• To feel that you appreciate them choosing to purchase from you



This requires:

• Content that is relevant and of interest to those who would search for it
• A pleasing look and good navigation so people are encouraged to stay and look around
• Simple to find the thing the person is seeking
• A way to buy that is easy to find and easy to complete the sale
• Good system for delivery and problem solving if it becomes necessary
• Client nurturing systems to let customers know you value them and want them to come back
• Delivery systems that are simple and do what they promise



To Get This, Requires:

• Clear instructions to your web developer on what you want to achieve and what you don’t want.
• The web developer to be honest about their capacity to deliver as promised
• A process for delivery as scheduled on time and on budget
• Documentation to you showing how the website will deliver as promised
• Open communication at all stages
• Keeping to the scope of the project as you originally stated it
• Any variations to be documented to show how this will affect budget and delivery dates
• Evidence before commencing, that the developer has completed a project of similar complexity to this kind of project, on time and on budget (especially important if a complex site and not a simple ‘out of the box’ solution
• In many cases, ‘Out of the box’ solution may well be preferable over anything needing to be coded ‘from scratch’! (“There be Beasties here”)
• That there is a backup plan in case the developer is unable to finish as promised. “What If?” Are there others in the organisation capable of delivery of the project?
• Support after launch of the site to ensure that the website continues to function as per the original purpose and to tweak as required.

In this way, the project can progress, and deliver results in line with the objective.


What about SEO?

Note that these issues will take some time to be fleshed out. Each project will have a set of conditions that may be unique to that business and the objectives, but by working through a process to pinpoint the objectives and the overall purpose, there is a chance that the project can actually be set up to do that thing that it was intended to do, and have the functionality it needs for that to happen, and the pieces in place to allow the business and the customers to be happy with the result.



Now if we could just get the voters to look at the issue of a strong reliable fast national broadband network, with the same approach, we might have something!

Lindy Asimus Business Coach & Social Media Development Design Business Engineering
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