Aspire » 2008 » February

Do you have enough Time?

Shawn Kinkade — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:20:22 +0000

Photo by Fdecomite

A lot of people I’ve talked to lately have been feeling like there’s not enough time in the day.

Maybe because it’s February (the longest month of the year in my book), maybe because there’s been a lot of gray, drizzly days, or maybe…and I’m just spitballin’ here, it’s because they simply don’t have enough time in the day.

The reality is that most people are trying to get dozens of things done every single day, and if you’re a small business owner you can probably multiply that by a factor of 2 (parents – especially mothers get to multiply it by another factor of at least 2).

So the best answer to this dilemma, obviously is to create more time.

Yeah – I’m not sure how to do that either.

I guess the next best answer is to manage time. Here’s the definition for Manage:

to direct or be in charge of (e.g., an organization).
to handle or control, to force.

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What can TF2 teach you about business?

Shawn Kinkade — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 05:10:17 +0000

I got into a conversation this morning with a friend of mine about online multiplayer games – he’s a big fan of Halo 3, we both liked Call of Duty 4, but he had never played Team Fortress 2! (currently the best 1st person multiplayer game out there in my opinion).

So that got me to thinking what Team Fortress 2 could teach us about running a small business. If you’re not familiar with the game, here’s a quick overview from the publisher’s website:

Unlike other “class-based” games that offer a variety of combat classes only, Team Fortress 2 packs a wild variety of classes which provide a broad range of tactical abilities and personalities, and lend themselves to a variety of player skills.

Play as the flame-throwing Pyro, the room clearing Heavy, or the Spy, a master of disguises. Other classes include: Scout, Sniper, Medic, Engineer, Demoman, or Soldier.

Basically you play several variations of Capture the Flag types of games online with friends and strangers potentially anywhere in the world.

Here are a few key lessons that I came up with:

It’s important to have friends watching your back!

If you haven’t played, the picture above is a medic in the background making sure that the ‘Heavy’ is staying healthy (using the handy health ray).

You take a lot of shots as a business owner – whether it’s getting shot down by a potential client, getting hammered by rising prices from your vendors or just facing your fears (of bankers, networking, selling, marketing, whatever it might be).

Those are the times when you need a friend or two that can help pick you up and keep you healthy or sane.

(As a side note – Peer Group Advisory Boards are great for this, a dedicated support group of other business owners and a business coach that will tell you like it is, but also give you great ideas and encouragement. Check out this PAGE if you’d like more information on the idea!!!)

It’s critical to build up your infrastructure

These engineers are building defensive structures to protect their base from being overrun by the competition.

That’s really similar to the systems, plans and processes the business owner needs to be building to stay out in front of the competition. Way too often you see business owners that are making everything work just by working really hard.

Hard work and skill will take you a long way, but eventually you will wear down and if you don’t have some systems in place that allow you to take a break, a vacation, or just some time to focus on the big picture, you will have problems.

Sometimes you need to stay above the fray!

Let’s face it, business can be hard and it’s even harder when you are trying to slog it out down in the mud with everyone else.

Just like this soldier is doing, sometimes you need to take the road less traveled and find another, better way to get your message or product out the door.

If everyone in your industry is using Yellow Page ads as the primary source of visibility, you either need to make your ad stand out, or consider trying something different.

If everyone else is charging hourly rates for what you do, maybe you should consider charging some sort of flat rate or bundling together common services – something that will make you stand out.

Bottom line, if you hang out in the crowd and follow everyone else’s lead, it’s really difficult to get ahead.

Don’t get too focused on the day to day stuff

Just like this sniper is about to learn the hard way, if you don’t keep your head up and look around, bad things can come up and give you a nasty surprise!

A lot of people I know are what I would call ‘crisis junkies’. They thrive on finding fires and do a great job of managing those fires and putting them out…then they move on to the next fire. Sometimes, when there’s not a fire, they’ll start one just so they can put it out.

It’s a great skill set to have, but if you can’t pull yourself away from the details on a regular basis and look around you, you are going to have problems. It’s not easy to do, but it’s the single best thing I know of that will help you consciously grow your business. (another side note, this is what coaches are really good at helping you do…)

The last point

If you were looking for ways to rationalize why it’s okay to play Team Fortress 2 more often (not that I know of anyone like that), now you’ve got plenty of reasons to consider it ‘research’ for the real world of small business.

It’s a great game, I would highly recommend it – and remember it is important to stop and smell the roses (or fire the rocket launcher) every now and then!

Tell me about your favorite game – I’d love to hear your lessons learned!

Shawn Kinkade www.aspirekc.comSimilar Posts:

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt

Shawn Kinkade — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:09:22 +0000

photo by Tub Gurnard

I came across three different blog entries today that loosely (alright…very loosely) fell under a convenient category of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD – which according to Wikipedia here was first coined by Gene Amdahl after leaving IBM to describe the Big Blue sales approach.)

Anyway, as someone that’s observed a lot of Fear, Uncertainty or Doubt in the last 6 months (both from myself and from clients and other small business owners) it’s a topic that’s never far from my mind.

What, me worry?

This first link is from Adam Sonnhalter – a fellow PBCA Business Coach from Cleveland that has a great post today titled “What Are You Worried About?“ Adam always does a great job getting to the heart of a topic in a very clear and straightforward way.

The focus of the post is on the natural tendency of many people to worry about things – often things that they have little to no control over.

Imagine if we were able to bottle up all that negative energy spent on worrying and put it to some good use. Heck, what if we could bottle up only 10% of it? How much better off would we be?

I think you’ll be amazed how much more you can get done when you focus your time and energy on things you can impact.

As Adam points out, one of the big benefits of working with someone like a business coach is the opportunity to get some perspective on what’s keeping you up at night.

Chunk to thrive?

I’ve never met Tim Brownson, but I like him a lot! He’s a really funny guy that happens to be a life coach in Orlando Florida and he writes a must-read blog called the Discomfort Zone.

His post today – Chunky Monkey builds a Plane, does a great job of painting a picture of how most of us feel overwhelmed.

The double whammy with feeling overwhelmed is that it can often lead to paralysis and inaction at exactly the time we need to do be getting stuff done. Which in turn leads to more crushing feelings because work just keeps piling up.

I sometimes think that overwhelming feeling is the price you pay for having an imagination and the ability to see the big picture. However as Tim points out, a great strategy for dealing with that feeling is to chunk the work up into manageable pieces.

That’s all chunking down is. Taking a large task and breaking it down to smaller tasks and making sure your focus remains on the individual task at hand. Nobody get’s overwhelmed at having to order some rivets, but the thought of such a huge undertaking as building a plane, is an altogether different matter.

It’s not rocket science, but it’s always nice to have a reminder that you don’t have to do everything in one fell swoop (everyone should use ‘fell swoop’ in conversation at least once a day…!).

Fear of…appearing to be a Salesman?

Lastly, I read another interesting and entertaining post from my friend Rich Delaney from 2020 Marketing (Rich – you need to get a link from your blog to your website….) who recently attended a seminar from a professional that didn’t want to be pushy (or appear to be selling).

In his post: I don’t want to be pushy about selling, Rich was surprised by the woman’s reluctance to ‘push’ her product / service.

I asked her why she doesn’t put them into her presentation to increase the understanding of the profitability payoff. “Oh no, that would come across as too pushy. If they want to see the testimonials they can go to my website and read them.” I slowly lifted my chin off of the floor and moved on.

Rich correctly points out that this is potentially costing sales or at least prospects, but on the flip side, I have to say I have a lot of empathy for the professional that doesn’t want to be viewed as ‘the salesperson’. It’s a fear that I’ve dealt with for a long time and I’m just now starting to come to grips that you can sell and not be ‘That Guy’.

The key (for me at least) was recognizing that I’m offering a service that’s a huge benefit to people and I owe it to them to get myself out there and make them aware of my business.

Overcoming FUD…

It’s easier said than done, but talk to people, get a business coach ( ), plan your work and work your plan, keep things in perspective and recognize that you are valuable and adding value.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. ~Mark Twain

What fears are keeping you up at night? Share them here – I bet we could help you.

Shawn Kinkade www.aspirekc.comSimilar Posts:

Is your business hiding in a dark alley?

Shawn Kinkade — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:44:49 +0000

photo by PixelFixer

What if you owned a retail operation that depended on foot traffic and visibility for a large part of your business?

You’ve got great products, your prices are attractive and you have quality staff people running your store.

Now imagine that your store is located in a dark back alley in a rough part of town.

How’s that working out for you?

Is your store a success? Are you going to be able hang on for the long run?

Are you really mad at the commercial real estate agent that got you the space?

You might be able to make this situation work, if you have a highly loyal customer base and a product or experience that really hard to find anywhere else. Certainly there are restaurants and bars that can make that kind of ‘ambiance’ work for them, but in general it’s very difficult to succeed in the long run when you’re not where your customers are.

The amazing thing is that everyday business owners are choosing every day to stay out of the main street and away from their customers.

Small Business Owners aren’t using the Internet

I’ve seen this statistic before, but it’s still amazing:

Half of all small businesses (less than 10 employees) don’t have a website.
7 out of 10 solo businesses don’t have a website.

There’s a good write-up on this in yesterday’s USA Today – Should you have a website? Although I don’t completely agree with his recommended solution (a bit of a conflict since he does do work for Microsoft) – a hosted solution is certainly better than nothing.

It’s not about selling online – although that’s more and more of a draw every day, it’s about having a presence, having a storefront on the busy street where people are passing by.

It’s having your menu online when the kids are screaming and we need to find a place to pick up dinner 10 minutes ago. If you’re not there (and quickly found), I’m going somewhere else.

What are your other options?

A full fledged custom website design will cost you anywhere from $6000 to $15,000 or more depending on how elaborate and complex you want to get.

A do it yourself template, with limited flexibility and a very plain look and feel can be done (with some technical know-how) for as little as $100 or so.

My recommended solution if you’re starting with nothing and have limited funds to start out with is to split the difference – make an investment and work with a professional, but go with a hybrid blog / website that allows for easy content management once you’re up and running.

John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing shows how it’s possible to do this using WordPress with his blog post from earlier today – Is it a blog or a website? For most people that are currently not on the web, it might be a stretch, both in time available and expertise, to make that work without some expert help.

A more realistic approach if you can swing $2,000 – $3,000 is to work with a professional company that can build in custom professional design elements and get you set up for the basics of Search Engine Optimization and still give you robust content management, so you’ll be able to maintain the site yourself once it’s up.

I’d love to hear stories of business lost or if you strongly disagree (or agree).

Shawn Kinkade www.aspirekc.com

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Could you Triple your Marketing Success?

Shawn Kinkade — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:29:31 +0000

Photo by Laffy4k

Note: this is the first in a series about supercharging your marketing message by leveraging some of the ideas in Jump Start Your Business Brain by Doug Hall. This is an excellent book with some really practical strategies and ideas for enhancing your marketing message.

I’m also doing a workshop on this material in a couple of weeks, you can find more information here – I’d love to have you join me.

The Message is King!

3M did a study quite a while ago that stated that the average person is impacted with over 3000 advertisements every single day! If anything, that number has only gone up.

Now think about your ad – it could be a Google ad, it could be a newspaper ad, maybe something on the radio or a sign on your storefront. How is that ad going to stand out in a crowd of over 3000 other ads your prospect is going to see that day?

You’ve only got seconds to get their attention, so what can you do?

Doug Hall’s studies have shown that an overt benefit is 3X more likely to be successful than any other message you might send (i.e. a benefit that’s not overt or worse yet, a feature).

So what is a Benefit?

A benefit is the actual reason why the customer wants to buy the product or service. The primary benefit of wireless phone service is the ability to be connected when ever you’re out and about. Verizon gets that which is why they focus on their network as the most reliable.

Sprint on the other hand focuses on innovative technologies – which generally translates to features – features that customers don’t always understand or appreciate.

A high definition plasma TV that has a resolution of 1080P is all about the features, it’s really hard for the average person to get excited about that statement.

Garmin’s focus on easy to use tools that will “Get You There” talks about benefits.

So are you talking about features or benefits when you talk about your stuff?

The Financial Planner that talks about the thousands of mutual funds available is missing the mark. The Financial Planner that talks about having tools that can create and manage wealth through all the ups and downs of the market is much more compelling.

Things to think about as you consider features versus benefits:

Why should the customer care?
Why did you create in the first place (hint: because you could isn’t a good answer)?
Why is the feature important? What does it do?
Why doesn’t your competition have this feature?

An interesting exercise is to take a quick browse through other people’s business cards and see if you can tell the primary benefit they offer.

Here are some good examples of benefits:

Get Smarter Prep: “The score you need for the school you want”

Accord Coaching: Achieve Balance, Find Clarity

Young HR Services: Easier People Management

In every instance you can easily see why a potential buyer would care about that company. The sad thing is that I looked through at least 50 cards to come up with 3 good examples. The vast majority only list what they do at best and many of them don’t even do that in a clear cut way.

So what is Overt?

Overt: open to view or knowledge; not concealed or secret (from Dictionary.com)

For the purposes of this discussion, overt simply means straightforward and clear cut. Keep in mind that you’re trying to stand out in a crowd. If your prospect has to figure out what you’re talking about, you’re probably not going to connect.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a benefit is generally relative to a target market. The fact that I can hear 3 Hannah Montana songs from one of my daughter’s toys is not a benefit to me (although it is to her).

In addition to being clear and targeted to your audience, your benefit also needs to be as specific as possible. “We deliver fast” is okay, but “Delivery in 30 minutes or less” is much clearer, and much more overt.

A couple of questions that might help you identify your primary overt benefit:

Why did you get into the business in the first place? What drove you to create your brand?
What are you most proud of regarding your product or service?
What do your customers talk the most about?

You should try to narrow your focus down to the 1 thing that you really want to communicate and stand out. You don’t want to try to be all things to all people, you want to find your best position and focus, focus, focus on that thing. (easier said than done).

The road to finding your relatively unique overt benefit is a long one, but the good news is that you will see improved results along the way, it’s not a black and white issue. So your best bet is to always keep thinking about your benefit and refining it as you go along.

What’s your overt benefit? I would love to hear some great examples – share them here.

Shawn Kinkade www.aspirekc.comSimilar Posts:

Aspire » 2008 » February

Do you have enough Time?

Photo by Fdecomite

Another option for handling time

What can TF2 teach you about business?

It’s important to have friends watching your back!

It’s critical to build up your infrastructure

Sometimes you need to stay above the fray!

Don’t get too focused on the day to day stuff

The last point

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt

photo by Tub Gurnard

What, me worry?

Chunk to thrive?

Fear of…appearing to be a Salesman?

Overcoming FUD…

Is your business hiding in a dark alley?

photo by PixelFixer

Small Business Owners aren’t using the Internet

Could you Triple your Marketing Success?

Photo by Laffy4k

The Message is King!

So what is a Benefit?

So what is Overt?