In the past couple of weeks I have spent a lot more time than usual giving feedback to colleagues and clients on their marketing. Much of the discussion has been about web presence: what matters most and how to get it on a tight budget. With the perspective of distance, I always advise people to focus on first things first, like getting a clear message and worrying about the appearance after the message is done. But instead of working on my own marketing message, I spent all my marketing time this week changing a web template to format my pages.
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Last week was increasingly hectic as the weekend approached. My younger son had a Tae Kwon Do belt test to prepare for and then a soccer game. My older son’s team had the first game of their soccer tournament, as well as a team meeting and a picnic prior to the tournament to welcome international players the soccer club is hosting. I am grateful my schedule allows me the flexibility to focus on their activities, but it means I wind up doing only urgent things in my business for a few days and setting aside the rest. This blog fell into “the rest.” It took a while for me to calm my mind and think about what I gathered on the self-employment journey this week. I came up with one idea, but I think it might be a doozy.
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I have had lots of opportunities in recent days to be helpful – or at least to try. Through the “Outside the Job Box Career Experts ©” group I was able to make recommendations to colleagues on ways to approach studying, ways to find practice clients, and ways to do simple first marketing steps. In a coaching group I was able to help colleagues come up with ideas for workshops they want to plan. I even got to talk with two friends about their long-term career dreams and how to make them happen. It has been a powerful reminder of the value gained by helping people.
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I think I must be a techno wimp. Maybe I’m just a social phobic. I enjoy learning new things about my WordPress blogging software. And when I have to play around with HTML I feel kind of proud of myself if I can figure something out. But social networking is wearing me out, and I hardly even use it. I just try to check the social networking sites on a regular basis and I’m frustrated.
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I have a confession to make. Actually, it’s closer to professing than confessing. It’s not nearly as meaningful as Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. But it will be seen by many as heresy.
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I get to talk to a lot of people who are just starting a small business on the side, some who are self-employed in one field and trying to transition to another, and some who have a small business and are trying to grow it. When they’re running low on clients and the marketing they’re trying doesn’t work, many will wonder if it’s time to let go of the dream and find a job. When is it time to give up?
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A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a recording of a group call I had missed. The members were discussing what approaches to take to keep their clients and find new ones during the economic downturn. It got me thinking a lot so I brought it up when I was on a group coaching call later. I got so enthusiastic I wound up talking myself into believing that not only should we not worry about money problems keeping people from seeking coaching, we should see the times as a great opportunity because of the ways we help people.
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I’m not a huge fan of Suze Orman, but overall I usually have positive vibes for her. That’s why I was watching her show on CNBC Saturday night. I know the show is structured around the contrived drama of Ms. Orman berating people for doing stupid things with their money. But this was different. She actually said, “Now is not the time to follow your dreams.”
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It really shouldn’t be such a dilemma. People seem to create an e-mail signature line with a closing that suits them and that’s it. Some are creative, some are routine, some are friendly and warm, and others are austere. But most people seem to choose and be done. I had chosen, and everything was fine, until a story my son told me kept popping into my head.
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A very long weekend kept me from posting. It started Friday, which was my birthday. I took off in the middle of the day to see Slumdog Millionaire. What a fantastic gift that was! Saturday was a family dinner and celebration, and then Sunday was the Super Bowl. I’ll leave it to the sports bloggers to figure out reasons the referees were so eager to hand the game to the Steelers. The core mission of refereeing is fairness! I have to keep off that topic or I’ll be ranting for weeks. Instead, I want to rant a little about the reason I’m just now able to write my post at midnight on Monday.
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