Overcome Impostor Syndrome as a Small Business Owner

I was so excited to write this blog but then thought, “who am I to write about this subject? I’m not a psychologist. What could I possibly say that could make a difference?”

Do you see what I did there? That’s imposter syndrome. 

I was in a wonderful Twitter Spaces discussion about Imposter Syndrome that lasted two hours. There were two people who said they didn’t think they “suffered” from Impostor syndrome. I thought, “I can’t imagine not having feelings of inadequacy at some point with some aspect of my life.”

We’ll get more into the word “inadequacy” later.

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Lo and behold, while they were speaking, they caught themselves saying something that resembled imposter syndrome. 

Awareness is the first step to understanding if you may have imposter syndrome. Let’s cover a few things here:

  • What is impostor syndrome
  • How to deal with impostor syndrome
  • Tips for overcoming impostor syndrome
  • Benefits of having impostor syndrome

What is it? In my own words, we feel we’re not worthy of the success we see others experience. We have doubts and uncertainty about our capability because we don’t have evidence (results) of what we could accomplish.

Here’s what others say:

PsychologyToday.com “…undeserving of their achievements and the high esteem in which they are, in fact, generally held.”

VeryWellMind.com “…the internal psychological experience of feeling like a phony in some area of your life,…”

ChatGPT: “…feelings of inadequacy or self-doubt that can occur among high-achieving individuals, despite evidence of their competence.”

I wear contact lenses. I also wear reading glasses on top of my contact lenses. That’s how poor my vision is. It’s bad, really bad since the age of five. 

  • I don’t dwell on it. 
  • I don’t lose sleep over it. 
  • I don’t feel bad about myself because of it. 

I’ve learned to live with it, manage it and overcome the challenges when faced with the inadequacy of my vision. 

There’s that word again, inadequacy.

What can we do to overcome it if we have this tendency?

First thing is to honor it, embrace it, show it some love, and give it some grace. Acknowledge it by saying, “oh good you’re here to remind me that I have some unfinished business to do.

Once you do that, you can focus on arranging a plan of action toward a goal. I’d find it difficult to believe that someone will decide to run a marathon if they’ve never engaged in running as part of their regular routine.

Practice makes progress. Progress yields results.

impostor syndrome has benefits once we’re aware that we’re looping with the negative side effects of it. With ambition, whether it’s an endeavor of a personal or professional nature, imposter syndrome could be the nudge we need to realize that something is important enough for us to pursue. 

We could be faced with internal cues that we want more than our current situation provides. Maybe we’ve reached the saturation point of the status quo and long for a challenge to achieve a higher level of success.

In the days of ancient humans, adrenaline kept them safe when there was a threat in the vicinity. Imposter syndrome is like anti-adrenaline. It can keep us stuck to avoid the danger of an emotional breach.

impostor syndrome keeps us safe from failing and from embarrassing ourselves if we fail. However, the flip side is that it could also extinguish the flame of desire for success. What do I mean? 

If you have a goal that is outside the normal competence you possess, and you don’t go for it because you think you’re not worthy, you give up on that potential of achievement.

What’s next when this happens?

My recommendation is to put in writing exactly what you’re worried about with trying something that makes you nervous and fills you with doubt. Then, write down the potential failures and possible successes. 

Then phone a friend and ask tor help to discuss baby steps toward the goal and an outcome that could encourage you to continue or a signal telling you “do not pass go.”

Find me on Twitter @HeyLindaRey where I host business banter spaces and/or on Geneva where I have a group of small business owners who support one another.

Hang out with other small business owners who support one another before, during and after things get glitchy.

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Basics of the New Wild Web3

If you prefer to listen to the blog, you can visit our Medium article here.

As we get older, we think we know more, age begets wisdom, right? Maybe we do and maybe it does. But, it’s usually about stuff we’ve already learned, witnessed or experienced. What about the new things we don’t know about yet?

 

What about what we don’t know that, all of a sudden, we’re pushed into knowing or at least being made aware of whether we like it or not?

That day, for me, was March 15, 2022. I was at a social media marketing conference in San Diego. I love marketing, and I love social media. I’ve been studying and learning about both for more than two decades.

 

I wasn’t surprised that something new was on the agenda for the day. I walked into a workshop purposely to discover something new. This was more than I expected. It blew my mind. 

There were three words mentioned that were unfamiliar to me. These three words piqued my curiosity.

  1. Web 3
  2. NFTs
  3. Blockchain

Please don’t cringe and don’t stop reading. I’m a curious “newbie” and I’m sharing what I learned, hopefully in laymen’s terms, for newbies. My intention is to make a simple introduction to these concepts. It’s perfectly safe. 

Plus, I’m not a “crypto bro” so let’s all hug and sing Kumbaya together.
Too much too soon? I get it.

The first thing I learned in the workshop was that Web 3 is the next step in the evolution of the digital era.   

“Web 1” was the birth of the internet and our new digital world. For most us, it was a read-only experience. There were limits on our interactions on the web.

Enter Web 2 where platforms such as MySpace, Facebook and Linkedin improved the experience where people could communicate online with one another. It was more interactive, there was a sense of community, but the platforms owned the place, owned your content whether it was images or written content.

When a platform closed, it was gone forever. If Facebook didn’t like something you created or something you said, they could remove it and/or you and there was nothing you could do. You were in “Facebook jail”.

Today, Web 3 saunters into the room bragging about blockchain, its transparency and ownership rights while simultaneously befuddling most of us. We’re thinking, “What the heck does that mean? It’s Bitcoin, right? No thanks!

The venerable technology company known as International Business Machines or IBM defines Blockchain as:

“…a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. An asset can be tangible (a house, car, cash, land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding).”

I had a lightbulb moment.

My partner, Trevor is a professional musician who’s been waiting for decades to create music and write books. He was mangled into a mortgage career to pay the bills but his heart was always with his guitars and stories. I immediately saw a connection with his dreams and Web 3.

I learned at the conference that a platform such as Spotify reaps most of the monetization rewards. This leaves the artist, the creator, with a pathetic fraction of the profit pie. My “lightbulb” moment inspired me that with blockchain, anything Trevor creates would include royalties far greater than the meager offerings from online distribution platforms. 

Next, let’s discuss the barrier to entry.

Onboarding is difficult due to the new lingo of the crypto world and the stigma of the possible scams and potential slimy characters involved. Getting into the Web 3 world can feel very challenging. 

You may feel vulnerable due to a lack of knowledge and concern about scams. Here are a few questions we’ll cover:

  1. How do you buy crypto?
  2. How to become aware of NFTs?
  3. How do I buy an NFT?
  4. How can I protect myself?

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How do I buy crypto?

Buying cryptocurrency is easier than you think. However, it requires more steps than just sending money from your bank via Zelle or PayPal.

You have to create something called a “crypto wallet.” There are many platforms to do so. Currently, Metamask is the most popular. Two other platforms are Coinbase and Phantom. You’ll need to use the correct web browser on your computer.  Currently, it’s Chrome or Firefox. NOTE: If you’re on an Apple computer, Safari won’t work properly.

Then you’ll access a plugin to  create your wallet.

You can also create a crypto wallet on your phone by visiting your app store.

Once you’ve created a crypto wallet, you have to get money into your wallet. There are various methods to deposit money into your wallet. 

You may find some deposit methods more expensive than others; be sure to compare. I discovered that Metamask offered a wiring platform. However, it requested multiple pieces of private information that I wasn’t comfortable providing such as address, date of birth, social security number. This method was also more expensive.

Upon further research, I opened a custodial wallet with Coinbase. There are transaction fees ranging from $2.99 and up depending on how much you transfer from your bank to convert into your wallet for the deposit.

The Coinbase custodial wallet allows you to hold multiple types of cryptocurrencies and to send and receive cryptocurrencies to your crypto wallets used to make transactions on the blockchain. Typical blockchain transactions include trading in Bitcoin and purchasing non-fungible tokens.

What is a non-fungible token also known as an NFT? 

Wikipedia defines an NFT as “…a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership.[1] The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded.

Note, in the IBM definition, they described blockchain as a “ledger.” In the Wikipedia definition of an NFT, they call it a digital identifier. Think of your NFT as a digital entry in your ledger.

Let’s compare fungible vs. non-fungible. If you need a dollar bill for a vending machine but you have 4 quarters, you ask me to exchange my dollar bill for your 4 quarters, it still equals $1.00 despite the different, physical currency used in the transaction. The physical currency is different but the value is the same. That’s what makes it fungible; it’s “interchangeable.

An NFT is not physical and can have unique properties creating different values between different NFTs. This is what makes them non-fungible.

What’s the purpose of an NFT?

An NFT, similar to physical currency such as a coin or a paper bill, is a token that grants you access to something of value. That access can be a membership pass, an experience, an event, digital rights or ownership of artwork. Artwork can include photos, music, books or other similar creative content. 

Pertaining to the visual properties of an NFT, think how paper money has design elements so you can distinguish the value of the currency or the country of the currency. An NFT has unique visual properties for each token. 

Think of how these properties make up an NFT as a piece of digital art.

How do I find NFTs?

Currently Twitter is the primary social media platform where people are promoting their NFT projects. There are a few ways for people to learn about NFTs on Twitter.

  1. You can search for people tweeting with hashtags such as #NFTCommunity, #Web3, etc. 
  2. You can find communities of people tweeting about NFTs known as Twitter Communities.
  3. Twitter has social audio access. This is known as Twitter Spaces where people are having audio conversations about NFTs.

Once you’re on Twitter, an NFT project (founder/creator) will provide access to their community where other folks interested in that project can communicate with one another.

Currently, the most popular platform where people go for a community within an NFT project is called Discord. Think of it like joining a Facebook group. One place for like-minded people with a common interest.

However, Discord, as a platform has proven vulnerable to spammers. To protect members of the community, there are safety measures that can be implemented to protect against spammers and bots. This security aspect contributes to a barrier to entry which can be daunting to a new user.

For example, you have to verify you’re a human by clicking on an emoji and then there could be other steps necessary before entering the community to verify that you’re not a bot or a spammer.

Similar to Discord, there are other community platforms such as Telegram and Geneva.

How do I buy NFTs?

The first time an NFT is purchased, it’s known as minting. When an NFT is minted, it is the first time it’s blueprinted onto the blockchain. This means it now exists on the blockchain and whoever mints it, is the first owner of that NFT.

When a person mints an NFT, a project will have its own website describing the NFT project including: 

1. Why the project was created

2. Who created the project (who are the “founders”)

3. A Roadmap that outlines the “utility” of the project 

4. A link or button to connect your wallet to mint (purchase) an NFT or multiple NFTs at once

In the NFT (or crypto) world, most websites dedicated to NFTs have extensions such as .io or .xyz as opposed to .com.

If an NFT has already been minted, you can still buy an NFT, but you must buy it on what’s called a secondary marketplace.

The most popular marketplace is called Opensea. Other notable marketplaces, according to Forbes, are SuperRare and Rarible. On these marketplaces, you can find different types of NFTs. This is why you’ll need a crypto wallet.

Since NFTs are digital art, there are platforms for NFT artists to sell their art. A couple of the most popular platforms are:

  • KnownOrigin
  • Superrare
  • Objkt

What types of scams occur in this space?

Just like getting a fake but legitimate looking email from a bank or Paypal or any other type of vendor, there are copycats, spoofing and phishing scams. Twitter accounts are created by spammers to look like a prominent (blue chip) NFT project. The Twitter username for these fake accounts will often be slightly misspelled. 

Sometimes, the fake Twitter accounts also have a website that has a slight misspelling of the website or different website extension altogether.

In Discord, spammers will often direct message (DM) you with information pertaining to a minting opportunity. You think they’re part of the project so you click on a link where it takes you to a fake minting site. You connect your wallet thinking you’re minting a legitimate NFT for a legitimate project but nothing ever materializes and your cryptocurrency is gone.

What’s worse is, depending on how they set up the website and coding, you could risk having your wallet compromised and the entire contents of your wallet stolen.

What happens when a scam occurs?

Currently, there’s no real way to recover the contents of your wallet. This is the nature of decentralization. This is both a blessing and a curse of the blockchain. There’s not one party or platform with complete ownership or control over anything. There’s no banking authority to call and no customer service representatives to assist you. 

This is why you must research a project and pay attention to what you’re looking to purchase. 

By the way, when you’re setting up a crypto wallet, there are safety and security measures that exist to protect you and your wallet. If your wallet is compromised, there is no way to recover it or regain access to it. 

For example, there is a 12 word recovery phrase that should not be stored online or on your computer. You want to keep it safe and never share it with anyone. 

Spams and scams are nothing new. They’ve been perpetrated in every possible way: door-to-door, phone calls, mail, e-mail, computer hacking, you name it.

But, let’s not end on such a negative note. Let’s look on the bright side of this whole new frontier.

There are projects that understand the onboarding of new folks into this space can be overwhelming. Therefore, they’ve provided a gateway to make purchasing an NFT a little more palatable and relatable by providing traditional purchasing methods. For example, using a credit card instead of a crypto wallet.

We’re humans who are wired to connect. Most people are not scammers in this space. Most are either looking to create something, build something or be a part of something with others who believe in the same mission.

Be curiously cautious and keep curating knowledge. Learning is sexy.

Find out more about my project, BIZ Glitch NFT by researching here.

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4 Myths and Mistakes in Marketing During a Crisis

First, we wish everyone health and safety during through this COVID crisis. I will outline 4 myths and mistakes in marketing during a crisis. And stick around until the end, I’ll share 3 takeaways you could implement right away. Given our new paradigm, I’ll put a positive spin on the 4 myths and mistakes in marketing that i’ve seen.  Not all businesses are suffering financially, but all businesses have changed in some way whether it’s a process or protocol of doing business to ensure safety. People are looking for new ways to connect including efficient ways to do conduct their business. It’s more important than ever to stay in touch with people whether it’s email, a text or direct messenger in a social media platform. The number one priority is reaching out to all of your clients to see how they are doing and a polite nudge to remind them that you’re available if they have any questions about anything during this overwhelming time. We can call it marketing or we can call it staying connected in a meaningful, purposeful way.  If you are looking to do more than just survive in your business, it’s more important now than ever to either level up your marketing or at the very least, START marketing if you’ve been putting it off or getting by with minimal efforts.  If people don’t hear from you now when they need you the most, they will find another resource they feel can rely on. I’ve heard more than a few times, “I don’t hear from you all year and now you show up. It’s too late.” The best part is that because we’re in the digital age, the currency is time. You don’t need to invest in big advertising budgets like the Mad Men days. No magazines print ads, no billboards, no Super Bowl ads.  Here are four myths and mistakes people make when it comes to marketing. Myth #1 – I don’t know what to say. There’s more to what you do every day than you realize that people would be interested to know. You know a lot more than someone who isn’t in your business but doesn’t business with you. Delivering value of what you can offer someone will help to show that you’re present in your business and available when they need you. For people to know, like & trust you, it’s ok to show your personal side. I like to work in my yard so i’ll post projects in and around the house. It helps to show that you’re human. It will also help to show how people can relate to you. YOU are a brand whether you own a business or work for a business. You do not need to sell your product or service every time you’re marketing.  Myth #2 – I don’t have time. Some people may not think they have the time because they may not have seen results worthy of scheduling the time for this task. If you carved out 10-30 minutes every day or every other day dedicated to intentional and meaningful engagement, you would see results in how people pay attention to you.  The more you spend engaging on a platform, the more you get noticed even if you don’t think the metrics are displaying a lot views.  Business is about relationships. People have to know how to relate to you but if you don’t exist online, then they won’t know how to find you or know how you can help them. Myth #3 – I don’t have an audience. If you didn’t have an audience you wouldn’t be in business. You have people all around you, but perhaps you didn’t think of them as an audience. With the INFLUENCER movement, if you don’t have a million followers or get a million views on a post, people think they’re doing it wrong or that it’s a waste of time because they’re not getting those results. The flaw in this mentality is that we have to appreciate that for any number of views we get online is less time we have to be in our car driving to a meeting with just one person. Don’t look at the views or the metrics if you’re just starting out. Focus on the practice of developing a new habit of scheduling time to devote to marketing. If you aren’t creating content, then curate quality content that you trust and that you find relevant to your business. Myth #4 –There are too many platforms. Who doesn’t like having choices? To be able to pick from Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, YouTube or any other platform you are familiar with means you get to enjoy however you feel most comfortable when delivering your content.
  • Maybe you want to practice with video so you may utilize Facebook Live because you’ve been on that platform longer or you save your videos to your Youtube playlist.
  • Maybe you want to be more business-like while extolling the virtues of your products and services, so you go to Linkedin. 
  • Maybe you like snapping photos and want to include a meaningful, inspiring message, so you go to Instagram or Pinterest.
  • Or the newest darling, maybe you want to bust a move or deliver a message with curated music in the background, you go to TikTok.
There are so many tools these days to help develop content. It’s a matter of EXECUTING. And that is where people fail. Even if it means that you are going to pick one goal, but you’re not sure how to go about it, the RESEARCH is a form of execution.  Research is learning and learning gives us more confidence with something new. I think a formula for success can be described as follows: Schedule + Research = (a higher probability of) Execution. Here are 3 takeaways to ponder: 1. Cultivate your email list. it’s the only digital asset you own. The platforms own your content once you publish it on their site. 2. Do video. If you’re shy or you hate how you look on video, I will tell you from experience, no one is analyzing you the way you think they are. Video is so valuable and helps to deliver your message in such a powerful way. The statistics of how people connect with you is undeniable. Practice with one minute videos. It’s a great, safe start. 3. Repurpose your content. What do I mean by that? If you write a blog, do a one minute video on the topic of the blog you recently published. If you did a video about something important about your business, write a blog even if it’s only 200 words. Then, put the video on your website with the blog. Then grab a section of the blog and draft a post to Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, etc. about your blog and video. Check out our Be GRAM-Tastic Instagram course. If you want to find out more about it, Schedule a call with us by clicking on our online calendar here.

6 Podcast Episodes That Stopped Me in My Tracks


With COVID 19 hanging around longer than what anyone expected with no eradication in sight, it’s a mistake to think you should stop marketing for your business. I know how difficult it is to market a product or service that you may not or cannot offer right now.

My business is (was) a commercial financing brokerage. Banks aren’t lending right now due to the “all hands on deck” disaster relief financing efforts to help small businesses survive. Given our resources in lending, we pivoted quickly to stay connected to know how the banks and lenders were receiving (or not receiving) guidance from the Small Business Administration (SBA).

This gave us an opportunity to share information and insight. This provided an opportunity to create and share content. One of the ways to grab people’s attention is to share what you know. How you share that information and insight is through the various platforms available to you. There are different ways to broadcast your message:

  1. Written word such as emails and blogs
  2. Audio such as podcasts
  3. Video such as long-form, short-form or live video.

On March 15th of this year, the tough and undeniable realization was that we were going to have to dramatically pivot how we do business in order to earn an income.

Based on my background in insurance, marketing and financing and my partner’s experience with mortgage banking, financing and marketing, we began strategizing the avenues we could possibly earn income.

One thing we have in common is our love and success with marketing. Ultimately, marketing is the way we can get our brand and our business out to the world.

About a year ago, I stumbled upon a popular podcast hosted by Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner. it’s called Social Media Marketing. As I worked in the yard (almost every day), I would get my exercise in, stress out and learn a few lessons along the way.

I put together a list of the six Social Media Marketing podcast episodes in 2019 that stopped me in my tracks. They prompted me to put into immediate action various tips and techniques to make marketing not only more effective but more fun.

There are so many more episodes that this podcast offers depending on your hot button with what you enjoy (or don’t enjoy) with marketing. Maybe it’s advertising strategies on a specific platform. It’s there. Maybe it’s online traffic vs. foot traffic. It’s there.

The six I chose happen to be evergreen so you can hear their stories and apply their suggestions even during a pandemic. Stelzner has over 400 episodes in the Social Media Examiner library. I encourage you to check out the library of episodes to see what catches your eye and rings your ear.

Six of my favorite episodes are;

Narrative Storytelling: How to Weave Stories Into Your Marketing – Ep. 336 with Melissa Cassera of https://melissacassera.com

I listened to this one twice. Everyone loves stories, but some of us may not be good storytellers when it comes to creating content. You will increase the attention of your reader, viewer, listener if you employ solid story structure.

Find the episode here: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/narrative-storytelling-how-to-weave-stories-marketing-melissa-cassera/

Phrases That Sell: 8 Copywriting Tips – Ep. 337 with Ray Edwards of https://rayedwards.com

This was the first episode I heard Stelzner use the term “solid gold” when it came to preparing us for what would be included in this episode. Ray Edwards has done copywriting for some of the top influencers in the marketplace. You can find this impressive list on his website.

Find the episode here: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/phrases-sell-8-copywriting-tips-ray-edwards/

How to Create Long-Form Videos That Sell – Ep. 342 with Daniel Harmon of https://harmonbrothers.com/home

This was fascinating to hear the success of these two brothers in creating videos for companies that no one heard of but had incredible, almost unicorn success with the content they created for their clients.

It’s inspiring to think of the ways you can create video content, if this is a format you feel comfortable engaging. Video is inarguably the most valuable platforms to leverage your “top of mind” factor.

Find the episode here: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-create-long-form-videos-sell-daniel-harmon/

Instagram Stories for Business: How to Create Engaging Stories – Ep. 369 with Alex Beadon of https://www.alexbeadon.com

This episode caused me to break out in a sweat because it was something completely new and I was already overwhelmed with all the new ways I could make marketing more effective.

It was compelling to switch how I was looking at Instagram stories as a viable platform. I hadn’t embraced snapchat or live video person so I didn’t think this platform or method would work for me. Instagram has been soaring in its popularity and effectiveness to build fan and brand loyalty.

Alex made me realize the important of consistency when it comes to showing up for your clients, colleagues and future clients.

Find the episode here: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram-stories-for-business-how-to-create-engaging-stories-alex-beadon/

How to Create Content That Attracts Customers – Ep. 356 with Melanie Deziel of https://www.storyfuel.co

Melanie used to be a journalist and her experience included training her fellow journalists how to create a framework for content. This was fascinating to learn how far you can stretch and repurpose content from one platform. For example, with one podcast episode, you can then create a blog. From the blog, you can extract “snackables” for social media posts.

Melanie’s book Content Fuel will help ease the pain of what to create (“focus”) and where to publish (“format”).

Find the episode here: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-create-content-that-attracts-customers-melanie-deziel/

Magical Words That Sell: How to Build Trust in Your Marketing – Episode 391 with Marcus Sheridan of https://marcussheridan.com

Now, this one was a little extra special for me because I met Marcus Sheridan in Cleveland at an insurance seminar and literally stopped him in HIS TRACKS to take a picture. I didn’t know Marcus then, but it wasn’t the last time I would hear of him and learn from him.

His magical words will help you generate your own magical words for your magical marketing message. He focuses on how your website is likely not appealing to the visitors in the way you think it is.

Find the episode here:

Those are the six that helped me prepare for the biggest pivot of all: The coronavirus lockdown.

As I mentioned, there are over 400 episodes. Please do not mistake my choosing only six episodes as means to dilute the library of informative content that will help you too and keep your readers, viewers and listeners coming back from more.

You can find our musings and madness here:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Linkedin

Youtube

Stay safe, stay well.

Who Has Time to Micro-Manage?

Control.  It’s all about control.  Or is it about trust?

For control, we mean it in a neutral way, neither positive nor negative. Because, depending on the entrepreneur and/or business owner, the definition of control changes.

Many of us have worked in environments where you’re micro-managed. We understand it, but we don’t have to like it.

Whether it’s the boss’ issue with control from a positive perspective (wanting the business to succeed) or a negative perspective (lack of trust by the boss), the question more and more people are asking is, “why can’t you teach me what I need to do…or train me…or trust me…and then, leave me alone?

It’s also about trust. The more trust you have in someone, the more you’re likely to delegate and let people do their job so you can do your’s.

How do you know if you’re micro-managing?

We’d love to hear your feedback after you read this excellent article we found on INC.COM about micro-managing.

Please email us your feedback at curious@auroraconsulting.biz

CLICK HERE for the link to the Inc.com article.

 

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Kick Overwhelm To The Curb

Do you ever have to prompt your kids to eat something, wear something, do something or go somewhere?

They resist; you persist because you want the best for them.

You’re selling, but you’re able to do that because ultimately you believe it’s best for them because you love them. You are delivering value by showing something that’s good for them.

Your kids are like the general public at large and your business is the parent that is trying to show them something of value.

I’ve been marketing since about the mid 1980’s. But I didn’t know I was marketing. 

My favorite course in college was marketing. We reviewed businesses that excelled because they applied business fundamentals that introduced their products and services to consumers.

Then when I joined my father’s insurance agency.
My first thought was “I don’t want him to be the best kept secret.”
My other thought was “this could take a while. People need to get to know me.”
My mantra became “there’s no immediate gratification in a long term strategy.”

I networked and joined business organizations to meet other business owners. I created events to engage the community.
I grew revenue 800%. He was able to retire when I bought him out and then I sold my shares to my sister six years later.

It was all from marketing. 

This was inspired by a conversation with a few of the Board members of an IDS Chapter in CT who brought me in to do a presentation. I asked, “what do you want me to talk about?” 

I wanted to do something different from what may be expected.
I didn’t want to beat a dead horse with the obvious platitudes about marketing. 

Nor debate about which is better:
Facebook vs. Linkedin
Posting in the morning or afternoon
Writing a Blog or recording a Vlog.

You don’t need me to tell you to post on social media.
It’s been trending for the past decade or more. Being an early adopter has left the station.

They said, We’re overwhelmed. Many of us are Solopreneurs and doing everything ourselves.”

FEELING OVERWHELMED

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with marketing? I have good news and bad news.

I believe being overwhelmed is an opportunity to learn how to grow in some capacity.
Your business could be at the precipice of growing to the next level.

Being overwhelmed, to me, is the difference between doing the things we want to do and doing the things we think we should be doing. It’s an internal conflict. It’s why we procrastinate and make excuses instead of delegating.

A side effect of being overwhelmed is complacency.

I don’t want to steal my therapist’s thunder, but most of the time, many of us, in general, have the same doubts and fears. 

People aren’t paying attention to us as much as we think they are. They’re too worried about their own stuff.

I’ve listened to hours of marketing podcasts where professionals share how they got started and invariably it begins with some fear and doubt as they stumble to figure things out.

Is there anyone here that DOESN’T want to grow to the next level?

Anything I share with you today is nothing i’ve not been through already.
I’ve worried. I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’ve doubted. And I’ve succeeded.

Marketing is not an event. It’s a process.
And when it comes to process, we don’t seek perfection, we strive for progress.

Who has a purpose they are trying to accomplish?

Marketing is about understanding our purpose and the goals we set to achieve the fulfillment of our purpose along with the good we want to put out into the world.

Sometimes it feels like marketing it’s not always practical or executable.
It’s too much, we’re too busy. We can always find an excuse. I know I do.

If we’re following our purpose, it’s practical.
If we’ve not achieved all of our goals yet, we must make it executable.

i can talk to you about tactics and techniques, but it’s boring, and you know it already.
You can google everything and anything for FREE.  You know more than you know.

It’s the motivation, inspiration and creativity that we seek sometimes.

I’ve been saying for years:
You have to start somewhere in order to celebrate progress.
It’s basic benchmarking.

Rachel Hollis said it better,
“You can’t get to great if you aren’t putting “good enough” out in the world.”

Rachel Hollis also wrote a book about the lies she told herself and how she overcame them. 

I’m going to share the lies I told myself when I started social media in 2009:

  1. I have nothing to say.
  2. No one is listening to me.
  3. I don’t have an audience.
  4. There is so much noise, no one is finding my stuff.

This is ego hijacking our brains. 

Because the truth is:

  1. I was most talkative in high school. So, Duh!
  2. I’ve been hired so people are listening.
  3. I’ve built an audience.
  4. I started with my inner circle & circle of influences to let them know what I’m doing out here in the world.

CONNECTION
Remember when we discussed purpose? There’s a reason I didn’t say passion or profit first.

Who doesn’t love financial gain? With profit, sometimes we let our money junk get in the way. Sometimes we charge too little or too much or we procrastinate because we don’t know what to charge or how to charge.

With passion, we keep ourselves mired in minutia because it’s an art or it’s too important and it has to be perfect and we don’t let go.

Purpose allows us to dig deep within ourselves to reveal and share our values. And values have impact.
Impact will tempt people to pause and perhaps notice you. And the more they notice you, the more likely they will remember you. When they remember you, they will buy from you when they need your products and/or services.

Your marketing strategy should include your story. People don’t want to feel alone. They want to connect.
We’re biologically wired to connect as humans.

Sharing your story, your struggle to make it in this business causes connection. People can relate.

No one cares what you post unless they know that you care. Thank you Theodore Roosevelt.

Let’s talk about the “Judgey Judge Judys” in the world. If anyone judges your content and proclaims it as a failure, thank them. It’s a gift. It’s called feedback. Feedback directs us on how to improve.  It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress.

Y’all still with me?

CONTENT
Content is king; consistency is key.
It doesn’t have to be all business all the time. The best marketing is when people don’t pontificate all the time with all that they know.

No matter your industry, build in visuals. I don’t want to invite you to my pity party, but I used to post about insurance.
Now, with my new business, I post about Business Credit Financing. It’s not very exciting content.

Find the emotion. You’re bringing your product or service to life.

Here are some things you can do to stockpile content for your business.

  1. Photographically document your process, parts of the process, pieces of the process.
  2. Train your clients to know you’ll be wanting their feedback along the process. Ask how they are feeling and why they are feeling that way. Bring them into the process.

Why is this beneficial?

You want to know what they are feeling at all times because this provides relatable events with what other people are feeling. This provides direction on your how your content will reach people who may need you in the future.

Document and/or develop “case studies” to capture a keyword library for you to enrich your content though your clients’ experience.

  • What is their Pain
  • What are their Problems
  • What are your Solutions
  • What is their Satisfaction

Lewis Howes, renowned podcaster of the School of Greatness said “Create what you would want to listen to if you were stuck, starting out or striving.”

People are paying you for your perspective. They have a problem. You have a solution.
Your job is to find more problems so you can help them solve it.

You are doing a disservice by not sharing your solutions and your creativity.

In my previous business, I amassed 13,000 Twitter followers. When I first started using Twitter, I politely stalked my competition & strategic alliances to see what they were posting and how their content was relevant to a similar audience I was trying to develop. 

Let’s go back to feeling and/or being overwhelmed.

Who feels that sometimes, somedays maybe they squander 30 minutes here and there?

Maybe you’re binge watching Netflix.
Maybe you’re aimlessly scrolling Facebook or Instagram.

Did you know that 30 minutes per day is 182.5 hours which is almost 23 days lost which is more than 3 weeks potentially squandered vs. being productive. 

How will you start taking that time back?

The Dirt on Marketing, Like Literally

When I was younger, I loved city life. The hustle and bustle of people scurrying and vehicles hurrying was alluring and alive.

As I got older, I became more attracted to the quiet countryside. Ah…the fresh air, the sounds of birds chirping, the smell of grass … hold the “flower”, I mean phone. (Yes, i’ll be cultivating these deciduous puns.)

The smell of grass? Yes! It’s a refreshing reminder of spring and summer. So glorious, right?

WRONG! You know how you get the smell of grass? You have to cut it. It’s called landscaping.

There are two kinds of people:
* People that do it on their own
* People who hire someone to do it

But wait, there’s more! There is the third type of person. Those that outsource a portion of the work and do some themselves.

Sound familiar? Yup. That’s how marketing works too.

When I decided to move to the country, I bought a house in Roxbury, Connecticut. It’s a wonderful place. Many people, even Connecticut residents have never heard of it.

Think Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe, William Styron, Walter Matthau, Richard Widmark, Alexander Calder.

Ok, enough of this stardom, let’s get back to “grass roots”. 

When you’ve never owned 2.6 acres of land before, and now you have it, you have to decide how to approach this monumental groundskeeping mission.

The first thing I did was to hire a full service lawn maintenance and estate management company to handle every aspect of the property. That got to be too expensive. I then decided to manage some of the yard work myself. I paired working in the yard with the idea of working out in the yard to get some exercise.

I reviewed what equipment I needed, what I had and what outside services I could ”prune” away.

While I was planting shrubs and laying mulch, I got to thinking about how landscaping and marketing are very similar. Let’s take a “broad-leaf” look at how the two compare. 

Curb Appeal vs. Brand

First, you survey the property on how to maintain or improve your curb appeal. That takes an eye towards design.

In marketing, your curb appeal is your brand. It takes strategy to consider how to project your brand.

Equipment vs. Tools

Then you prepare your landscaping project by organizing your equipment needed for mowing, planting, pruning, weeding, etc.

In marketing, you have tools necessary to exercise and broadcast your brand such as your website, social media channels, direct mail, podcasts, etc. 

Maintenance

This is where the two meet and thatch”, I mean match:
* Landscaping is not an event, it’s maintenance.
* Marketing is not an event, it’s a process.

If you’re looking to “till” through the marketing madness and cover more ground, email us at Curious@AuroraConsulting.biz or call 860-759-9910. 

How We Avoid Prospecting

Professional salespeople know when they wake in the morning they have to do the one thing that is sure to guarantee an income:

Prospect for new business.

In a way, salespeople begin everyday looking for a new “job”, don’t they? Because without a new client to purchase what they’re selling, how is there any any hope of a paycheck in the future? Even if that salesperson is a salaried professional, without showing results for their employer, there’s no guarantee the employer will continue to employ that salesperson.

I think therefore, we can agree that a professional salesperson, whether commissioned or salaried, knows that prospecting for new business is the number one priority for their days, each and every day.

That’s not to say they all follow through on the actions necessary to prospect. “Prospecting avoidance” is a commonly understood malady in the sales profession. Sales Managers everywhere constantly harangue their sales teams to hit the pavements, ring the doorbells, make the calls, set the appointments, to fulfill the promise of prospecting.

Avoidance of prospecting comes out of the simple psychological fear of rejection. We all have it. Besides, as simple as prospecting can often turn out to be when you actually do it, it can also be as difficult to initiate.

It’s no wonder then that business owners who are NOT professional salespeople may suffer from this very disease of prospecting avoidance. The creative excuses people come up with to avoid having to make prospecting calls are legendary. Yet, as the owner of your business, unless you have a professional salesperson or sales team working for you, you must must, must, Prospect for new business.
The only way to overcome your avoidance of your emotional pain about Prospecting is to simply attach a level of importance to this task.

We hear so often from Business Owners of being distracted with other important tasks: making payroll; attending to a malfunctioning machine on the shop floor; taking a call from the accountant/attorney/spouse/pesky customer/excellent customer/number one account/printer/fleet mechanic and on and on and on.

The Business Owner has attached a level of importance to each and every one of these tasks. Attach that same level of importance to Prospecting. You must. Absolutely must. Your business health, wealth and survival depends on you doing so.

Once you make Prospecting as important an activity as any other in running your business, all those other avoidance afflictions melt away into nothing. Fear of rejection disappears. Procrastination towards your Prospecting Plan converts to an optimistic sense of urgency.

And, yes, you may even like Prospecting.

Our Comfort Zone is Unsafe

I’ve been skydiving, twice. Yes, it was terrifying, both times. I imagined all the worst case scenarios…and they all resulted in death. When you jump out of an airplane at 13,000 feet, there’s that first feeling of free falling. Queue Tom Petty, please.

This is not butterflies; this is sheer terror. For many split seconds, I wondered: “how did I get up here, jumping into this big blue sky that’s so high?” But I did it. I got out of my comfort zone. And I lived to tell this tale.

Doesn’t it make you nervous to get out of your comfort zone? It makes me nervous. For instance, I didn’t want to write this blog for fear of having to take my own advice.

I’ve gotten out of my comfort zone in my business, too. I had no choice. I had a deliberate plan to build my business to a certain level. The only way to get to that level was to get out of my comfort zone, jump out of the metaphorical airplane and do things that were uncomfortable but necessary.

Why would you get out of your comfort zone if  you know something works? Getting out of your comfort zone implies pain. Who wants pain?

There’s a reason we do things that scare us. When we do something scary, we put ourselves in a situation and/or surround ourselves with circumstances that we wouldn’t otherwise experience. But, the real problem with staying in our comfort zone is missing out on opportunities.

Skydiving and/or public speaking provide opportunities to learn about ourselves by getting out of our comfort zone and trying something new, and potentially scary. I survived both skydiving jumps and I managed to leverage the two experiences into successful marketing campaigns for my business. This opened up opportunities to win clients. The bonus was also being featured in a book, Make What You Say Pay, by Anne Miller, Sales and Presentation Coach.

Sometimes, doing what we know feels productive. When we want something done, we do it ourselves. Like marketing. Or fixing a leaky faucet. We’re in our comfort zone; we believe we know what to do, and we believe it’ll get done faster. But sometimes getting it done faster isn’t the most efficient use of our time. And sometimes, we actually fail. Sometimes, that leaky faucet repair we tried to fix ourselves turns out to be a disaster.

How do you move from being set in your ways to getting out of your comfort zone?

First, if you have a doubt or fear about doing something you’ve never done before, realize that could be a trigger that there’s experience and growth waiting for you. The fear of jumping out of the airplane is replaced by positive anticipation of the experience. Sheer joy is so much better than sheer terror.

How else can you execute on this trigger?

Decide how you want to grow. Is it personally or professionally? Or both?

  • Do you want to grow your business to the next level?
  • Do you want to have more adventure in your life?
  • Do you want to date more suitable companions?

Be specific in setting your goal so you can know how to proceed with the following task which is to research activities necessary to perform the fearful task. Taking on small challenges will lead to the ultimate goal if you break it down into mini deadlines.

Speaking of public speaking, if you fear public speaking, join a Toastmasters Club. This practice will hone your skills while in
front of a group. This will begin to build good habits around this activity.

As part of achieving my previous business goals, I wanted to get over my fear of public speaking. Not only did I join a Toastmasters Club, I also enrolled in an Improv Acting class. This practice of being in front of people diminished the feeling of embarrassment while performing “think on your feet” acts.

You can discuss with a friend or colleague how to bring life to your thought. Then make the bold move and announce it to the world. To assist with staying accountable to the task, calendar each progression so you know how far out of your comfort zone you’ve come.

All of these activities assist you to imagine your outcome of success. Trish Tagle is an expert in leadership training and troubleshooting organization efficiency in order to evolve businesses. Trish is famous for saying, “imagine the outcome.

Here’s a great example of a business owner who challenged her team to get out of their comfort zone.

My friend and colleague, Kelly Piro, owner of  Agency Performance Partners invited me to judge a “Sales Showdown” for her company. Twice a year, the APP consultants undergo role-playing exercises in order to practice how they interact with prospects. The objective is to convert prospects to clients faster.

ROLE-PLAYING? Yes!

The APP team had various scenarios such as being at a trade show, being on a sales call or in an initial sales meeting. There were several of us observing while the team role-played their scenarios. By critiquing their performance, the judges and the fellow team members pushed everyone out of their comfort zones. It was easy to do in the role-playing scenarios because it was practice, it was imaginary, and no one actually jumped out of an airplane.

Outsourcing important tasks is another way to get out of your comfort zone. Like hiring a plumber to fix that faucet. Cost tends to be the primary impediment before people make the call to the plumber. It’s “comfortable” to think we can save money by doing it ourselves.

But we have other things to do with our time and we’re not actually plumbers, are we?

Interesting in marketing, email us at Curious@AuroraConsulting.biz.

Fly Birdie Fly

“Thinking outside the box” is a phrase commonly used in the business world to exercise your creative thinking.

What’s wrong with boxes anyway? Boxes are handy.

They store and organize stuff AND transport stuff, you know, like PIZZA delivery. YUM!

The origin is said to emerge from the 1970s and 1980s among management consultants challenging clients to connect a “nine dots” puzzle, using only four lines, and without lifting pen from paper.

While the phrase is often used in the corporate world, what about the Entrepreneurs, better yet, Solopreneurs charged with leading ourselves to the best place we can be in the outside world?

Earning money calls for ambition, initiative, creativity and “thinking outside the box”. I’m sure those management consultants who developed the “nine dots” puzzle would pontificate about how we need to think outside of the box to differentiate ourselves.

Are you thinking outside the box?
Are you being your best forward-thinking, creative self?

If so, how?

Here’s a few examples of the entrepreneurs out there in the world:

First, there’s Julie from Brandtwist. Her consulting company helps business-owners think outside the box so their business isn’t “boxed in.” I worked with Julie as an insurance agency owner. She guided me with incredibly creative ideas to help me think outside the box. 

Here’s another example of a creative entrepreneur who thought outside the box. She was asked to collaborate with a newly renovated movie theatre that was about to reopen to the public. The theatre owners hired her to manage the cafe adjoining the theatre. This was a wonderful collaboration until the cafe owner realized that there was no parking for people, who were going to the cafe, during a movie showing.

What did she do? She thought outside the box. She walked the aisles before the movie started with beverages and provisions.

Let’s get back to you? What are you doing to think outside the box?

  • How often do you do something that scares you?
  • What are you thinking that prevents you from trying something new?
  • What outside influences keep you comfy and cozy and stuck inside the box.

Your business needs to leave the nest to find those creative marketing ideas that will let your business fly…to then soar!