On Trust, Making Money and the Customer Experience

Trust.

It’s an intimidating, 10-foot-tall hairy giant of a word, but a necessary part of your vocabulary when it comes to your relationships; Relationships with your significant others, your parents, your friends and your mentors. But maybe most importantly for your business (and your wallet), trust is a key factor when it comes to your customers.

Your customers require you to show your trustworthiness by sharing accurate and valuable information; by proving you’re an expert in your field; by going beyond the cut-and-paste customer service responses and instead, exuding excitement for the opportunity to help them achieve their goals; by really giving a damn about what they’re thinking and feeling.



The question is, how do you foster this feeling of trust? A company blog or video series might be one way. A highly engaging and responsive social customer service presence might be another. If you’re feeling fancy (and ready to make the world your bitch) the trifecta of the three can totally kill it … if done right.

And that’s the hard part.

How do you start a blog, shoot video, and have a thriving social presence on a micro business budget and a workforce of one?

Guilt and the Solopreneur: How to Compromise and Kick Guilt to the Curb

Yapp CEO Maria Seidman recently was quoted as saying guilt is one of the hardest things for entrepreneurs to deal with. The guilt of not putting enough time and effort into your business. Of not giving enough attention to your family and friends. The guilt that you can't be everything to everyone.

How many of us can attest to that?

Guilt is a real bitch and everybody knows it. It's an emotion that keeps you on lock down and prevents you from learning, growing, and being productive. But guilt is also something that can be managed, even learned from.

Before guilt can be wrangled into submission, you must first figure out what's most important. Take a step back and ask yourself: what are the most valued moments in my life? Is it Sunday mornings with your family? Taking the kids to school? Landing a new client? Once you qualify those moments, you can begin to design your life around them — getting a later start so you can see the kids off, increasing your sales and marketing efforts so you can make those client connections, declaring Sunday a true no-work day.

Once you're committed to focusing on what's really valuable to you, you have permission — nay, the right — to sweep the legs of guilt, kick it in the guts, and move on without.


How do you handle guilt in your solopreneurial life?


Source: Flickr user Nick-K (Nikos Koutoulas)

Why Content Is NOT King (And What Should Be Instead)

The struggle for control of the internet has taken many forms. Moving from one hot attention grabbing tactic to another in order to get traffic — from SEO to guest blogging, social media, and now content marketing — it's reminiscent of Game of Thronesin a way. But without all the nasty beheadings.

Surely by now you've heard the term "Content is King." That it's one of, if not the most important item in your marketing arsenal, bringing people to your site and allowing you to prove your worth without piling on the slimy sales chain mail.

But I'd beg to differ. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's not even queen, like suggested by Under 30 CEO recently.

I'd say there's a few things that are more important for long-term content success. So what exactly is the current content marketing hierarchy? Let's take a look at the lay of the land from one point of view.

Relationships Are King

Whether it be a relationship with your customers, your link partners, guest blogging partners, or other small businesses, developing honest and solid relationships will take you farther than any content marketing, SEO, or PPC advertising strategy ever will. This means that customer service should live at the heart of your company, and customer service takes many forms:

• Going above and beyond to make things right when you've done wrong (unknowingly or otherwise).
• Focusing on using your skills and knowledge to help others.
• Having a conversation with customers and link partners online rather than blindly blasting your latest message.
• Lift up fellow bloggers or small businesses — there's plenty of room in the world for all of us so put those your brains together and come up with something unique and useful.

Are you building relationships or sequestering yourself to your own little island in an ocean of opportunity?

Get the rundown on the rest of the monarchy after the break!

How To Turn 2012 Failures Into 2013 Successes: A Guide For Making Your Resolutions Stick

I always prefer to look at the bright side of things, hunt down the silver linings, and uncover a sliver of positivity in every situation, no matter how dark and gloomy. Take unfulfilled goals for example. Didn't lose that 10 pounds I've been resolutioning for the past two years? Well, I've got 12 more months ahead to finally make it happen.

Didn't write that ebook I said I'd have in the can by years end? Good news is, I've learned so much in the past three months that I think I could write an even better ebook than I could have before.

Kept putting off the big website redesign and launching a consulting business? At least I can plan in even greater detail and come out swinging for the fences in Q1.

See? Things don't look that bad, right? Do me a favor - just nod and smile.

While my world may seem quite rosy through the glasses I'm perpetually wearing, the truth is, these are all goals that I committed to, but failed miserably at completing. That's nothing to brag about. That's a big 'ole "F" circled in bright red Sharpie on my own Commitment Test.

You might be in the same boat. You might be looking at your 2012 resolutions with dismay as they sit, unfulfilled on your vision board, or posted in your blog declaring for all to see the truth — you fell short.

Let's not make the same mistake twice.

Let's really stick to doing what we say we are going to do this year. Cause when we don't, we only hurt ourselves. Here's a few ideas, inspirational moves, and methods to keeping your goals alive until you red-line them as "done."

Making Your List

It's an annual pilgrimage we all make: sitting down at our desks, our big comfy chairs, our kitchen tables, and writing down our end of the year goals for the upcoming 12 months. This generally happens during the latter days of December when we start reflecting on the past 350-some-odd days, recall the things we've always wanted to see, do, hear, and touch, and make plans to turn dreams into reality. But how often do you actually accomplish them? Number three on your list may be "Make a million dollars," but how the hell are you going to accomplish that in 12 months? Or maybe it's a longer-term goal you plan on checking off your to-do list in three years. Even so, a million dollars won't just appear out of thin air.

This is the problem with New Year's Resolutions: all goals, no plans. We sit and cast our wishes, desires, and dreams on a sheet of paper, but make absolutely no effort to devise a plan on how to accomplish them as they die, hanging on a corkboard that eventually gets hidden behind shopping receipts, kid's artwork, grocery lists, and jury duty summonses.

See the rest after the break!

Why Negative Comments Aren't Always a Bad Thing

I'll just come right out and say it: shit happens. In this world, you're bound to piss someone off, and if you don't then you're probably not doing it right. "It" meaning life. When it comes to blogging though, asserting yourself, your opinions, and standing behind your knowledge is what gets you readers. You can't be middle of the road. And it's this attitude that might lead to some negative comments because, let's face it — the internet is full of people that know more than you (or at least think they do) and since they don't have to counter your opinions face-to-face, they can say whatever they want, no matter how negative.

But the fear of negative comments is no reason to stay away from blogging or social media. In fact, it can even help you. If someone has something nasty to say about your products or service, really listen and evaluate the situation. Are there ways for you to improve? It could be just the thing you need to reinvigorate your customer service process, menu, shop layout, or policies. It may even bring up issues or roadblocks that you hadn't even thought of before. Maybe the negativity is aimed at your writing style. Don't let it get the best of you — blogging takes practice so the more you do it, the better you'll get. The thing you absolutely must remember though, is not to freak out and respond back with negativity of your own. Rise above and try to see the positive changes or realizations that could come from a negative response. Of course, there will always be trolls — those who have nothing better to do than vomit their hostile energy all over the internet — who's comments you can promptly let roll off your back like water off a duck and forget they were even there. You'll know 'em when you see 'em.

How do you handle negative comments? Is negative feedback keeping you from blogging or engaging in social media? Share your experiences, and how you handled negativity, in the comments below!

Source: Flickr user fuzzysaurus

Keep Warm: Office Heaters For a Cozy Winter

Chilly temps and cloudy skies can only mean one thing – winter is blowing in like a boss. The weather outside might be frightful, but you can keep clickity-clacking away at the office while keeping your digits and patootie defrosted (without wearing ridiculous Snuggies, scarves, gloves, and layers of sweaters) with these stylish heating devices. Don’t be fooled – they might look cool, but they’re made to keep you toasty warm. Your office pet, start-up partner, and core body temps will thank you.

1. MAX Fan Heater ($100)
2. Plus Minus Zero Electric Heater Series ($TBD)
3. Plus Minus Zero Electric Heater Series ($TBD)
4. Sciroccoh Brick Wall Heater ($TBD)
5. Dyson Fan Heater ($400)
6. Crane Space Heater ($35)

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