The 26-Hour Day

We devour books, movies, get addicted to TV shows, consume blogs, and online media. Why? because we love a good story. We want to escape, imagine, learn, hope, aspire.

As a business owner, we want to be a part of that consumption i.e. the conversation. We want our videos to go viral, and our visits to skyrocket. As restaurants, wineries, hotels, resort properties, we want media and influencers to visit our properties and “write about us”. This is an excellent tactic,  yes, but have you taken it one step further? Have you given thought to your story? What makes you interesting, educational, inspirational? How can you appeal to your audience (writers, journalists, bloggers, community members, stakeholders and employees) and engage in positive conversation about you?

Craft and tell your story (ies). In PR speak we call this key messaging. I prefer storytelling.

1. Find your story: Ever do a retreat, attend a conference, get out of town and just step in a new world? This is a must. I attended Counselors’ Academy for the first time in 2009. It’s a conference for PR agency owners and CEO’s but that doesn’t’ matter here to you. I was in a brand new environment, with all new people. At every introduction, I was telling my story without realizing it. As I progressed, I refined it based on the feedback I was getting. “I run an small PR firm in Sandpoint Idaho and work with clients in the outdoor recreation and lifestyle industry yadda yadda yadda.” CEO’s of global firms were envious. Everyone seemed to love what I was doing. I thought, really? me? what? Because it’s my every day. it’s what I know so it must be boring and humdrum. Not true. step away from it and write your story.
2. Please, make it interesting to others. Don’t forget to use the why-should-I-care filter. ( The “I” being your audience of course). For example, you might think you’re new state-of-the-art reservations software is exciting, after all it’s going to make your business more efficient and your life much better (ideally),  but you know your audience won’t care, right? If you’re not sure, test it in your social and professional circles. Just like I did unwittingly in Step 1.
3. Benefit – whats in it for me syndrome – does your story have a moral, does it teach, does it inspire? It should do at least one of the above.
   • Educational story – what can you teach potential customers and clients. If you are a winery, you teach them different things about wine making or wine appreciation. If you are a restaurant, you teach them seasonal cooking techniques, or how to cook using local ingredients, if you are a real estate community, you can teach them about new regulations in lending. tell them how to protect their home from pests or natural disasters. Educate your audience so they become more knowledgeable and purchase more of your product.
   • Inspirational story - maybe it’s a great story on where you got to be where you are today. We all want to be inspired, to feel hope. If you have something neat to share with us, we want to do business with you. We want to be associated with your brand and we want to share your story. I can’t really tell your for sure why this is, maybe we just hope it will rub off!!

Then share the story with journalists, bloggers, your facebook and twitter audience, perhaps it’s for your YouTube channel, or your blog. The distribution channels are endless, but that’s a topic for another time.

In the end, we all love a good story. When I see my husband at the end of the day, instead of, “how was your day?”, he says, “tell me a good story.”

The End

I’d love to know what you think. anything to add?

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Grove Park Inn – site of Counselors Academy 2010

How do you spark the passion and fall in love again? Well, many couples might take a second honeymoon or romantic retreat. And what about in our work lives? Don’t we need some sort of romantic retreat with our careers? I’m referring to a working, creative and transformational break surrounded by industry peers, away from our co-workers, employees and clients. When is the last time you hit the reset button in your business?

I just did. I am energized and excited to hop back into things with a fresh perspective, new ideas and an amazing support group with whom to do it.

For me, my professional getaway is Counselors Academy. This is my second year attending. A chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, the 3-day conference is intended for CEO’s and owners of PR Agencies. The sessions and conversations are centered around the business side of running an agency. For you, your professional vacation is, (fill in the blank with your industry specific event).

I had so many excuses not to do something like this for myself.

Its expensive, I’m too busy to spend that much time away from the office. It’s a risk. How do I know this is going to be worth my time and money?

As I learned from Michael Gerber in his book the e-Myth Mastery,  it was time for me to stop being a technician and put on my entrepreneur hat.

And now, I have seen the light. I have drunk the kool-aid. Here is what I learned on my professional vacation:

• I can do this. I’m not afraid to admit that when I hit a bump in the road, I can feel pretty tempted by that barrista job at the local coffeehouse. I became inspired by peers in my industry and what they are accomplishing. Yes, in another room, at another time, “peers in my industry” would mean competitors, but that’s not the case in this environment.
• Think about throwing a cocktail party: Design and build a culture into your business. Don’t let it happen by default. Surround yourself with clients and employees you enjoy working with and who bring value to the conversation.  Tom Gable of Gable PR suggested that we think of our business much like we would think of throwing a cocktail party. Great concept – I plan the guest list, the menu, the theme, the decor all around a desired level of engagement I’d like to achieve.
• Learn from the ones ahead of me, mentor the ones behind me. wow. Elise Mitchell blew the crowd away when she shared her experience growing her agency. I learned a ton from her, but there is one thing in particular I’d like to share here: I will never again be hesitant to impose on people smarter than I for advice. We all need it from those with more experience than we have. But how can I repay them? By being successful and paying it forward.

Now I have work to do, visions to clarify, plans to develop and actions to implement. How do you renew the passion for what you do?

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train wreck

Originally uploaded by woodleywonderworks

Is it over yet? Can I open my eyes? Sure, a lot of you did well in 2009, but I’ll be honest, the year was a train wreck for me and I am pretty happy to ring in a new year with some good lessons learned and a strong action plan in place.

I thought I’d share some of those lessons learned, and what I intend to be my recipe for success as I focus on my 2010 planning these last two weeks of December. They apply to any organization or sole proprietor, really.

Please add your ideas in the comments.

• Work ON my business: not just in it. I’ve increased the percentage of hours I spend working ON my business to about 25% of my time. It turns out this wasn’t hard to do since I lost a lot of client work!

• What is my vision? What do I want my business to look like in five years? I’m talking big picture stuff here, not the details. What type of clients do I want? Who specifically do I want on my client list? Where do I want to be geographically and do I want to add staff?

• Revisit and refine my positioning: I pulled out that business plan and walked myself through the exercise again. Where are the opportunities and threats? What markets are doing well right now? What industries? Why would someone choose me over everyone else? In other words, what is my positioning statement?

Based on that, I asked myself:

• Where are the Weak Spots? I love doing business development, and writing proposals. But I realize I haven’t been winning new business from those with whom I don’t have an established relationship. I am not winning trust from new contacts. Ok, then what’s wrong with my pitch documents? I’ve asked a few people I know and respect to critique them for me. It’s not easy to ask people for help. I worry about putting them out. But I’m honored when someone asks me, so I’m guessing they feel the same way.

• Expand my credibility and my exposure: I’ve defined my goals, my specialties and my target clients. Now it’s time to demonstrate my expertise. I am actively seeking speaking positions on pr and social media. I’m in the process of rewriting the copy on my website. I finally launched this blog.

• Tools in place, now lets actively use my networks to find that business. I can use all my efforts to drive traffic to my blog and my website. I’m finding strategic partners, and I’m reconnecting with old colleagues via traditional and social media outlets.

So I guess there is a bright side to this. 2009 has taught me to work smarter.

Please weigh in below in the comments section. What are some of the lessons you learned in 2009? What are you doing to turn it around? What advice do you have to share with me, and others in a similar situation?

Happy New Year!

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