Flexible Holiday Success

In this holiday season, as busy as it gets, what can we do to still achieve success? Be flexible. From all the big projects I’ve done with clients one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is the importance of having flexibility. Sometimes that flexibility looks like Plans A-Z (with at least A-C clearly outlined), while sometimes that just looks like allowing extra time so that no one ends up rushed or pushed or “late” (because if the time is flexible you won’t be getting frustrated when they’re not as early as you hoped they would be). Does flexible mean that some things just don’t get done? Yes, because if you have to be flexible it may mean that certain things won’t fit into the new spaces you’ve got in your schedule. But more often than not flexibility means that not only do you get what needs to done and you get to do more, you do it all with less stress.

In the holiday season maybe it means that decorations aren’t up and presents aren’t bought as soon as you might like. Maybe it means that you even have to push some gatherings into the week or weeks after Christmas. Maybe it means holiday cards aren’t sent out as soon as you had hoped, or that you’re baking cookies on Christmas Day because you love baking cookies more than the need to get them done by a certain deadline. Maybe you don’t get to celebrate with the whole family at one time but with a little flexibility you’re able to celebrate with everyone by the end of the month.

What I want you to take with you into this month is first, that you don’t have to give up on regular success efforts and projects because of the holidays, you just may have to be more flexible about when and how much of them gets done. Second, flexibility may be the secret weapon to having a holiday season you truly enjoy even if you pack a whole lot into it. Finally, the essential aspect of flexibility is patience, something that will serve you well through this month as well as into the new year as you reestablish your post-holiday life. Being patient with yourself and others may be the best gift you can give or receive.

Unfulfilled Dreams

Tomorrow in the US we honor the birth and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was admired for so many reasons, including that he became well known because of his faith and his words and his heart, not the wars he fought or obscure scientific breakthroughs he helped with or any sports he excelled at, which are so often the fields of work that people we remember are part of. We’ll talk about the big topic (dreams), but I think it’s important to remember that he was part of two families: one he was born into and one that he helped create with his wife. He did normal people things like food shopping, caring for his home and working a job (he was a pastor). He also had normal people problems because his health wasn’t great and he didn’t have unlimited resources do whatever he wanted (although I suspect he would have done what he did anyway even if he had unlimited resources). All of this is a reminder that anyone and everyone can and should dream.

The hard question here that I tend to think about each time this day comes around is would Dr. King be pleased with the progress we’ve made since his big speech in Washington DC? I think we can all agree that progress has been made since then, but it’s unavoidable to admit that we aren’t where he dreamed we would be. One of the funny things about dreams is that they don’t always follow the “rules” as far as timeliness as we might like them to, happening at a speed that makes it really appealing to have them and share about them, and dreams don’t always take into account some of the logistics which might make it really challenging to fulfill them. For example when I was a kid I dreamed about raising horses, but as it turns out I’m allergic to them so that was off the table. Then I dreamed about being a nurse or some other medical professional, until I learned about the amount of schooling and financial requirements, and that was off the table too.

I don’t think that we should be discouraged by my two failed dreams or the fact that not only did Dr. King not live long enough to see his dream realized, but it’s still a work in progress. I think even the failed dreams are important because they are part of the creativity centers of our brain and get us thinking beyond and outside of our normal “average” lives into the possibility of doing something extraordinary or even just exciting to us. But as an adult I know that my failed dreams don’t have to be failed, and in part I’m living at least one of them because I support a nonprofit that does medical work in various places around the world. It’s just a little different take on the dream I had and a little different way of accomplishing it. But I also know that as we change, grow, meet new people and the world changes too, our dreams can change, and that’s OK too. Maybe more than anything dreaming is an indication that we really want something to change in our lives, whether it has to do with our dream or something related to it (for example you could dream about working with horses, but what the dream is really about at the heart is working a different career than the one you’re currently in).

So if you’re given the hard questions about dreams and Dr. King tomorrow by your kids, I encourage you to not shy away from them, but rather let it be an opportunity to talk about the challenges of life, the conflicts that happen between heart and logistics, being open to opportunities that come our way even if they’re a little different than we imagined, and especially being courageous enough to share your dream with the world.

Add Some Magic to your Business

This month for our business book I read Rory Sutherland’s 2019 “Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business and Life.” The book made an impact on me because as intimidating (and impossible) as the title sounds it shared that we may be actually trying too hard when it comes to getting creative and cutting expenses from our businesses. We absolutely should let research, logic and data have an influence over our business decisions because they do matter and can help us make good decisions. But they shouldn’t be the only thing we consider when we think about improving our business, comparing ourselves to our competitors, and meeting the challenges and opportunities of the future.

One of the examples that Rory used a couple of times in the book is about public transportation, and specifically train rides. What would be the goals that most businesses would say they think they should work on when it comes to train transportation? Most people would say to make the train faster or cheaper to operate. But in the book Rory raises a couple of options that might not address those two goals directly yet can have a positive impact on not only the train ride but perception of train rides too. First, he suggests that instead of making it faster at a huge cost, you work to make it more enjoyable, which usually costs a lot less. Second, instead of trying to fix the biggest complaints in ways that please everyone, just fix them to help your most frequent users. Finally, what if instead of asking how to make the train go faster, you instead work to reduce the total time that people have to invest between leaving their home (or job) and getting to their destination? Talk about some creative approaches to innovating train transportation, and they’re a lot easier to work on, right?! They’re also not the things that many other (train) companies are working on, so it gives you a lot of opportunity to take over the market and really make a notable difference in the lives of your clients.

One of the other topics that Rory discussed was about where business began. He reminded that business used to be an opportunity for companies to bring their best to the table and let the market and customers decide which satisfies their needs best, rather than trying to hash it out between the companies. He also brought up that reducing the number of options, uses or applications because when you get specific it’s really easy for people to know what the purpose is for the product/service you’ve created.

Finally, Rory included many thoughts on marketing, but two stuck out to me. Marketing can be the tool that helps you illustrate the meaning of something and explain why you are charging what you’re charging for it. For example donuts are usually around the same price regardless of what shop you buy them from. But when you get them from a shop that is run by a baker who just retired from working at the royal bakery, or the donuts are often donated to charity events like 5K’s, people are willing to pay more for them, even though the cost of producing them is technically the same as for other bakeries. But you won’t know about that difference and why they’re charging more unless they tell that story that in their marketing. Second, marketing can be used as a tool to do the opposite: reassure customers why a price is so low. When you see a $2 shirt online that comes with free shipping at a $10 minimum, what do you think? It’s a scam and probably really poor quality, right? But with the right (truthful!) marketing story you can explain exactly how you’re able to pass those great prices on to your customers and that it really is a great deal and not a scam.

Rather than trying to do something “better” than your competitors, why don’t you try doing something different that hasn’t been tried or isn’t the most obvious choice? It might add that magic that you’ve been looking for to your business.

Moving Forward/Forward Movement

Is your business moving forward? I know those two words (moving forward) are two words that many of us are really tired of hearing after a couple of years with the pandemic (and it’s not like we emerged from the pandemic and have been able to move on because there’s not a set end date that we’ll be done with it like there was with the car ride to the grandparents each holiday season). But if you’re serious about your business success, they’re crucial words to take into account because if there’s no movement, especially forward movement, well, we’ve seen the results. Remember when most stores had consistently empty shelves and only when you got lucky was what you wanted available in the brand/size/shape/variety you were really looking for? There wasn’t anything moving forward, or when things could move forward there were various stops and unexpected challenges or delays at different contributors between start and product-on-shelves, which meant that it wasn’t like one thing could be fixed and it would just run smoothly again, it was often many or multiple things that kept things from moving smoothly.

So when it comes to ‘moving forward’ what does that look like? First I think we need to recognize that we’re talking about both ‘moving forward’ and ‘forward movement.’ Both are key to success and when we aren’t moving forward and don’t have forward momentum it increases our likelihood of overall failure as a business as well as contributing to a rising number of challenges and struggles we face. When you’re moving forward you’re continuing to look ahead and work towards goals and making plans and taking action to keep your business going and growing. Forward movement is the actual actions and visible progress showing that you’re not staying stuck in your issues or letting the issues you/the world have stop you from being successful and making your customers happy.

So what does ‘moving forward’ and ‘forward movement’ look like? It looks like consistent marketing in a variety of mediums even when you can’t afford the usual budget, it just takes more creativity. It looks like new connections and partnerships being made and shared about and making plans together to grow into the future. It looks like having better customer service/customer feedback statistics at the end of the week/month. It means growing beyond the existing products and services you have even if it’s just one or two things (including bring back favorites from several years ago that people have asked after time and again) to appeal to new customers and keep your existing ones engaged. It means staying in touch with your team and employees and hearing from them what they see with your customers and what they want and need as humans and members of your team. It means showing up in big and little ways for your business from updates to your website to keeping the grass and weeds trimmed around your signs and buildings. And yes, it does mean thinking about and investigating what potential the future holds that you can tap into including needs or interests that people have and aren’t being met by anyone in your field, and making tentative plans you could fine tune if the opportunity presents.

I know how hard it can be to have forward movement or to move forward when it feels like all you’re doing is sitting at a red light and it’s just not turning green. It’s frustrating to know that you don’t have the budget that you used to or that you can’t hire all these awesome people right now. But it’s more damaging and disheartening if we don’t find some ways to keep moving forward and some successes, however small, to keep ourselves and our team (and our customers too) committed and believing in better days ahead. If you’re facing challenges right now because of the economy or the pandemic I encourage you to keep showing up, keep trying, keep speaking up, keep asking and renew your commitment daily to being the best leader you can with a business that is putting its best foot forward every day even when it’s challenging. How are you moving forward and what forward movement are you creating in your business?

Business Advice from the Month of March

Today is a special day for many reasons for people in the US as well as people around the world. Today there’s a fascinating confluence of several holidays and special events: it’s Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent (a holy season leading up to Easter), it’s Dr. Seuss’s birthday (he would be 118 today), and it’s National Read Across America Day (side note: interestingly enough we’ve got another match up of events later this month with St Patrick’s Day and Purim (another religious celebration) on the same day).

As you may know, I always love hearing about and discussing holidays as well as incorporating them into my marketing activities. Why? Because businesses are led and run by people and market to people and people have lives that are filled with and impacted by these special holidays and events. I believe more businesses get in trouble when they forget that people are the beginning, middle and end of everything, which makes it essential to do your best to always put the people first.

Dr. Seuss is so well known by so many generations and can teach us a thing or two not only about being better humans but also about being more successful as businesses in general and in our marketing. He had a way with words, he was incredibly creative, he told stories, he didn’t avoid talking about serious situations or discussing problems and challenges, he wasn’t afraid to be different, he wrote about timeless topics people could relate to, and he had big dreams. Dr. Seuss was able to find a balance between being entertaining (which always sells more) and motivating, encouraging, dreaming and giving people a reality check. Of course his chosen medium was books, some of which were turned into cartoons or movies, while we may be carpenters, teachers, scientists, social media experts, or leaders in some other field, but all of these lessons are things that we can take with us as we look to breathe new life into our businesses with the end of winter and change to spring in the next few weeks.

Dr. Seuss may be a bigger part of our childhood than our adulthood, but the holidays and religious celebrations are things people spend time on throughout their lives. One of the lessons we can take both from Dr. Seuss and these holidays is the importance of having meaning and purpose in our lives. One of our jobs as businesses is to make sure that people understand the value of what we’re offering and hoping to share with them or add to their lives. People don’t participate in Ash Wednesday because they like getting ashes on their heads, people don’t celebrate reading because they like to use books as paperweights (or so there are more books to ban), people don’t celebrate Purim because they like to remember a bad time in their history, people take time out of their lives for these holidays and events because they mean something to them, they’re important and without them their lives would be less complete or fulfilling. No, not every business, product or service needs to be associated with deep feeling and solemnity, but every business, product and service needs to fulfill a need or add value to their customers. And when it’s not as obvious as the value of celebrating Christmas or the start of summer or Valentine’s Day, it’s up to us to make sure we’ve presented our potential customers with the visuals, emotions, words, stories, reasons and support to get them excited and on board.

So with this new month, how are you going to get your current customers more engaged and informed about what you offer? Can you do a better job of explaining what you offer and why it matters to potential customers (not to mention how awesome it is)? Your willingness to not only believe in what you offer, but share that belief with your customers and potential customers can make the difference between them buying from you and choosing to buy from the competition.

Are You An Explorer?

Why don’t we explore creativity, exploration and discovery as much as we used to? For many years today has been the day that the US has remembered the explorer Christopher Columbus. He wasn’t perfect and the early decades of settling in the US (and other parts of the world) weren’t perfectly or respectfully done with consideration for the people who already lived here, but our world would be very different if people like Columbus didn’t travel outside of their comfort zone and take the risks to help habitate more of the planet.

I do understand that we don’t have as much of the world to explore anymore from a perspective of not really knowing what’s out there, because people have really explored the majority of it. But just because you’ve been somewhere doesn’t mean that you’ve seen all of it, seen it all during a season or a time of day or with the people you’re with that time or after the experiences you’ve had and ways your life has changed since you were last there. For example even though people devote hours and days of their lives to reading and watching countless pieces of research on topics like the Titanic, ghosts, the Wild West, rulers of England, turtles, Jack the Ripper and just about every other topic you can think of, they never get tired of learning about those topics and it’s almost impossible to truly exhaust all sources of knowledge on a topic.

I don’t think our lives were meant to be stationary and lived on “repeat.” I think we are healthiest when we learn and explore and grow, and we also have the best possibilities for success when we’re open to movement and change. We know the names of Columbus, Magellan and all the other explorers because they chose to explore the world. We know the names of people like Steve Jobs, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Martin Luther King Jr because they chose to explore and get creative and push the boundaries that other people chose to live by. That doesn’t mean that repetition doesn’t have a place in success, because it does. And it doesn’t mean that everyone has to be extraordinary and have their name in a history book, rather that we should all be inspired by those who are in the history books to welcome creativity, exploration and discovery into our lives in whatever ways are most appropriate for each of us. What have you explored recently?

Share Your Work With The World

This month I read Seth Godin’s book The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. I often pick up Seth Godin’s work because he’s been at this business thing for so long and I really appreciate the different perspectives and wisdom he brings to all things business. This book really focuses on getting from idea to personal project and/or passion and/or hobby to bringing your work to the masses. This is a much bigger part of our work than we often take time to think about, so I really appreciated getting perspective on it, especially as we begin this new year.

The book begins with some important reminders that the majority of our creative work is done in service of others. Seth Godin and I both agree that whatever service we offer isn’t right for everyone, that not everyone will love what we offer, and that’s OK (and is something we’re going to talk about more later). But I know that it’s a whole lot easier to be in the thick of things with creative work or with clients when I keep front and center, or at the very least in the back of my mind, that I’m helping them, that I’m providing a service that benefits them and adds value to their lives in some way.

I also really appreciated that Seth addressed two of the biggest challenges for people who do more creative work (which is a good percentage of us): the first being the struggle over being comfortable with promotion and selling to people. But he reminded that not only are we being of service by sharing with people about things that can help them, they’re often excited, glad and thankful for that information. Think about the last time you had a really happy client, or you witnessed a really happy client: for example maybe if you were out at a restaurant and heard the couple at a table near yours telling the manager how awesome their server was and how delicious the food was and how they can’t wait to come back. You can hear the excitement and happiness in their voices, and it makes you happy too. So sales and promotion aren’t all bad.

The second big challenge that Seth addresses is the whole “free” stuff topic. In the book Seth says “generous doesn’t mean free…money supports our commitment to the practice.” Seth has a free blog that anyone anywhere can read, and I agree with having free trials, blogs, or other content for people to get to know you and what you offer, so it’s not a question of if free should be removed from the business world, we agree it shouldn’t. But it’s absolutely acceptable for you to draw a line and say that you give/donate/offer x, y, or z for free and beyond that you invite people to support the work you put into the world.

Finally, Seth talks about how any business owner has to decide if they want to try to create for everyone or they want to focus on a more specific audience. We’ve already established that not everyone will love (or need) what you offer, so technically you can’t create for everyone, or please everyone, so you should focus on a smaller audience that truly appreciates what you offer. I find it a bit both ironic and fascinating that Seth is so vocal about this in the book and yet his blog has thousands of people who read his blog each day. Like most of us, Seth started small and has been able to touch countless people over the years which helped him grow this large audience. Maybe you don’t have dreams or plans of going as big as he has been able to do, and that’s OK, all you have to do is start with your small circle and the (slightly) larger group that it grows to, and do your very best to serve them.

One final thought: the book is sub titled “Shipping Creative Work” and that’s because as awesome as it is to create for yourself or your immediate family and friends, the creative gifts that we have really are meant to be shared with (shipped to) the rest of the world. What creative efforts are you sharing with the world?

Rethinking Halloween

Halloween is this coming Saturday, and I’m anticipating it with a combination of excitement and sadness. In some recent years we’ve had snow and other big acts of mother nature on or around Halloween and it has been postponed or cancelled, which was disappointing. But this year with the virus it’s a completely different type of cancellation because we know going in that it’s not likely to be anything like the event we’ve had in the past and therefore disappointing to kids (and the adults who enjoy the holiday).

Families can alleviate the sadness if their kids/communities aren’t participating this year by turning it into a week of all things Halloween, kind of like we do with the month of December for Christmas. Plan a different Halloween movie, activity, decorating/dress up activity, and treat hunt for each day of the week, things that everyone in the family would enjoy. These can be things you’ve done and watched in the past, as well as things that are new to your family and Halloween traditions. It’s a great year to try some of the more labor-intensive things you’ve put off in the past because everyone has a little more time at home this year.

This year has been an opportunity to do more with family and do things a little different. I know we haven’t been able to make the usual memories and have the usual experiences because of the virus, but I think we’ve been able to make some special memories all the same. So as we get into the 2020 holiday season, I think it’s a great opportunity to come up with new traditions, try new customs and get creative about our celebrations in ways we’ve never done or tried before. What spooky fun will you have this week with your family?

Creative Success

Over the past few weeks and likely for months to come, we’ll be seeing lots of examples of creativity. Not only have many of us been given the opportunity to be home and able to work on our home improvement projects that we may have put off, we’re also asked to be more creative when it comes to planning for meals and feeding our families, as well as getting creative about how we can support our communities from our homes while many people aren’t working.

I’ve been taking note of the politicians in my community that are both working hard and communicating frequently with their constituents and the organizations who are contributing in ways to those who are struggling and organizations who are working with the community and government to help those in need. They’re organizations and politicians and leaders that I want to support into the future both as life returns to a level of normal and to watch in the future from a success perspective.

Something that’s also been in the news a lot are the ways that people in the community are stepping up to both support each other and celebrate the first responders who are on the road, in the hospitals and in the essential businesses. It’s great to see companies and people really standing up for and recognizing the hard work that these people are doing. But there are more people who are staying at home than those who are out working, and that’s a huge challenge for our social world. So while it’s important to be supporting the front line workers right now, we’ve also had to get more creative about how we support each other. We’ve heard of communities gathering on their balconies to sing and cheer and chat. This morning I was reading about how the people in New Zealand gathered in their driveways to celebrate Anzac day and tonight I heard a commercial from a popular hot dog brand encouraging people to bring their grills to their front yards and do a front yard “neighborhood” cookout.

I hope that we’ll go back to many of the things we used to, but I also hope that we’ll embrace the creativity that we’ve lived with for weeks and months now, moving into the future with more curiosity, more conversation and more consideration, rather than just blindly resuming our previous daily lives. What used to bring us together, what used to help us reach success may or may not work in the future. If we’re able to learn from and apply this creativity, adaptability and willingness to learn, change and grow, I believe we’ll have an even better future and greater success than what we’ve previously experienced.

Celebrating Summer Birthdays

Birthdays are funny because some people really don’t enjoy them while others want them celebrated in a big way. One of the more interesting times to have a birthday is in the summer because it’s a lot harder to celebrate because people are taking vacations and off doing a myriad of different things and not in their usual places. Even adults have less predictability in their lives during the summer. I’m not a summer baby but I know several people who are, so today I thought we’d talk about ways to celebrate them, ways that also work for those who have a birthday on Christmas or Christmas Eve.

Go ahead and celebrate anyway. Your birthday is about you, so maybe you don’t get to have a big party because not everyone can attend, so go ahead and do what you want. Maybe it’s a special dinner or other meal, maybe it’s sleeping in, maybe it’s hanging out with just one special person, maybe it’s doing something special with just your immediate family. Make your birthday what you want it to be.

Celebrate your half birthday instead. Celebrating your half birthday means that it would be during times that people are around, and maybe even looking for something to do in the rather tame months of January and February. Of course if you celebrate your half birthday with your friends and your actual birthday with your family it’s like having two birthdays!

Pick a day, any day. Yes, pick another day that appeals to you and make it your honorary birthday. Maybe you really hate celebrating your birthday so you make your honorary birthday February 29 so you only have to celebrate it every 4 years. Maybe you love your Irish heritage so you celebrate it on March 14. Maybe you love all things spooky so you make it October 31. Maybe you like the idea of starting with the calendar so you celebrate on January 1. Regardless, you’ve got lots of other days to choose from.

What about you? What fun and creative ideas do you have for summer birthday celebrations?