Small business | Words For Hire

Blogging, Life and Gasping for Air

April 22, 2014 by Karen Swim

Oxygen mask

To start writing again, you just have to write. Pretty simple advice but it’s true. Today feels like as good time as any to just write. As I sat down to write the typical blog post, you know the one with nuggets of wisdom, and how-to do that thing you don’t know how to do, this post was standing in the way. Yes, that post – the one you’re never supposed to write on a business blog because of branding, image and all that jazz. Luckily for me I’m not chased down my paparazzi or swarmed by swooning fans that care about me maintaining an “image.”

This year was supposed to be an epic new chapter in my life. I turned 50 in January and was looking forward to a year of celebration and joy. Days before my 50^th birthday, I learned that my youngest brother (who shares my birthday month) was ill. Life quickly spun into research, treatments, hospitalizations, sleepless nights and many, many family phone calls. This is in the midst of running a business. By February, I was exhausted but accepting of the new normal. In March my brother died. Even as I write this my stomach drops.

My brother’s service was on a Friday and I went back to work on Monday. Big. Fat. Mistake. I was so afraid that if I took time off things would fall apart. So I continued to work with a heart so heavy it felt like a second person. One sleepless night after another, I got up in the morning and convinced myself that I could soldier through until things really did start to fall apart.

I was off my game but too sad and exhausted to do anything about it. I fell behind schedule and worked hard to catch up but I let other things slip like business development. With two clients winding down I learned a third was cutting their budget. Ugh. All normal stuff in normal times but disaster when you are the working wounded. The last bit of bad news shocked me back to life. Not what I would have chosen, but hey it worked.

On the other side of depression, I now see how unwise it is to care for others without caring for you first. We’ve heard it so often – put on your own oxygen mask first. I’ve said it countless times to harried entrepreneurs and over extended friends and yet I allowed myself to get into a position where I was gasping for air. So, I’m writing this post as a declaration of my own healing and a precautionary warning for all of you.

I worked out of fear and but the thing I feared happened anyway. It would have been far better if I had allowed time to tend to my needs before trying to meet the needs of others, even if is my business. I won’t allow myself to fall for this lie again. I am a person of faith but in this I acted like a spindly coward who could not let go and trust that it would all work out.

In the end, it is all working out and better than I could have predicted. So today I take another step (a long meandering one, but thanks for indulging me) into my new future. I can’t promise daily posts but I am happy to be able to just write, regardless of the frequency.

Have you ever forgotten to put on your own mask? I’d love to hear your comments, because we’re all in this together!

Don’t Call Me, I’ll Call You

September 16, 2013 by Karen Swim

I received a phone call from a service that I have been using for nearly a decade. The call came in the middle of an early afternoon run. I had decided to take a lunch time run to clear my head and recharge. Seeing the service pop up on my caller ID, I answered thinking that there was a problem. I picked up and the cheery customer service representative informed me that it was a customer check-up call.

Customer service phone call

She never took a breath before launching into a series of increasingly annoying questions. I kept running while providing short answers. I was annoyed but curious where this was headed. It quickly became apparent that this was far from a “check-up” call it was an attempt to sell me services I had no desire to buy.

For almost 10 years I have been happy with the service and often recommended it to others. In less than 10 minutes, my largely favorable view of the company had been tainted. It is not the attempt to upsell me that rankled but the poor way in which it was handled.

I am not outing the company as I have no desire to damage their reputation. I’d rather use this as an opportunity to learn and assess our own behaviors with customers. So listed below are the three key mistakes this company made and what we can learn from it.

Mistake #1: Treating customers like strangers. The rep had access to my account information. A quick look at my history would have revealed the number of years I have been a customer and the products I am currently using. Instead, the rep treated me like a brand new customer asking me if I knew about different features that are basic to the service. The entire conversation could have gone differently if she had immediately acknowledged me as a long term customer and led with what she knew about me and my business. Instead it felt like meeting an old friend who shakes your hand and says, “Where do I know you from?”

Mistake #2: The conversation was a lie. The representative said it was a customer check-up call but she never asked about my current service. She simply launched into a series of scripted questions about features. Be honest about why you’re calling and set the expectation up front. If you’re calling to tell me about services I may not be using, say that.

Mistake #3: Focus on quota, not customer. Clearly the company has an internal initiative to improve revenues and shift customers into a higher priced featured product. I felt like little more than a “mark” rather than a valued customer. It would have been nice to hear “thanks for being our customer for so long,” or some acknowledgement of our history. It would have been even nicer to have a real conversation that was relevant to me and my business. Rather than scripted questions, ask real questions about my business and goals and offer solutions that make sense.

Proactive calls to customers are a wonderful way to nurture relationships, and yes even grow your business. However, it is important to ensure that in every interaction you put the customer first. Today, even small companies have access to huge amounts of data about their customers. Use that data to serve up messages that are relevant to your customer base.

In this particular case, no service would have been a better option. I was perfectly happy before the awkward fake customer check up call. The call put the company on my radar in a different way. It has made me hyper aware of their marketing messages on other platforms, and I am not sure I like the new direction. A once loyal customer is now eyeing other options.

I’d love to hear from you. Have you ever been on the receiving end of proactive service that went bad? How do you prevent this in your own business?

It’s Complicated! A Closer Look at Our Relationship with Money

October 7, 2011 by Karen Swim

Image via Wikipedia

This week we have been discussing Mrs. Teague, a woman who had a storehouse of content that she wanted to offer for free. She had definite attitudes about fee versus free. You can read part 1 here and the follow-up here.

In my discussion with Mrs. Teague I shared that I had no problem with anyone making a profit. My disclosure prompted her to protest “But I’m a giver! Her sentiment seemed to imply that giving and profit are mutually exclusive. This is one of the common beliefs I encounter that hint at our complex attitudes about money and in particular wealth.

I talk to so many small business owners who struggle with charging for their services. They do things for free, go beyond an established scope of work and very often charge too little for their services. They seem almost ashamed to make money, and are uncomfortable asking for it.

Money is not evil. It is inanimate and only has the power we assign to it. Having money does not make a person bad or less virtuous than those who have less. In this country we have these complex ideas about money. I have not heard anyone scream that they want less money but we have definitive ideas about how much is “too much” and how money should be spent when you live in abundance.

As a business owner you have to delve into your attitudes and relationship with money so that you can be a responsible steward of your life’s work. Getting to the root of any dysfunction can uncover attitudes that may be limiting you in multiple areas of your life.

Making a profit from your time and expertise does not make you a selfish, money grubbing charlatan. Profit is part of being a responsible business. Ensuring that you have a good and healthy cash flow says that you respect the precious gift which has been entrusted to you. Profit also allows you to be a giver. When you make money you can invest in other businesses goods and services, create jobs indirectly or directly and support the nonprofits and charities of your choice.

Unless you have taken a personal vow of poverty, your goal as a business owner should be to develop and sustain a profitable business.

Just as I am not against profit, I am not against free. With both, comes a responsibility to do what is right by your customers and your business. If “free” is going to bankrupt your business, then it’s not a smart decision. You should also reconsider free if you cannot afford to offer true value without a price tag. Even free comes with a cost and a decision as to how those costs are allocated – shared with the recipients or solely the burden of the giver.

Deciding on how much you want to profit is up to you. The first step is to understand your costs. Some businesses give so much that they struggle to cover the basics. MBO Partners has a great free online tool that will help you to determine your billable rate based on your costs and desired profit.

You can also begin to examine your attitude about money. Does money make you feel guilty, and if so why? Taking time to discover how you really feel about money provides an opportunity for you to become a much stronger financial manager, business owner and person.

Do you or someone you know struggle with making money or charge for services? How has it impacted your business and/or your relationships? Do you have any advice for others struggling with this issue?

Resources:

The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life Conscious Finance: Uncover Your Hidden Money Beliefs and Transform the Role of Money in Your Life

Free Enterprise, Free Will

October 6, 2011 by Karen Swim

This is Part 2 in a series. In the last post we discussed a woman who wanted to provide a collection of free information. She had the option of giving or selling the information to active companies in her market who would provide both content and service. She refused because she was adamant that it should be given away rather than sold.

Readers Weigh In

Brad Shorr noted: “One of the beauties of the free market system is that people are free – free to give things away or charge for them, if they can. What is wrong is to condemn the whole idea of profits.” Meryl K. Evans agreed and pointed out that giving it away for free “could lead to an unfair situation if someone else takes advantage.” Sherwood MacRae cut to the heart of it asking, “Could it be that the attitude she appears to have is the reason she has not accomplished her objective?”

Capitalism – economic system in which individuals and firms are relatively free to compete with others for their own economic gain

Free is a Price

As many of you noted the beauty of a free market system is we are free to set a price, even if that price is zero. As much as Mrs. Teague protested capitalism she was an active participant. She was not running a business and had no desire to profit from her offering. There is nothing wrong with that at all. She was however, wrong in her judgment of other businesses that chose to exchange similar information for fee.

The Solution

Putting economic theories aside I focused on helping Mrs. Teague achieve her objective. The price point did not change the need to cover the basics of service, sales, and marketing. We had a product and a price and now had to work within her defined budget to get it to market.

An early idea was to give the content to the local library. The library was honored but could not accept it as they did not have the staff or resources to manage the information. Determined to move forward, Mrs. Teague decided to create her own website to host and distribute the information to visitors.

With a limited budget, the next step was determining the best and highest use of her dollars. It was essential that site visitors had the ability to search by term or alphabetically. The search results would link them to the appropriate PDF which they could then download immediately. Usability was essential, and therefore the highest budget priority was the site and site functionality.

She wanted to hire a copywriter to write the site content. However, I advised her to write it on her own. She would only need a short intro text instructing users how to search and what was available. There would be no call to action, contact forms, opt-ins or need to develop an ongoing relationship with the visitor. She could gain inspiration from similar sites.

As of this writing, Mrs. Teague is working with a highly experienced web design company to get her new site up and running.

Free is a choice but one that comes with the same responsibilities of a higher price point. In other words, whether fee or free, it’s still business as usual.

Once we stripped away the emotion around fee or free, we were able to focus on executing on Mrs. Teague’s vision. Her problem was easily solved, but it’s not so easy for other business owners. Tune in for the last installment in this series as we take a look at the emotion of money.

Are you surprised that Mrs. Teague proceeded with her plan? What advice do you have for others considering if and what to charge? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Should I Charge for That?

October 4, 2011 by Karen Swim

Various Federal Reserve Notes, c.1995. Only th...

Image via Wikipedia

The following post is based on a true story. Some details have been withheld and names have been changed to respect the privacy of the subject.

“Money grubbing corporations,” she uttered with a slightly raised fist as she raged against modern corporate capitalism. Her anger was palpable making her appear larger than her mere 5 feet. Her graying hair softly bounced from side to side as her body communicated her disgust that someone would dare want to profit from her life’s work.

Mrs. Teague had been dedicated to her profession for nearly half a century. She had years of research and information meticulously cataloged in PDF files. She wanted to develop a website and provide the information “to the people” for free. Many organizations in her industry would have gladly taken her research and offered it to their millions of buyers and subscribers but Mrs. Teague refused, knowing they would sell rather than give away the information.

I listened politely, nodding at the appropriate moments. The years faded away as she talked and I pictured her as a young woman with long dark hair with beads around her neck protesting against an evil government. I fought back a smile not wanting to appear disrespectful, returning my attention to her present diatribe.

Like so many I have met, Mrs. Teague had definite ideas about money and profit. Her work, in her mind was valuable but to assign a price tag would be blasphemous. She had accumulated it in the course of her work, and as such it was created for “free” and should be offered for the same price. Yet, she would need a site that not only housed the information but a searchable database. She would also need to market the site so that “the people” could find it and access the free information. None of that would be free. She wanted to spend very little money to offer it, did not want any contact information on the site, and wanted no questions or follow up discussion from those who downloaded the information. She simply wanted people to come, download what they needed and go away.

The “money grubbing” organizations in her niche offered people a variety of services and support in addition to some free information. They charged a fee but they also provided something in return. Mrs. Teague failed to make the connection and simply saw profiting as evil. Her time and expertise in collecting the data would indeed be valuable to users, who would gladly pay to access already bundled information that would have taken them a huge amount of time and effort to gather on their own.

So, was Mrs. Teague wrong in wanting to give the information away? What would you have advised?

In the next post we’ll dig a little deeper into our attitudes about money and discuss the options in this scenario. Please join the discussion by adding your comments below.

Is it the Economy…or is it YOU?

August 18, 2011 by Karen Swim

Image by purpleslog via Flickr

Economic challenges have dominated news headlines for much of the past three years. While the US has struggled with recession and a tepid, often faltering recovery, other countries have also grappled with high taxes, high unemployment and turbulent markets. So without surprise, I hear from professionals in and outside of the US about how the economy is impacting their job, or business. After listening to story after story about how the bad economy:

Prevents them from getting a job
Is keeping them in a job they hate
Is making it impossible to get new business
Has caused their business to lose money
Is causing their customers to spend less?

I have concluded that they are all wrong. If at this point you’re ready to throw something at me, hang on and let me explain.

In each case, as I dig deeper, and ask questions there is always a solution that has nothing to do with the economy. The economy serves as an easy scape goat, temporarily relieving us of the hard work of looking at our mindset and actions.

If you show up day after day to a job you hate/have outgrown/abuses you but you have taken no steps to change your situation, is it the economy or is it you?

If your business plan depended on one big client with no consistent marketing, is it the economy or is it you?

I am not in any way diminishing the tough times many are facing. Hey, I’ve been there too, disillusioned, discouraged and flat out busted. So I know from personal and professional experience that it is far more productive to focus on what you can do to change your circumstances, rather than being a victim of the economy. You may be serving a market that is drying up, or work in an industry that is rampant with downsizing but how you react to those changes is in your control.

Today, if the media began reporting every day that there is world peace and the economy is booming everywhere, how would it change your outlook? Would you take action to leave a job you hate? Would you confidently market your business because you know your customers are once again buying? Why not take those proactive steps today?

If your market is dead, find a new market or a gap that allows you to solve their current problems. If your business model requires you to give all of your time to one client, change your model or change your offering. Hate your job? Research and act upon your options. Do what you need to develop yourself so that you can effectively seek a better job.

The economy is always going to experience highs and lows. However, having a good solid plan and making good choices will help you to weather the ups and downs. It is painful to admit that we are where we are because of our choices, but once faced, we can change it. Isn’t that a brighter proposition than blaming forces beyond your control?

So tell me now that you are firmly back in the driver’s seat, where are you headed?