My favorite example of business is a very simple (but elegant) product called: Skitch.

Why?  It is one of the few applications, products, or processes that I deal with that is an absolute pleasure to deal with.  I love it.

As I came to realize this, it hit me:  This is what business should be.  Not just your UI.  not just your products.  In should include your Sales process, your contracts, renewals, your services, billing, human resources for new and current staff.

It encompasses EVERYTHING!

Whatever it is you do, stop looking at a spreadsheet of features and benefits.  Skitch could NEVER hold it’s own against Adobe’s Creative Suite, or even free tools like Gimp or Inkscape.  But SO WHAT?!?!  It does what it does well, and I LOVE DOING IT!

Look at your financials, look at your roadmaps, and your service comparisons.  But don’t lose these questions as you do:

- Who are our audiences? (All of them!  Staff, customers, Investors)

- What are our touch points (All of them!  billing, sales, support, product, etc.)

- IS IT A PLEASURE for our audiences to interact with us?

If not, it’s just a matter of time until someone sexier comes in the door, or some issue becomes bad enough… Then off to the curb you go.

Most people who are in a sales capacity of any kind are salivating at the potential of Facebook.  The concept of an “audience of audiences”, where people share your message to their friends is tremendous.  But too much of the press out there about the power of Facebook doesn’t really help those sales people know what to do to get there.

The industry has gotten sales people excited about visiting the “Great and Powerful Oz”, but no one has bothered to point out the yellow brick road.

Wondering what to do?  Confused?  Well, I can’t promise that we’ll run across the Lollipop Guild on our way, but I’m happy to help you start down the path.

Step 1: Set Up a Page

You probably already know what a Facebook Page is, but just in case you don’t:

Think of it almost like a little “blog” inside Facebook.  You can have your normal Facebook account where you do your personal updates, but you can also have a Page for “Investment opportunities”, “The latest info on fitness products”, or “Electronic camera gadgets you gotta hear about”.  These are a lot like your normal Facebook usage: they show things you post there, and allow for comments from others.  But they can be more focused to a specific topic that your typical “all about me” Facebook updates.

How do you start a Page?

Log in to Facebook.  On the left Nav you’ll see “Pages” and select.  Top middle you’ll see a button to “Create a Page”.  Now just follow the steps and answer the questions.  Shazam!!  You now have a Facebook Page.  Pretty easy, right?

Step 2: Do something with it!

Okay, so you have a Page now.  But why??

Well, it’s more than just so you can hang out with the cool kids, and it’s also not so you can have your own personal little web site.  The real power of your Facebook Page is Followers.  In short: If you can get people to “like” your Page they have basically opted in to get your future messages.  What you post on your Page will be pushed out to the new streams of your followers and subscribers.

One of the easiest ways to convert people who visit your page into Followers is by having a “welcome” tab on your Page for new visitors that asks them to “like” you in order to automatically get more information in the future.  The Facebook-lingo for this is a “Default landing tab with fan-gating”.  Fan-gating basically means those people who haven’t liked you page yet see it, and other folks see something else.

An easy way to put this in place for your new Page is by installing an app on your Page called “Woobox static Iframe tab”.

When you go to install the Woobox App it was ask you to choose which page you want it on.  Just choose the Page you just created.  There ya go… it’s installed.

Now let’s make it look cool.

What you’ll need is a picture, with the text “Like this Page to be kept up to date on the latest Mortgage news” or something equally compelling, along with an arrow pointing up.  If you need help on how to do this, check out the free online tool Picnic.  A great tutorial on doing this type of thing with Picnic can be found at: http://www.sitefundamentals.com/add-text-to-picture/.

Okay, so now back over to Woobox.  In the Woobox app for you page, you will want to use this new image as your “Page Source” as well as your “Non-fan Page source.”  Now anyone who looks at your welcome tab will be prompted to Like your page, and become your long-term subscriber, bestest buddy, and (hopefully) customer.

But we have one more step, just to make sure they get to see our lovely new tab.  Go to your newly created Facebook Page.  Click “Edit Page” (up in the top right corner).  Along the left side of your screen you’ll click on “Manage permissions”.  On this screen you’ll see a drop down for “Default landing tab”.  Just select your new “welcome” tab, and save your changes.

There you go.  now anyone who goes to your Page will see the Welcome screen by default.  Once they like your Page they won’t be pushed to that tab in the future, they will just go to your wall updates.

Give yourself a pat on the back.  Well done.

Step 3: Get People to visit your Page

It doesn’t really matter if you have a Page on Facebook if no one knows you do.  So, let people know it’s there.  A few of the easiest and best ways to do this are:

• Add it to you email signature
• Add it to your business cards
• Add it to your LinkedIn profile

Spread the word.  Anywhere you have your contact info should also contain your Facebook Page info.  On your web site.  On printed materials your distributed.  Commercials, ads, tattooed on your kids.  Be creative.

4- Figure out what to say

Okay, so now you have a Page, people know about it, and hopefully some of them are interested in what you have to say.  So, what to say?

The first step to answering this question is to understand and interesting dichotomy of Social messaging in general:  On the one hand, everyone strives for that coveted effect of going “viral”; to be the message that everyone wants to share with everyone.  On the other hand, efforts need to drive results.  Simply getting your content in front of the whole world doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make any sales.  Having a million people learn that your cat is cute as the dickens and dances when you turn on music is not going to make it any easier to meet your quota.

But here’s a truth: Actionable content drives results.  But coupons, offers, and the like are not shared nearly as much as “cool” little tidbits.  A mix of these two elements however, can provide a powerful content stream.  If you can provide messaging that will make your audience say, “Wow.  I didn’t realize that.  That’s pretty interesting,” you will find them likely to share it, and you will see your audience grow.  But this has got to be more than just dancing babies.  You content needs to be consistent with the topics that your audience is expecting.  If you are selling for a health-food chain, then “wow” facts that people don’t tend to realize about food is a great idea.  If your pushing your Thai Food restaurant, then amazing factoids about Thailand may well resonate with your target audience.  If you provide marketing or communications services or tools you may want to send out a link to… well heck… this article!

Now you have your audience growing.  They are interested.  They are learning, and sharing.  Now is the time to start putting in some of that actionable, sales-driving content that you really were hoping to get in front of them all along.  This will drive your sales.  This is your pay-off.

1- Actually know what the hell your idea is

Guess what… if you haven’t gotten any customers yet, and you have drastically “pivoted” you company half a dozen times already, then you are fooling yourself.  You are not a company.  You are not even an idea yet.  you are a group of people who are dying to do “something”, but can’t quite figure out what.  Stop playing house.  Sit down and nail your idea.  Having a technology or solution that could do X Y, or Z, and could br priced and sold in model A, B, or C doesn’t cut it.  If you can’t explain it simply and mean it you’re not a company yet.  Stop pretending.

2- Make it pleasant to use

I don’t care if you sell a product or a service.  If it can “theoretically” accomplish the task, then that sucks.  Once of my favorite products is a simple one called Skitch.  Every time I use it I say to myself “Wow.  that was easy.”  Then I smile a little.  If you are hard to work with then people won’t.  To hell wit you menu systems, your processes, etc.  Make it beyond easy… make it PLEASANT to use.

If you can’t explain how it work to your mother in law, go back to the drawing board and fix it.

3- Test your theory

Got a cool idea that no one wants to invest in?  Probably because you have no customers.  I know…. cart before the horse… You need money to build stuff first.  Well, get commitments.  Take your vision to some customers and get them to sign stating that they will buy it if you build is as outlined.  Show that you have a pipeline for your product.  If you can’t get anyone to sign, then it might be a good thing you didn’t go to all of the effort to build it.

4- Be prepared to scale

I know what you’re thinking… You’re thinking “We talked to our developer, and he assures us that this thing will scale because it’s built in the cloud and  <yadda yadda yadda>.”  Guess what… If this is your first startup, then you don’t know this yet, but I can almost assure you that even though you tink you’re building an industrial strength product or service, that you’re not.  What you haven’t learned yet is that this is really a proof of concept and will almost surely begin to crumble under your success if it start selling like you hope.

But believe it or not, that’s okay.  there is no reason to build it to scale until you prove it.  Proof on concept has a place in business.  But you need to be aware that you will need outside guidance in where your processes and products are going to fall apart.  Have these people start to advise you early on.  Don’t get disheartened when they point out your many scalability failures.  Expect it, and determine when you need to be at that scale, and work on plans to achieve it… once you have some real customers and revenue.

Finally…

I know, I said there would only be four things.  But one last concept to be mindful of: if your team is nothing other than a group of people that sit around and refine the idea, then you are in trouble.  I would point you at one of my earlier posts: Get shit done.  Just because the programmer, or account rep, or person with whatever skill set you need to actually have something to sell isn’t in your coolio business folks club doesn’t mean that he or she is not critical to your business.  You better have people who can actually do things sitting at the big-kids table and not just a bunch of folks your love to nod their heads and agree with how cool your concepts are.  Make it happen.  If you literally cannot do anything to forward your business before you have investment, then you have the wrong team for your startup.  Fix it.

1- People like to skim when they read

Bottom line, I’m busy, and I don’t trust you.  I haven’t the time to read all of your drivel.  I skim emails, I let social media streams flow by, almost casually consuming bits and pieces of it.  Skimming is the new reading.  It’s why Facebook posts get read when blogs often don’t.  Get used to it.

2- Epiphanies don’t fall like rain

I hope I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings, but you don’t have earth-shattering insights all that often.  Odds are, you are trying to produce content, and doing so in a way that tries to convince me that you have some new insight on it.  You probably don’t.  I probably know 90% of what you’re about to tell me (just like you already knew all of the stuff you’re reading here.)  I don’t know you, I don’t trust you, and I haven’t the time to invest in watching you congratulate yourself on how smart you are.

How to do it so it works:

1- Key Points in Big Fonts - To separate it from the informational drivel.

2- Skimmable in 15 seconds - Make it so I can quickly scroll through and know what point you are hoping to make.

3- That’s all I need – If I like what I skimmed, I am going to read about 50% of the other text.  I should be able to get enough form a skim or a light read to get real value from your article.  If I have to read every little word, to actually get anything out of it, then you have failed.

Snacking is the new eating.  Micro blogging is the new blogging, which was the replacement for print.  Get used to it.  Get over it.  Move on.

I am a religious person.  But I have to admit, that I almost never learn anything at church.  Most of what is discussed in church isn’t about learning new concepts… it’s about reminding you of the importance of the ones you already know.

This leads me to self help books.  I looked up on my shelf this morning at one of  those great self-help books that entrepreneurs are always suggesting to each other.  But all of these books are really one chapter of saying something you already knew (but weren’t actively practicing) in a witty way.  Followed by several other chapters of belaboring this point.

It’s amazing how often in our lives we take information as insightful, when in reality we should look at it and say, “Duh.  I already knew that.  Why the hell did I lose track of it’s importance yet again?!”

It’s shocking when you look at this a little bit.  As people, we are far too likely to fall into the behavior of doing silly, stupid stuff without even thinking of it, while not paying attention to stuff that (if we took the time to think) we know is really important.

Why is that?

I can’t pretend to be able to tell you why.  But I think we can all admit that we fall into this trap.  Things become the norm, and we just do them.  Even if they’re stupid.

So my suggestion to you is this:  Take a weekly sanity break.  Don’t actively try to fix anything.  Just sit back, clear your head, and look at what you and your company are doing.  As yourself, “Is this because it’s the smart way to do it, or just because we have fallen into a habit.”

Don’t try to fix things yet.  That’s a whole different effort.  Just use this as your weekly Uber-Chi-Focussing session to smack yourself and say, “Duh!”  Then plan time to change things.

Clarity is a good thing, and you don’t need some puffed up author to give it to you.

But is this really natural, or is it a learned behavior?

Watch a video of an infant born in a pool of water.  The child does not attempt to find stability, it simply moves around.  It hasn’t learned yet to need that stability.

As an entrepreneur, rather you run your own company, or just have an entrepreneurial spirit in a larger company, part of the power you have is your ability to take action decisively.  Large companies can be crippled by the mindset of “Ready, aim, aim, aim,” and perhaps, once everyone is fully on board, and it’s been reviewed by compliance, and all of the groups with internally competing agendas have been appeased, we might be able to fire.

The world is changing too fast for that.  Gone are the days when you could pick a trade, apprentice to someone for a few years, and know what you needed to know for the rest of your career.  Whatever your knowledge niches are, I am sure there are various areas of it, perhaps even ALL of the areas of it, where you don’t feel that you know as much as you should.

By all means, keep learning, but realize that knowledge and information are expanding faster than you can learn it all.  If you spend too much time needing to get fully grounded you will find that once you have touched the bottom of the pool, everyone else has already started swimming forward.  Worse, by the time you determine the bottom and get your footing, it has already started to change!

The information explosion age that we live in is an age that favors the improvisational.  People who can quickly assess, make an intelligent gut-check, act, and then improvise with the newly learning information and incorporating changes are those who will win.

I have spoken to many groups on various topics, from Blogging, to SEO, to social media.  Many of them have been interested.  Unfortunately however, I know that ALMOST NONE OF THEM WILL ACT.  They are afraid.  They feel they do not know enough.  All too often the mindset is, “Wow, that was interesting.  I really need to get a book or something about that and learn more.”

But this is exactly where their minds will be six months later as well.  They are caught searching for more understanding… reaching for the bottom of the pool.

Learn to be okay with reacting based on what you know or can quickly glean.  Learn to realize that you will NEVER KNOW EVERYTHING on ANY topic.

Those who can act, improvise, and correct will excel even more in the coming years than they have in the past.  While too many of the rest of us sit combing through data that is being generated faster than we can consume it.  The day is now.  Seize it!

You know, we all have someone that just seems to throw things our way that are exactly what we need to be reminded of from time to time.  For me, one of those people is Chris Heitmann, someone I am truly blessed to be able to count as a friend.  Recently, Chris sent an article over my way, about how to Steal like an Artist.

As I read through the article, it reminded me of a point very near and dear to my heart:

“There’s this very real thing that runs rampant in educated people. It’s called imposter syndrome. The clinical definition is a “psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments.” It means that you feel like a phony, like you’re just winging it, that you really don’t have any idea what you’re doing.

Guess what?

None of us do.”

I often think back to an experience when I was 18 years old.  I started at Unisys, fixing computers.  My first day on the job I tagged along with Larry, the gentleman who was training me.  We went up to work on a broken monitor.  As I bent to pull the screws out of the back of it, I noticed a large sticker on the back that stated “Only to be opened by qualified technicians.”  I pointed this out with some concern to Larry.  He chuckled and responded, “Ya that’s us.”

Of course what Larry really meant was “Suck it up.  You can do it, or we wouldn’t have hired you for the job.  You can do this.”  And I did.

I often think back to that day.  I am shocked at the number of times in my career when I have worked alongside people who are truly AMAZING at what they do, but they can’t see it.  To them, they’re just barely getting by… They feel like their “winging it” if not faking it.  They just don’t see that they really are one of the best mixes of the skills that they have that can be found on the planet.

Don’t be fooled by the swagger of so many other people out there.  This problem with self-doubt is extremely common.  People think they aren’t as good as they are.  People think that other companies all have their shit together… that this company is the only one that has real problems to deal with.

Take an objective step back my friend… odds are that you kick some serious ass at what you do, not to mention that everyone else has holes in their game that you are not always being objective enough to see.

For some reason lately I had lost sight of this a bit.  I have been beating myself up internally over challenges that I have in my personality.  But guess what, those aren’t new challenges.  I have always had them before, and I just worked on them.  I didn’t let it make me feel like a failure… just like someone who needed to keep improving.  But also someone who is damn good at a lot of things.  A person who can add value where many others might stumble.

YOU ARE the expert.  I’m not trying to blow smoke here… just asking you to be objective, pull your head out of the sand, and see how good you really are.  The world around you is not made of superheroes.  Everyone has short comings.

The interesting thing is, I don’ know of anyone who was actually hurt by an earwig in any way.  I don’t know if they actually get into your ear or not, and certainly none of us at that time knew of anyone.

But that wasn’t spoken of.  You didn’t question these types of things.  You didn’t ask how people knew, or rather the fears were realistically founded on anything.

You just knew.

Good thing we’ve all grown up now… Or have we?

How many people have you run into in business that have a huge reputation?  There are those people that everyone wants to work with.  The people that everyone has huge respect for because of all they have accomplished and done.  But no one is entirely sure exactly what they have done.  They just know it’s a lot.  Hell, EVERYONE knows.

It still shocks me how many of these “earwigs” there are in business.  These are the people in your business community who give out advice, and people blindly follow it.  These are the people that people want to have on their advisory boards.  These are the “investors” that are always considering your deal very seriously, but no one is quite sure what other deals they have invested in… but they’re definitely an investor.

These people are… A colossal waste of your time at best, and a potential ponzi scheme or other pitfalls at worst.

Watch for earwigs friends.  Ask the questions.  Realize that the emperor is naked and move on.  We’re not kids anymore.  It’s okay to ask what the hell the thing actually does, and then when no one can answer, just step on the damn bug.

It’s great to be looking ahead… At that next promotion.  At that new house.  At that next startup.

But here’s something to consider:  Everything you gain is now something you can lose, and each time you move forward it gets harder to move forward again.

I don’t mean to be a kill-joy here or anything, but I have heard from an awful lot of business friends lately, and their positions really got me thinking.

As people move into high paying, high power roles in companies, and buy their dream houses, they stop looking for new houses and that next high power job gets a lot harder to find.

This is especially true in the current economic climate.  Yes, things seem to have stabilized for the most part.  Yes, companies seem to be hiring again.  But they are conservatively hiring and grow in necessary areas only.  This, combined with a significant slow down in well-funded startups has created an interesting dynamic.  A lot of the people who were in huge demand a few short years ago, who companies were begging to have on board to help them grow, are sitting in jobs they tolerate but do not love.

A huge amount of the employed workforce has moved from offense to defense.  Especially at the most senior, most entrepreneurial levels.

A good friend of mine recently stepped away from running his own company.  He took a job for an up and coming company in a much more junior role.  But I am willing to bet that three years from now he will be better off for it.

Now, I know… entrepreneurs are the never say die crowd.  But what I see around me reminds me a of a story I once heard:

I don’t know if this story is true, but it goes like this… In order to catch a monkey you put a nut in a box, with a hole in it.  The monkey can see the nut through the hole.  He can reach his little hand in and grab it as well.  But once his fist wraps around the nut, it is too big to pull out of the hole.  At this point, you just go collect your monkey, because the monkey is so unwilling to give up what he has gained, that he won’t let go up the nut.  He’ll hang on and be captured.

That’s the danger of being on the defense.

I can’t help but wonder how many of these dynamic people just need to be willing to let go of the nut, stop worrying about rather they can make more money somewhere else, and start thinking more like unemployed people, who just look for the best possible opportunities, without being held back by the fact that the new opportunity might be starting a little bit backward from where they currently are.

Perhaps the best way to move from defense back to offense is to drop back and regroup sometimes?

I don’t know for sure… but the business truth of the day is this: Success does not always come with security and a feeling of well-being.  Everything you gain is something to lose.  Know that when you go into it, and always find things to stay on the offense for, or life will break your spirit.

One big item jumped out at me.

We just don’t talk anymore

When a partnership reaches the point that there are things you might disagree with, but you don’t bring them up because, “It’s not worth the fight,” or because you’re “choosing your battles,” then things are in serious trouble.  This is when there start to be elephants in the room that are not being resolved, or even addressed.

When I think back to the biggest challenge I have ever had in business, it was with an individual who often got their way by pushing nearly every interaction and issue into the zone of being uncomfortable.  By doing so, he knew that others would not be willing to turn each and every issue into world war 3… No one has the energy to fight that much.  As a result, he often got his way.

This is perhaps one of the worst examples of a partnership that had festered.  But there are varying degrees of this that happen even in partnerships that may seem healthy.

I don’t want to imply by any of this, that a healthy partnership is the one that fights like hell.  You should be able to have disagreements, and respect each others perspectives, and then reach decision even if you must make concessions at times.

Check your partnership.  Are you holding your tongue?  Are you letting things happen that you don’t believe in, just because you don’t want the battle of addressing them?  Is there an elephant in the room?

If so, I suggest a heart to heart.  Some things need to change.