Business

Stop Playing the Sympathy Card

Being in business for yourself is difficult.

Sure, you don’t have to answer to a domineering boss. Nor do you have to venture to a drab office on a biting cold day to be bitch-slapped by that same domineering boss. You’re also in the fortunate position of choosing the people you work with, as opposed to having them forced on you.

But it can also be difficult.

You lose the guaranteed paycheck. The company healthcare plan. You have to fend for yourself and not have someone else bring work to you. You have to have buy-in from your loved ones, because they suffer too if you don’t bring the food money to the table.

But here’s the thing – you chose this environment.

When you decided that you wanted to exchange payroll for pay dirt (as in work/life ratio and more freedom of choice), you signed up for the rollercoaster ride and the tough times.

You signed up for the projects that could go awry; the late hours; the blood, sweat and tears that often go hand-in-hand with risk-taking. Simply put, you signed up being responsible for what you do.

So why play the sympathy card when things don’t go your way?

Why blame the client because you missed deadlines? Why complain about not making enough money when you’re the one that billed the project in the first place and didn’t scope the work out properly? Why use the “single parent coping alone” cry when there are many other single parents in the same boat, but are just getting on with it?

Blame is easy to deflect onto others, because we can use it to cover up where we went wrong and failed.

But we all have failings. We all have mistakes we make. We all have issues with clients, with suppliers, with outsourcers. As they, no doubt, have with us.

But we make it work.

We make the trials part of our ongoing education, and grow stronger because of it. We use setbacks to strengthen our resolve and make sure we don’t follow the same paths the next time. Simply put, we use all the good and the bad of being in business ourselves to make us a better business.

If that’s not something that’s for you, then maybe an employed position is a better fit. And there’s nothing wrong with that – business is a tough nut to crack, and sometimes it makes sense to let others do it for you.

But let’s leave the sympathy card for hospital patients, eh?

image: Fran Simo

Calls and Actions

We all know things are tough at the minute.

Businesses are laying staff off or closing down altogether, contractors are finding less clients and people are finding it hard to make ends meet. And it?s probably going to get worse before it gets better.

So here?s an idea. A call to action, if you like.

If you?re a business owner that?s in the position to help, reach out to your community. Those contacts you build up every day of the week? Use them. Use their knowledge and expertise. Offer them contract work.

You don?t even have to worry about advertising costs. Use the tools that you?re using to make these connections in the first place.

Put a call out on Twitter for work or an opportunity, and if you see someone doing this, re-tweet it.

Write a blog post about who you need and why (or have a Skills Needed page with your current requirements).

Use your LinkedIn connections to either recommend a position to someone, or someone to a position.

Yes, going local is always preferable and should be your first port of call. But that?s not always an option, which is where your community comes in.

We often count on our community for so many things. How about helping them out at the same time we count on them?

image: steven w

Mixing It Up

When you have a great meal, do you tell your friends about it? When you see a great movie, or hear a great CD, are you someone who recommends it to others?

Word of mouth is the most trusted recommendation factor around. We trust our friends, our families, our connections. We?d rather go with their advertising than some stranger that?s being paid to recommend something.

So how often do you use your word of mouth to highlight unsung heroes, or new connections, or new people?

We?re all connected in numerous ways ? some purely online, some physically. Whatever way it is, the connection is there. It may have different levels of connection, but the one thing that?s constant is the trust factor.

Say someone I respect points me in someone?s direction, I?ll check that person out. Or if they say I should be reading a certain blog, I?ll take the time to have a look through it and either add it to my reader, recommend it to others, or move on. Even if I move on, if I know someone that would get a kick out of that particular blog, I?ll recommend it to them.

This is something we all can do.

There?s a huge amount of great information and people that go unnoticed, simply because they?re lost in the noise of our online conversations. So let?s be cause champions.

But let?s be slightly different cause champions.

If you recommend a blogger, make it one that isn’t from the norm. While the A-listers like Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse and Seth Godin all offer great information, I?m sure none of them would begrudge you recommending other bloggers over them. People like Gini Dietrich, Mark W. Schaefer and Jim Connolly are coming out with some amazing stuff ? you really should check them out.

Same goes for Twitter and the #followfriday recommendations. We all know that the “big guys” are usually worth following. So how about other guys? Recommend people outside your normal niche as well. If we all just recommended PR or marketing users, it?d get to be a pretty predictable Friday.

Or in your business or job – if you can’t handle a project, but know someone that could, recommend them for the job. The client or customer wins, because the work is still being done; your recommendation wins as they get extra recognition; and you win, because you’ve connected two needs to each another and made yourself look unselfish in the process.

There are some great people out there. We know that ? don?t others deserve to know it too?

image: camil tulcan

This Isn’t Rocket Science

If I want pizza, I call up and?order a pizza. If I want to book a flight, I go online and book my flight. If I want to watch a movie, I?ll download from Netflix and watch it. Easy, huh?

So why is it so difficult to do the same when I have a problem and need customer service?

If I call my cable service provider, or bank, or insurance company, I don?t want to be sat there pressing buttons until my fingertips bleed, just to get to the right department. I don?t want to hear hold music for 15 minutes, only to then be told I need to go back to the department I just came from. I don?t want to be told my call is important to you when it feels anything but.

Businesses spend so much time getting their brand right; their marketing; their PR; their sales; their online strategy. But you know what?

None of this means a thing without customers. And customers do?not want to feel second-rate. Strange but true ? satisfy your customers and you?ll satisfy your shareholders and accountants.

How?s?your satisfaction level holding up?

Attitude is Everything

Two of my favourite actors are Joe Pesci and Danny DeVito. Both different actors, yet also so very similar.

Pesci is more your serious actor that?s famous for his gangster roles (Goodfellas, Casino, Once Upon a Time in America) although he?s had some great comedy roles too (My Cousin Vinny, Lethal Weapon 2, Home Alone). DeVito is more known for his comedic roles ? Romancing the Stone, Twins and the TV series Taxi.

Yet while they?re both great actors, that?s not the main reason I like them. It?s more to do with their attitude of being different and using that as their strength. Neither are what you would call your typical Hollywood heroes, yet it hasn?t stopped them from taking the movie industry by storm and becoming major players.

This makes them great role models for small businesses.

If the Internet hadn?t narrowed the division between large businesses and small ones enough already, the economic meltdown of the last 18 months or so has made it even smaller. Large businesses are feeling the pinch and making cutbacks, while smaller businesses are finding that their value-based services are more in demand.

Now?s the time to take advantage of that. Now?s the time to be Joe Pesci or Danny DeVito.

Small Is Good.

Small businesses have never had a better opportunity to play on a level field with the big boys. Clients are looking for value for money and the personal touch more as large companies become fragmented and lose touch with their customers.

Use that to your advantage. Offer the kind of personal service that only small businesses can. Make every client feel that they?re your only one. Build the personal relationships that mean something, as opposed to the impersonal relationships that are old news.

Brand loyalty is everything ? customer relations foster this and for the small business owner, the opportunity for this is has never been greater.

Be Different.

As I mentioned, where Pesci and DeVito excel is using their difference from the standard Hollywood stereotype and making it work for them. They refuse to be handed roles and descriptions relating to their size, and stand toe-to-toe with some of the biggest heavyweights on the scene.

Use your business?s differences to the maximum.

Be proud of the fact that you may be small but you offer a service that will stand next to any of your larger competitors. Because you?re small, you actually have more intimate relationships with your suppliers and that transposes itself to your clients. The fact that you?re different separates you from the pack ? celebrate it and people will respond to it.

Attitude is Everything.

No matter what movie Joe Pesci is in, one thing that stands head and shoulders above everything else is his ?F**k you!? attitude. You seriously believe that this guy may be small but he has an attitude and belief that many people twice his size could only hope for.

You probably started your business with the belief that you were going to be just as good as the big guys, if not better. Do you still have that belief? Are you passionate about your company when you meet new clients or catch up with old ones?

Think back to why you found these clients in the first place ? belief in that you could do the job of competitors many times your size.

Keep that belief. Have the attitude that your business is the best at what you do, because you live and breathe for making it the best.

Encourage greatness in your employees and instill the same ?We may not be the biggest but we?re going to be the best? attitude that started you off in the first place, and that attitude will both promote and attract confidence in you and your business.

The next couple of years promise to have some tough times ahead for businesses, small and large. Yet with the reduced overheads and the more focused framework that smaller businesses have the advantage of, they can also be the years you really stand toe-to-toe with the big boys.

Aiming Beyond Business

This post has been pretty much about small business and how you, as a small business owner, can compete with the bigger boys. But it doesn’t need to just be for business.

Look at some of the comparisons between Devito, Pesci and the Hollywood mindset, and see how you can take that attitude and implement in your own surroundings.

Blogging; single parent home worker; inventor; artist; storyteller and more. It doesn’t matter how small you currently think you are – it’s how big you want to be viewed moving forward.

Joe Pesci and Danny DeVito have shown the way for the little guys. Ready to join them?

image: Omega Man