Are You a Blogging Success?

Andy Wibbels, wise soul of all things blogging, is looking for some new blogging success stories to include in his new book BlogWild (what a great name!) and I am sure that you have a story about your blogging journey that Andy may be able to use.

Now is no time to be shy and retiring – put that "What me?" attitude on the shelf and share what you have achieved.

You can get more details and share your story at the BlogWild website.  I am sure that Andy will treat you and your story with loving care.

Insanity, Thy Name is Solopreneur

There are times when I wonder what insanity posessed me when I decided to step into the business world as a solo professional.  And the disease must be a recurring one seeing that this is my 3rd foray into the world of the solo service professional.

And then the moment of questioning passes and I realise how much I love this independent way of working, how much I thrive on providing solutions to interesting people, and how I love heading out to the gym in the relative quiet during the middle of the day.

There is one ongoing insanity in my work, and in my life.  The to-do list!!! It seems to have a life of its own; ever growing, changing and morphing into something that "bigger and better"  (not again I hear my husband saying in the background).

Honestly I try to keep the to-dos under control but it seems that the list has something driving it forward – my brain, or to be more precise the endless ideas that come from my brain.

Somewhere along the line I thought that I could keep a lid on all the things to do.  There are to-do’s for my clients, to-do’s for the business, to-do’s for my family, to-do’s for me, to-do’s for the house, to-do’s for friends.  (Thankfully the to-do’s for the football club are now over as the season has come to a close).

In order to keep on top of the to-do’s I became a great user of David Allen’s Getting Things Done approach.  His approach is great for managing the many and varied projects that I have on the go as a small business owner.  But the size of the list is just crazy sometimes.

In doing some blog browsing earlier today I got caught in the usual "follow the bouncing link" journey – from Matthew Homann’s [non]billable hour, to the LexThink blog that Matt shares with Dennis Kennedy, and then to a link at American Digest titled The "Not-Insane" To-Do List.

There is genius in the simplicity of the "Not-Insane" To-Do List.

Driving this insanity is the To-Do list which is, being limitless,
is unlimited in its ability to drive us insane. It’s time to stop the
To-List insanity. Toss all you’ve previous To-Do Listing Systems you’ve
got out — paper and/or electronic — and convert to this new, improved
certifiably not-insane system.

I must admit that even with clients I at times rebel against their long to-do lists and the competing demands of their life and just ask them to fill in the blanks in the sentence "If all I did today was ____________, then it would be a good day".  There are times they answer with things for their clients or their business but many times it will be a personal item that will provide the relief.

Actually writing this posted has sparked my curiosity – I wonder what would crop up on a compiled list of "If all I did today was ____" from solo business owners from around the world.  Drop a comment below and let’s see what comes up.

For me, with a long to-do list staring at me before I fly to Brisbane (Australia) for the International Coach Federation conference, my day would be exceptional if I -

1. Had a relaxing dinner with my husband over a glass of wine and time to connect
2. Completed a proposal I have for a client
3. Packed my bag

then all the rest could wait until next week.

Caught in the Glug

If you are a regular reader you will know that the glug I am talking about in the title of this post is not the 70s ice treat (remember the Sunny Boy, Glug and Razz), you will know that I am talking about a writer’s glug.  Now a writer’s glug is different to a writer’s block – and I have Chris Howard over at Qwerty Rash to thank for coining this great term (read his full description here).

This is where you have the ideas but writing feels like walking through deep mud – quite laborious.

Personally I have had loads of great thoughts about blog posts, been inspired by my blogging colleagues, and even started many posts …… but the finished product has felt like wading through a dumpster of half-defrosted Glug cola ice-treats.  Yuk!

One point of solace here is that I am not alone in wading through the glug.  Many interesting, intelligent and eloquent bloggers have found themselves in a similar place (and many of them have offered ways in which to reignite the blogging flow).

Wayne Hurlbert says "don’t worry about it – if you need a break from blogging, then just take it."  And this is some of what I have been doing over the past couple of weeks.

Darren Rowse uses the old  trick of "if you haven’t got anything to say, then  say anything."  Good option but the part of me that likes to deliver value kicks in and proceeds to kick out the crap I’d been writing.

Toby Bloomberg, Michael Pollock, and more recently Des Walsh have all found themselves at the mercy of blogger’s block and have used this very interesting process.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page
123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your
journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for
the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

So here goes ….. eeny, meeny, miny, mo …. Seth Godin’s new "The Big Moo" is the one that I grabbed from the pile on the edge of my desk.  Now to page 123, sentence #5.

"OK, let me show you," I say.

Yes, that’s sentence #5.  Now there are many people in my life (present and past) that would be rolling on the floor with great mirth at the moment.  This would be mainly due to the number of times this very same sentence has come out of my mouth.  When I read the sentence just now I couldn’t believe it.

Much of my 20s was about proving me right, others wrong, proving I could do anything, proving I could do everything.  Probably makes sense that I was on a cardiologists table at age 32 being told that my cardiovascular system had taken a bit of a beating (thanks also in part to some great genetic hand-me downs).

But hang on a minute …. the sentence has come from a book on being remarkable and is in a chapter on taking small steps (this chapter is very inspirational and I suggest you read it if you can).    The context in which the sentence sits is this -

"Okay, let me show you," I say.  I take a bucket into the street outside and start talking to people as they pass me.  In no time I sell ten doughnuts, more than some of the women sold all day.  "Look," I say, "it is easy if you market".

I can feel Prisca looking at me as the women talk among themselves.  She laughs, telling me that the women think  that no one will say no to an American selling them things on the streets of Nyamirambo.  There is too much novelty in that.  But no one even wants to look at a poor woman selling snacks out of a bucket.

The attributes of entrepreneurship – risk taking, innovation, vision – are both cultural and learned.

Even thought this story is about the women of Rwanda, the same lack of cultural and learned experience in business also exists for many women in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America.

You may have the freedom to create any business you are able to but what are your cultural and learned attitudes towards things like marketing, selling yourself (by the way all selling is selling yourself as people buy from people they like), speaking out, finance, and innovation.

Research shows that women who succeed in business have more often than not come from an environment where members of their family have also been self-employed (with a particular focus on parents).  For them the cultural acceptance and understanding is already in place.

But culture and education aren’t the only factors in my opinion.  You see for me the only family member of mine that was self-employed was my grandfather (Reg was a very interesting and intelligent man who fixed radios and televisions in his garage and in the homes of his customers).  When I started my first business at the age of 24 my first husband would often explicitly ask when I was "going to get a real job".  The same question came from my parents in a more implicit way. 

But I knew self employment was right for me (I used to doodle business ideas on lazy Sundays in my late teens and early twenties – and is a piece of daydreaming you can still catch me doing today).  Even thought the first business venture was trumped by a flattering offer of corporate employment, the idea never went away.  In fact much of the education on ways to be and not be in self-employment came from experience and learning in a corporate environment.

To succeed as a woman in small business you will definitely need the business skills and knowledge, but you will also need 3 other main ingredients belief, desire and determination.  I suppose that I have been lucky to have a good dose of all these things, and I suppose it is why I have to admit that even today I have been heard to say "Okay, let me show you."

ICF Changes requirements for ACC Credential

If you have not had a chance to read the latest ICF newsletter (Coaching World
from the ICF) or are not a member of the ICF you may not know that
there have been changes to the requirements for the first level
credential. 

The ACC (Associate Certified Coach) now
has a coaching hours requirement of 100 hours (instead of the previous
250 hours).  The other bonus is that they will know allow 25% of those
hours to be pro-bono (instead of the previous 10%). 

The ICF believe that these changes will allow more coaches to
reach the ACC credential.  The other requirements – such as 60 hours of
coach-specific training, reference letters (from 5 clients and from 2
credentialled coaches who have heard you coach) and the oral exam -
have remained the same.

Link – ACC Process Streamlined

Incomplete Thoughts – on websites and blogs

In his usual style Seth Godin has again started a conversation that he knows he doesn’t have to have all the answers to.  In his 2 most recent e-books he offers an incomplete guides to websites (oops sorry web pages/processes) and blogs.

Like most things that Seth does it is a story and it follows on from the old "Knock Knock" jokes.  His focus with Knock Knock is not to look at how to create fancy sites, graphically beautiful sites, or even technically wiz-bang sites.  His sole focus is on what it takes to create a site that works.  If you want your web site to do something for you then it is time to not just read this book but put the principles into action.

Download a free copy of the e-book.

And of course you know what comes after ‘knock, knock" in the old jokes.  Seth follow up in the incomplete guides series (well it looks like a series) is "Who’s There? – An incomplete guide to blogs and the new web".  Blogs are just one of the new ways in which the web is developing.  And it is happening fast.  If you want to be on the front edge of this wave then get into this e-book as one of your first points of call.

Download a free copy of this e-book.

Well done Seth and thanks for sharing your ideas and your wisdom.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Rethink(IP). Douglas Sorocco used an narrative approach to this week’s postings – very cool and hard to pull off.  Well done Douglas.

The first in the Healthy Lifestyles – Business Success postings got a gig under the heading "Katrina".  It wasn’t initially intended to address the disaster but Douglas sees the post as timely.

Next week’s edition will be hosted at Crossroads Dispatches.

RSS – And other TLA’s

How Important is a healthy lifestyle to your business success? – Wrap Up

Wow .. what a week!  Firstly a big thank you to my colleagues and friends that contributed their insights over the past week.

This thread came about as a way for me to focus on the question of healthy lifestyles and business success for myself.  It also prompted my natural curiosity as to how some of my peers from around the world would answer this.

Now let me give you a bit of a recap on the week and also my take on the question (quick warning – this post is a little longer than usual so give yourself some extra time).

The question "How Important is a healthy lifestyle to your business success?" may, as Chris Owen mentions in her contribution, have a deceptively obvious answer.  An answer in the affirmative may seem like the obvious, or "of course", answer as there can be many positive effects on your business success.

Todd Storch pointed out that it improved his mental sharpeness.

I feel better and therefore I believe I perform better. 
Success in my races and achieving my goals helps me stay sharp.  If you feel
good about yourself and what you can accomplish out side of the office, it will
help you tremendously with the pressures and goals you are wanting to achieve in
the office.

Rosa Say pointed out that for her it is difficult to manage well or lead well if you are not coming from a place of personal strength.

A lifestyle built around consistently good and healthy habits provides
you with an internal engine which produces more energy and more
potential.

For Karen Wallace the answer to this question is a matter of integrity around her clients and the advice she provides them.

This is one of the cornerstones on which my business is built.  And I
find each week, as I do my weight training, sip my water, unpack the
organic fruit and veggies, or take some ‘me’ time, that each little
action gives me more confidence, more faith in my own ability to
achieve success in this area of my life.  And that has a huge flow on
effect on the rest of my life – especially the ‘building a business’
part.

In her usual style Andrea Lee even reminder us of the correlation between our relationships, sex lives and other areas of our lives and the business (and vice versa).

Your business is a printout of the balance or excess in the other parts
of your life.  For shortcuts to great success in business, follow the
un-success clues in your sex life, your relationships, your health, and
tend to them. Your business will unlock, and you’ll drive over speed
bumps as a result.

I completely endorse all the thoughts that have been mentioned above.  For me these also provide other benefits.  It allows me to -

• provide my services in a sustainable way (as opposed to being up and down like a yo-yo)
• put in the long hours that are occassionally needed (I am in small business after all and the reality is that some times there are long hours needed).
• be able to 100% present with my husband and family at the end of a a day (and not just wanting to flop in front of mind-numbing television)
• have the energy to pursue opportunities, and the awareness to even see them in the first place

For me life exists as a 24 x 7 proposition – 168 hours each week that I can cut and dice as it works for me.  And when I say me I mean the holistic me – not the professional me vs. the personal me.  There isn’t 40-50 hours per week for work and the rest for personal.  It is just 168 hours to make the most of my life.

But let me go back to the question for a moment "How Important is a healthy lifestyle to your business success?".  Is a healthy lifestyle important?  I would say yes.  Is it necessary for business success?  Then I would have to agree with Chris Barrow’s response to the question.

A healthy lifestyle isn’t in the slightest bit important when
considering your business success.
If it were, then the world wouldn’t be full of overweight,
chain-smoking, drunken, exhausted "business successes", spending money on
external thrills and spills as a compulsive addictive disorder to anaesthetise
their desperate existence.

There seem to be 2 contiums here.

It could also be expressed in terms of a grid (similar to to Stephen Covey’s Important-Not Important Urgent-Not Urgent grid)

Personally I have experienced times in all of these quadrents.  There have been times I have been very healthy but success alluded me,  and times where others considered me successful yet I had a failed marriage and was ignoring all the warning signs of herediary heart problems (all at the ripe all age of 28).

Over a decade has passed since then and my definitions of both health and success have changed somewhat.

These days for me a healthy lifestyle includes -

• swimming around 30 laps (6 months ago I could only do 6 and at the time that was OK just like 30 is OK with me now) 4-5 times per week (not pushing to do everyday when I know that isn’t possible)
• creating home-cooked meals for my family (both the cooking and the food itself are nourishing for me, both in body and in spirit)
• Having a good, fresh ground coffee over breakfast and conversation with my husband each morning.  This is a ritual now for us.  Much better than the days in my corporate life when I used to pour down 10-12 cups of poor quality instant coffee just to keep going
• Basing my eating habits on common sense and what my body needs – not what a "guru" thinks is good for me
• Taking time away from my computer (even though I have Wireless and it can come anyway with me) to sit outside and write with pen and paper (just like I am doing now in the early Spring sunshine)
• Getting on the floor of my office during the day and playing with the dog for 5-10 minutes.
• Only working with clients that I like and respect
• Having a glass of red wine with dinner every night and talking with my family about the day
• Doing work that I love, where time seems to speed by when I am doing it
• Date nights with my husband (btw – we are looking forward to a concert this week where all the artists that were playing in pubs as we grew up will be putting on a benefit.  I will feel 18 again)
• Good food and good friends
• Sufficient sleep
• Working on projects that excite me
• Time just spent with me – reading, reflecting and creating

Even thought healthy lifestyles may not be a requirement for everyone that achieves business success, they are critical to me.  And from the response over the past week a good lifestyle is also important to many people (notably my guest bloggers) and how they measure success.

Yvonne Di Vita so wisely put into perspective how health compares in importance to other aspects of  business operation.

I think
it’s as important as the new computer systems, it’s as important as the
release of our latest book, it’s as important as the hugs from my
granddaughter– because without it, I wouldn’t have my business and I
wouldn’t be enjoying Miah’s so
wonderful hugs!

I suppose in all the wisdom that has been shared over the past week one statement rings particularly true for me.  Matthew Homann expressed most eloquently my feelings on this subject of lifestyle and business success-

Poor
health and strained family relations are both "business expenses" I’m unwilling
to pay.

However you choose to integrate your business and your lifestyle there is one request I have of you – make the choices for your lifestyle and your business conscious choices, and not just ones made from habit.

Tonight I will raise my glass of good Hunter Valley read wine to your health, your success and your happiness, however you choose to express it.

How Important is a healthy lifestyle to your business success? – Part 4

As Friday morning dawns a little overcast and cool in Sydney, and the working week draws to a close for some, I wanted to share with you some thoughts from our final pair of guest bloggers on our question for this week – How important is a healthy lifestyle to your business success?

Today the insights and thoughts come from Andrea Lee and Matthew Homann.  Both Andrea and Matthew know what it is to be successful, and both also know what it is to work hard. 

Andrea Lee – Entrepreneur and author of Multiple Streams of Coaching Income
blog :  http://www.msoci.com/andrea/

Have you ever wondered how your sex life is affecting your business?  Or how the state of your relationships affect your business?  Lifestyle is not just important to your business success, it’s a path to it.   Everything is energy, and if you are stuck in business in a given area, somehow, some way, the key to unlock it is in the other areas of your life, call them ‘lifestyle’ if you like.

So for those of you overworkers, six figure business mammas and even the tired and trudging millionaires among us, if you’re looking for the most counter intuitive non-business school advice ever for your journey to big success? I say look to your non-business life.

Personally speaking: "To the degree that I learn to cool well, and be a ‘good’ ‘almost-perfect’ wife (haha, very counter intuitive this), I know my business will grow to the next level."   Absolutely true, and validated weekly by the universe which sends online sales to me only when i’m not on my computer.

Also…"To the degree that I become a more physically active person, my businesses will take great leaps forward to seven figures and more." 

Your business is a printout of the balance or excess in the other parts of your life.  For shortcuts to great success in business, follow the un-success clues in your sex life, your relationships, your health, and tend to them. Your business will unlock, and you’ll drive over speed bumps as a result.

What single thing in your life (outside of business) **isn’t** going well?  What is the dirty little secret you keep hidden, segregated from your business identity?  What thing would you most dread confessing to your business partners, clients or in your blog??  Won’t you make today the day you shine a light on it and begin unwrapping and addressing it?

Matthew Homann – Chief Thinking Officer at LexThink
blog : http://thenonbillablehour.typepad.com/nonbillable_hour/

I’m going to turn the question around a bit and suggest it
is more important to run your business so that it can support your healthy lifestyle..  Too many of us with the entrepreneurial "E
chromosone" throw ourselves into our businesses, motivated by passion and
profit, without realizing the impact our single-mindedness has upon our family,
our friends and ourselves. 

As the founder of a new business and father to a soon-to-be
three year old, I must constantly remind myself that time with my family must be first on my ‘to-do’ list and not last. So too must exercise and diet take prominent
places on my daily list of priorities.  Poor
health and strained family relations are both "business expenses" I’m unwilling
to pay.

One exercise that has helped me find balance in my life is
this one:  every night I make a list of the
things I did that day that bettered my family life, improved my health, and built
my business.  At the end of each week, I
have a pretty accurate report card grading my efforts to keep balance in my
life. If my business controls my life, I’ll
find a new business. Life is too short.

Over this past week some very interesting and insightful people have shared with you not just the theory about the impact of lifestyle on business success – they have shared their direct experience about what works and sometimes what doesn’t and that is far more valuable.

I would like to thank all of the people that contributed to this series and encourage you to drop on by their blogs and become a regular listener to their wisdom.

Drop by tomorrow as I sit down and share with you my take on this question, what prompted me to ask this question and why it is so important to me.

As the week draws to a close I would also like to acknowledge all of the people in the Gulf states in the USA who are struggling with the loss of family, friends, lifestyle and businesses.  My thoughts are with you all.  It kind of puts some of the craziness of running a business and the small stuff we sweat over into perspective.