Teleworking and creatives… do they mix?

Afternoon All.

It looks very appealing, but is “teleworking” really workable?

Is ‘teleworking’ the way of the world going forward? The lonely figure sitting in a cafe working remotely from her team, her office, her collaborative influence?

That’s what the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is after.  She recently announced that she will commit 12% of Australian Public Servants to a teleworking arrangement… what does this mean?  They will basically have the flexibility of working remotely, from their homes, their favourite cafes, from the Great Ocean Road…. basically wherever they want.

The cynic inside me wonders is there a hidden agenda here for the Gillard Government, is it to justify the enormous cost of the NBN to the tax payers by giving them a new “shiny thing” and new “buzz word” to focus on?  ”Working from home”, as we all know it, is nothing new. Large and small companies alike have been doing it for years… so why the new name and the new focus on TELEWORKING?  I would hate to assume the worst but it is hard to ignore.

Teleworking has worked really well in a lot of organisations. In fact, I am doing it right now whilst writing this blog.  I am sitting in my local cafe sipping on lattes and getting my creative juices flowing.  But will this always work?

In the industry that Nexus CG and myself belongs to, Marketing and Advertising, it’s all about being creative. And whilst I can be creative by myself sitting in a cafe writing a blog, if I was to develop a new marketing launch for a new product for example, would I really do as good a job by myself as I would with my esteemed work mates?  I doubt it.

You see what I’ve noticed about running a team of creatives is that they quite literally feed off each other.  They get more and more creative based on the people, the environment, the mood, the activity and the conversation around them.  They will always create something quite magical with their teammates in comparison to creating something on their own.  So for Nexus CG, I can’t see teleworking being a workable system for the majority of time.

This isn’t to say I wouldn’t be open to it. On some occasions I totally get the need to get away from the office to get a whole load of work completed. I do that every Wednesday; it means an uninterrupted day of work. But can I trust my staff to do the same thing?  Absolutely.  For me, teleworking can only work if you trust your staff - and if you don’t need that collaboration time.

What a lot of people seem to forget is that most businesses are started from home, or “the coffice” (cafe office)- and Nexus CG was no different. I started it from my mother’s house and it was a great way to keep costs low.  One thing that many people don’t realise is that you can become very lonely working by yourself. And that loneliness is almost catastrophic to the creative juices because you start focusing on the loneliness and not the creativity.

So maybe teleworking is for some industries and not others…. maybe teleworking is for some people and not others… and maybe we as employers need to look at each person’s situation individually and create a teleworking policy for them… not the company.

For me I would need to work through many considerations in order to either agree or disagree to the individual teleworking policy. These are:

• How much work experience does the individual have? The less experience the more likely they are to feel lost in a teleworking scenario.
• What kind of work is the employee doing?  Do they need to be around peers to do the best job possible?
• Insurance, where will they be working and will I need to “sight the premises” in order for my insurance company not to “crack the sads”?
• What are the implications of taking customer’s IP out of the office? Will our customers be ok with this?
• Will our customers see this teleworking policy as almost like “outsourcing overseas” and therefore lose that element of control and human interaction?  The whole notion of outsourcing their marketing is challenging enough for most of our customers.
• What kind of person is the employee? Do they create better work surrounded by a team and in a positive environment?
• What kind of environment will they be working in and is it “workable”? For example, a busy pub in Richmond is probably not ideal to hold customer teleconferences re their branding.
• There is obviously a massive cost saving for teleworking but is the money a good enough reason to potentially sacrifice the quality of work through creative collaboration?  I think not.

Thank you Julia Gillard for the “Shiny new buzz word” and thank you for trying to deflect from the real issue of the cost of the NBN. However for me and for Nexus CG, we will work on an individual teleworking policy… and not offer a blanket “12% of workers will be teleworking” because of that 12% who knows if it will actually be the making or breaking of their careers?

I care about my staff and their development too much to just simply add a metric to their careers in order to hide an agenda… surely we should be focusing on developing these people for sustainable growth in a workforce that is seriously struggling with skill shortages.  How will these people learn from experienced peers I ask?

Here are a couple of pics of Team Nexus CG. I would hate to lose this kind of collaboration and integration:

Would love your opinion on this one….

Cheers

N

Has Google Made Us Arrogant In Business?

Afternoon All…

I am not sure if you are all aware, but some of the staff and clients from Nexus CG, my housemate Kim, and I are training for this year’s Run Melbourne Marathon… I am specifically running the half marathon – which is a bit of a challenging slog I can tell you!

Anyway – this challenge has me up and running about 3 times a week, and this morning was no different. I got up, got dressed and started my run. About 3kms into the run I started to notice a little niggle in my right calf muscle, but as I have loads of problems with my legs, I chose to ignore it – as “it will go away”… but it didn’t – in fact, I had to suddenly stop as I was in agony! I thought.. “oh crap – what do I do now? I know… I remember a search on Google recently told me to RICE – Rest Ice Compress and Elevate – that’s what i will do” – Google, and therefore I, know everything.

As the day has gone on – my predicament has got me thinking.. what has created this arrogance that I believe that I can self diagnose through a search engine rather than go and see a doctor and get a team of experts around me to aid me in my plight to be better by the weekend so I don’t miss any runs? This got me thinking even further….

This is what I see business owners do all of the time. Now I am still a new business owner, only 3 years young, but there is something that really bothers me… When someone suddenly becomes a business owner, it’s like they become an overnight expert in ALL things business. They are suddenly a marketing expert, a sales god, a CPA or even an IT wizz – they believe that because they have downloaded a few special reports or YouTube clips that they know how to do all of these aspects of business better than the “real experts”.

Now this is the part that confuses me… suddenly they realise that their “calf muscle” isn’t getting better as quickly as they thought, or their business isn’t generating as much revenue as quickly as they thought so they finally go and see a doctor.. or a “real expert”, but when they sit with that expert they start to tell them what’s what, and what they are not prepared to do and what they are to prepared to spend.

Reality is that in Australia there are over 100,000 new business each year, and of those 80% of them won’t last five years. The businesses that don’t survive fail for many reasons – one of them is not surrounding themselves with a support crew of experts that know their SME better than the business owner does. Being successful in business doesn’t have to be lonely – it can mean bringing in people who do it better than you do, that are smarter than you… and who understand elements of business better than you do.

How do stand out from the crowd of 100,000 new businesses every year – you try something different, you protect your investment dollars by spending money on the support crew that will create a return for you – one thing I say to my customers all of the time is “just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come” – so creating a reason why they should come is important – and Google will only get you so far.

So gang… Google needs to be your back up – your disaster plan, not the support crew that is going to get you and your business raking in the cash, seen by thousands of potential customers, or the clever little bugger that will maximise your tax return. If you have already spent thousands of dollars starting up your business – don’t you think that you should find that little bit extra cask to secure your return – and not base your success on the whim of a search engine?

Oh… and one final thing… it’s all well and good going to the doctor, but listening to them and taking their advice is a whole new ball game. This is the same thing for when you start to pull together your support crew… listen to them, hear what they are saying, and most importantly… take their advice – they have done more than watched a YouTube clip or two ..

This approach may just make you turn from:

 

 

 

 

Into……………………………….

 

 

 

 

Just saying

Cheers

Naomi

Scrambled eggs with no toast is like marketing with no selling!

 

Morning All…

As I went for my morning walk with my housemate Kim this morning… we were talking about a whole array of tough political, game changing, worldly topics.  One of the topics was “scrambled eggs should never be served sans toast”... come on it was 6am after all! What did you expect?

Our theory on scrambled eggs with no toast is that it may do what it needs to do initially, but with out a doubt an hour and a half later you are absolutely ravenous again… at which point we gorge on food that possibly isn’t the best for us… see pic!

So by simply adding a slice (or two) of toast with our morning scrambled eggs… we can go through to lunch and not feel the need to binge on high sugar, high fat yet delicious and scrumptious snacks… At this point I felt the need to take it that step further and compare it to marketing without selling….

You see, I come across so many well meaning, enthusiastic business leaders and owners who are determined to get their bodies (I mean businesses) into shape through marketing… and unfortunately I am seeing that they are starting to gorge themselves silly on non effective, pricey, and unproved marketing activities instead of simply adding a “sales” activity.

Like scrambled eggs and toast… marketing and sales should never be separated – they should and need to start working together if your ROMI (return on marketing investment) is truly going to be seen.  If you are going to create a brochure… great… and whats the objective for that brochure and how is it going to make you money?  Create an online campaign… great…. what are you going to do in the follow up sales activities that is going to give you a return that you never thought possible.  Do a letter drop… ooh wait…. never do a letter drop – period!

So how can you add a simple equation of selling to your marketing?  All you need to do is everytime you create a marketing activity ask yourself these questions:

1. After the marketing activity is complete… now what? (TIP: the answer is NEVER another marketing activity)
2. Has my marketing activity driven any revenue?…. if the answer is NO – then you have yet to sell!
3. Have you earned the right?  What I mean by this is that sure you have done a great marketing activity… have you in fact managed to build great rapport with your customer to the point where they are begging to buy from you – and you don’t need to ask?  If not… INSERT SALES ACTIVITY.

So don’t be stingy on the toast… yes you will get some short term benefits – try to start thinking of the long term gain though, and that does not include spending copious amounts of money on sugary, fatty marketing delights!

Would love to hear your thoughts…

Cheers
N

There is more to running a business than just marketing….

Morning All…

Beware… a rant may be coming!

As a marketing expert I know the above heading may seem a little odd… but hang on in there with me whilst I explain what I mean.

Often I see business owners and organisations coming to me to “build their business”… and they are absolutely right… marketing can help build your business – but what often happens is they think that because their marketing is being taken care of, that they can sit back and relax… WRONG!  Let me show you why…

Firstly, if you are not turning over $1Mil in your business per year, then you need to be spending 80% of your time on marketing AND SALES.  Without the selling component marketing becomes redundant and vice versa… if you don’t have the marketing how are you going to find the people to sell to.

Here is the system we work with at Nexus….

Sales Cycle

1. Notice – this is where are potential customer is noticing that they have a need and they are starting to see all of the suppliers who offer that solution – aka MARKETING

2. Identify – it is here that a potential customer sees that you specificall may have the solution that they are after – aka MARKETING

3. Qualify – you have your first meeting, and you qualify whether or not you are the right fit for the potential customer  - aka SALES

4. Refine – after qualifying that you and the potential customer are the right match – you start to refine their needs – aka SALES

5. Solution – here you provide a solution based on the customers requirements and budget – aka SALES

6. Negotiate – if needed, you start negotiating – aka SALES

7. Close – you finally close the deal – aka SALES.

8. Reverse market – keep marketing to this customer to build a long lasting relationship – aka MARKETING.

No matter what you sell, whether it is a service, product or a coffee and a muffin – you go through this sales cycle, it may take you 30 seconds, or it may take you 18 months, either way this sales cycle happens whenever you are trying to sell something i.e your business.

If you look at the sales cycle, marketing only occurs at the beginning and at the end – without the additional commitment of selling you will never get the kind of customers and revenue that will help you turn over $1M in a year.

So what I am saying is this… stop being lazy about selling.  Stop relying on marketing to save your business…. marketing will help – but nothing will help your business more than YOURSELF and your commitment to SELL.

This is almost a love triangle that should never be broken… YOUR COMMITMENT: MARKETING: SALES.  The three should never be parted.

oh… and yes, I am aware that in most multi-million dollar organisations the sales and marketing teams are working to separate goals and separate visions… that doesn’t make it right!  I would put a lot of money on they fact that when these organisations were just starting up… that they too had a love triangle going on!

Anyway.. that feels better lol

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Cheers

N

To the “Nay Sayers”…. We Say No!

Morning All..

On Monday I had a really great conversation with someone who I would have to say is probably of the same “mindset” as I am… ambitious, driven, goal orientated and not willing to let anyone tell them “it isn’t possible”.  When I asked him what his “dream job” was he came back without hesitation and said “CEO”.. referring to the large company he works for.  This excited me and made me look at him with respect… unfortunately this isn’t always the case with people.

More often than not, if you tell people a goal you have, a dream, an aspiration that they believe is “lofty” they will do one of two things… they will either a) laugh as though you have made the funniest joke ever, or b) say “come on really… be realistic” – these people are those that I refer to as “Nay Sayers”.  They are the people who have boundaries blocking them from thinking big, from dreaming what they want to dream and they are the people who are responsible for “tall poppy syndrome”.

When I first started Nexus, the Nay Sayers said to me “why would you do that… why don’t you go back to a corporate job… less risk”… now those same people say to me “wow you are so lucky that your business is successful”… lucky??? no no… I gave myself the permission to think big, I had conviction of thought, I was unshakeable in my belief and ultimately I got rid of the Nay Sayers from my life.  There was no luck involved… just pure belief.

No matter how successful you get, no matter how many goals you achieve these Nay Sayers will always be around… it’s up to you whether or not you choose to have them in your life and it’s up to you to choose how to react to them.  This is what I call leadership.

I used to always think leadership was simply motivating people towards a common goal and it is… and more.  Leadership for me now is having the conviction of thought, control of emotions, an unwaivering belief in my abilities and ultimately being able to say that “oh so powerful” word NO.  NO to the Nay Sayers, NO to staff and even NO to customers.

I suppose I never got taught the art of saying NO… but it is the usage of this word that will either help you grow into that leader who inspires or simply.. not.   Saying NO to the people around you takes courage, takes strength, takes clarity of mind and most importantly it takes giving permission to yourself to think big.

If you are one of the Nay Sayers… think before you speak and judge… you may think the person in front of you will never make CEO… but that is your issue, not theirs- maybe instead of laughing or telling them to be realistic, ask them “ok, how are we going to get you there?”

Be part of the dream… not against it.

Cheers

N

Internet dating… its just like marketing – only lazy

Morning All…

Recently I embarked on the trials and tribulations of internet dating… can’t believe I am actually blogging about it … but ah well! lol – hopefully this is a judgement free zone?!?! yeah right! lol…  Anyway, I joined up at the same time as a friend of mine and so we have been “doing this thing” together which has been great.  I have started to the notice the similarities with internet dating and some approaches to marketing.

You see, I am all about conversion rates and getting the best possible outcome for your efforts… for example, the best marketing conversion rate I have seen (consistently) is our offline marketing campaigns which returns anywhere from 10-30% (big in terms of marketing)… so I spend most of my time finding ways to make these campaigns for our clients – then there are other marketing efforts… like the ones that information and internets marketers teach that convert only about 0.5-2%- ho hum!

So how does this relate to internet dating… well… when I first joined the service I was absolutely bomabarded (pretty sure all girls are… not just me) with flirts or kisses or whatever you want to call them… so then came the fine art of tactfully, and respecfully rejecting these people that clearly have not read my profile…. or that I just don’t think it will work with.  Then finally we have a list “or database” of a select group of potentials that I may see some similarities with – so starts the communication trail… first build rapport, a connection, then maybe start texting and speaking on the phone, and then maybe… when I’m are ready – I will meet with them.

During that meeting, it is obvious from the outset whether there is a connection or not… More often than not there may be a slight connection but there is something missing… and for me that thing that is missing are those moments of getting to know someone consistently – and coming together because of a common interest or goal.  The it makes me think, whether the people on internet dating sites are purely just not understanding how to market… because of hundred and thousands of people that are dating over the internet, how many are successful?  I only know of a handful.. so what that as a conversion rate I wonder?

So I do know that  internet dating can be successful (or at least I am told… haven’t discovered it myself yet) – but how is it successful – how do the handful of people I know that have made it work gone about their approach to internet dating?  You need to be on it consistantly, otherwise you rank further down than other girls, you need to communicate often (they even measure your communication rate), you need to be really really specific about what you want don’t want, and you have to be willing to take a few risks.

How is this not EXACTLY like marketing?

If you are struggling with your marketing (or finding that special someone online), then maybe have a look at how consistent your marketing efforts are, look at your target market, are you being specific enough, and most importantly are you taking calculated risks to ensure you are trying something new. If not…. that could be the problem… for both your marketing and dating efforts!

As soon as you don’t have all the elements above in your marketing (and dating) plans then you are moving into “lazy marketing”… this means that you are more than likely throwing mud up against a wall and hoping it will stick!.. very rarely will this work.

So ditch the mud throwing… and try planning consistancy… you never know what you mind find… a great new customer – or maybe even love!

Cheers

N

Are information marketers “full of it” and simply greedy?

Afternoon gang…

How has 2012 been treating you so far?  Broken any generational boundaries yet?  I certainly hope so….

One of our fave clients at Nexus sent me an email this afternoon… she wanted to show me what one of our competitors is doing to attract clients to them… and I have to say it started to make me think about how genuine some of these “self acclaimed” information marketers are…

Why do I say this?  Because some of the claims I see information marketers “create” make me cringe…  This particular one was saying that a specific industry is doing really badly and they are the only people who can help!  Is this clever marketing or is it unethical… as it is completely incorrect?

It seems to me that information marketers know how to make money through only one means…. RAMP UP THE PAIN AND INCREASE THE FEAR.  Ethical marketing and selling tells us to stay away from these tactics and utilise creative ways to capture the attention of our clients, and this, my friends, will help build long lasting relationships that will have your clients coming back to you time after time.

Now obviously not ALL information marketers are like this… there are some exceptions… not many but they do exist… how can you tell the difference?  Simple… as soon as they add a whole load of fear into the mix – walk away very quickly… as they have yet to learn the right way to sell and market and therefore what are they really going to be able to teach you?

Remember there is no “magic pill” or “quick fix” in business… hard work, clever strategies and preparation is what makes a business successful.

There are some great marketers and sales people out there – spend the time researching and separating the good from the bad, and invest wisely… these core competencies are crucial for your business, why wouldn’t you work with people who genuinely get it, and are not simply after “stuffing their pockets” with money?

of course I could be completely wrong… would love to know your thoughts!

Cheers

N

Don’t be boxed in by your generation in 2012

Morning all…

Happy New Year!

You know what I love about the beginning of a new year…. the ability to start a fresh, and this year is going to be no different.  What is going to be different, is how I am going to start a fresh for 2012…. fear not, this is NOT a blog about by new years resolutions, but more of something that I have noticed as a young entrepreneur running a business with multiple staff from different generations.

It’s interesting that up until maybe 5 years ago, the different generations didn’t have nearly as much focus as they do today – the focus on the differences in the generations has been very helpful in many ways… it’s allowed us to understand our fellow peers and it’s allowed us to be more understanding when working with different generations than ourselves, but it’s also helped us to do something else…. it’s allowed us to make excuses for bad behaviour, laziness, lack of learning, and a common disregard of basic human kindness.

What do I mean?

Simple… the more we understand about our own generation, the more it seems that we (as a whole, and yes I am generalising) have allowed these common traits to define the reasons behind us not living up to all that we can be.  ”I am a gen Y and therefore you should know I don’t want to start at the bottom, I want to be CEO by month 3 of employment, you can’t blame me for it, it’s my generation” or “I can’t help not liking the Gen Y’s, as a Gen X I believe in working hard for what you get… and the fact they don’t get it isn’t my fault… I am a Gen X after all” or even this, ” I am a babyboomer and you need me…soon you won’t have anyone with the experience that I have, therefore I am indispensable”.  No matter who you are, just because you happen to fit into a nice neat generational group, doesn’t mean you can blame your faults or lack of success, or arrogance on your generation, or the generation of others.

You see I have had examples of those who use their generational label as a “crutch”, but then I have witnessed those special few who have well and truly ignored every aspect of their label and become exceptional people in spite of the excuses they could have used.

Recently, we hired a marketing intern Christie.  She has been magnificent.  She is a 24 year old female, working hard to start her career.  She came to Nexus understanding that the 8 week summer internship was unpaid… but she recognised that she would get a load of experience, and the opportunity for a permanent paid internship at the end.  Christie was unique – the others that were interviewed all pulled out… the first few because they didn’t want to complete the interview task I had set, and the remaining few because they didn’t want to “work for free”.  Christie on the other hand, not only produced the best proposal for her set task, but now she is working for us – I don’t know what we ever did without her.  A Gen Y, willing to start at the bottom and work her way to the top… breaking all the rules!

We also have a babyboomer, who is breaking all of the babyboomer rules…. Lynne, our HR Manager who at the age of 53 has embarked on an adventure of a lifetime, moving to Australia from the UK to help us in the Nexus office… this is a major learning curve for her, and she has also thrown aside the “babyboomer characteristics” and is completely open to learning… and learning from her younger peers.  She has learned how to use a MAC OS, MYOB the Australian lingo and has yet to lose her mind.

I am so very proud to be surrounded by people who are choosing to “do away” with the labels of their generation and ensure that they are a success no matter what.  I personally get offended when others offer me excuses for my ambition, my drive, and my passion to succeed… “Naomi you are a typical Gen Y”…. am I?  Or am I someone who is willing to give it a go, irrelevant of my age, gender, generation, or others perceptions of me…

I wonder how many of you are as brave as Christie, or Lynne… and are willing to shed the badge of honour you call your generational gaps and try something new this year… be you… the successful version minus the excuses.

Happy 2012… generations without boundaries!

Cheers

N

 

Should Spiral Dynamics Be Used For Selling?

Afternoon All…

One of my absolute favourite topics is the theories around Spiral Dynamics and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  I was sitting with two colleagues having lunch yesterday and we got onto the topic of the difference between the two theories and how society can fit into to either one of them.  We then started to question the sales technique of using (in particular) spiral dynamics to convince people to part with their money and give it to the seller.  This got me thinking…. should something as important as understanding human dynamics and behaviour be used to manipulate people into buying – or is it simply “smart selling”?

For those of you who don’t know what Spiral Dynamics is – here is a brief overview…. Spiral dynamics argues that human nature is not fixed… and that humans are able, when forced by life conditions, to adapt to their environment by constructing new, more complex, conceptual models  of the world that allow them to handle the new problems.  Then each of these models transcends the previous model allowing them to “move up” through the levels within spiral dynamics – and these levels are based on a core value system that is sometimes referred to has vMemes – don’t get thrown by that – just see it as a value system.

So Spiral Dynamics is used to explain where culture, societies, people and even mindsets are situated –  and the only way to move up through the  7 levels – or 9 (depending who you listen to, or read about) is to learn new skills and develop your mindset.  The levels look like this:

Level 1 – Instinctive – Needs are: food , water, shelter, safety etc – i.e survival

Level 2 – Animistic – Needs are: Social, family, tribe, honour, respect elders, ancestors, spirits i.e lives for past

Level 3 – Egocentric – Needs are: Pschological, power driven, exploitative, priviledge i.e lives for now.

Level 4 – Absolutistic – Needs are: Abstract, purposeful, authoritarian, dualistic, dogmatic i.e lives for future

Level 5 – Materialistic – Needs are: Entreprenuerial, strategic, growth and success. i.e Lives for gain

Level 6 – Humanistic – Needs are: Community, harmony, liverty, equality i.e lives for cause

Level 7 – Systemic – Felxibility, spontaneity, competence, balance i.e lives for Synergy.

Levels 8 and 9 are about targeting the “greater good” and those in these levels are living entirely for others… i.e the Dalai Lama.

So how are people using this as a sales tool?  There are people in todays market place that use this theory as a way of selling products and programs… and they do it like this….

They start of by explaining Spiral Dynamics, and they talk about examples – this is a direct quote from something that was said in a room I was in once… “The average australian employee mindset is at level 3 – but if you want to be successful in business you need to be level 5, I can only see and recognise 3 level 5s in the room (this was a room of about 100 people)” this then went on futher when this person was selling from the stage and used “I don’t want to spend my time with the employee mindset or level 3s – I want to spend my time with level 5s” and this where those in the room who are desperate to have successful businesses convince themselves that the only way to get to level 5 is to buy the product or program… almost the “blue pill to level 5 thinking”!

Now I am all for using NLP, human behavioural understanding to ensure that you are able to talk about services or products in a way that you can align with your customers or potential customers… however, I am not sure how ethical it is to utilise something that is a conceptual theory to manipulate a crowd to believe that if they don’t buy something they will never progress or develop… I personally believe that anyone can work their way through the levels as every human can adapt to situations and evolve their own thinking…

I know this is a heavy blog… but would love to know your thoughts…

Should Spiral Dynamics be simplified and reduced to a common sales tool?

All Together Now… 1, 2, 3…. HOW!?!?!?

Morning Everyone…

I have been getting quite a few phone calls and emails about how you are all enjoying my blogs… and I am thrilled – who knew that my strong opinions would ever serve me well…

Many of you don’t know that I have the ability to speak 5 languages… English (probably my worst language), German (fluently), French, Japanese and Persian Farsi (my newest and not quite mastered yet).. language is something that I have had a long lasting relationship with.. it fascinates me, intrigues me, encapsulates me and more importantly fills me with utter enjoyment.  Simply understanding how a language is spoken… and not just what the words mean really “floats my boat” – I see it as understand the “art of the language” and not just “what word means what”.

I think this is an important distinction in most areas of life… the “how” versus the “what”… and it so neatly brings me to the 4th thing that I really wish mentors, coaches, and so called “experts” understood… Business owners want the tools of HOW to do things… not just theory (what)…

For example I could learn the word for “love” in German…. “liebe” – but if I wanted to tell someone I loved them then suddenly I would go into overwhelm as I wouldn’t know “how” to construct a sentence to be able to express myself properly… but as soon as I learned the grammar, the nuances, the tonality and where to place the emphasis I would know exactly how to tell someone I loved them…”Ich liebe dich”, or “Ich liebe Sie” (dependant on the person and the relationship)… then what happens if I turn it into past tense “Ich liebte Sie”.  So as you can see, just having the word “liebe” doesn’t get you very far.

Just like being told “go and do online marketing”, “go and sell into corporates”, “come up with a new offline marketing campaign”, “sell it from stage”… is great information – but is worth didlisquat unless you know HOW to do these things.

I so often see business owners who have all the theories, all the “what” the “liebe”- have been to the seminars, taken the courses but never been shown the “HOW” – they don’t have a system in place to complete all of the action items and quickly, but very surely, they enter into the state of overwhelm… where they get lost, disalusioned and quite frankly… peeved at all the money they spent on hearing more theories…. and as I have too been put in that position… I say it’s time to take a stand…..

It’s time for these mentors, coaches and so called “experts” to take a very long hard look in the mirror and stop spouting “liebe” and start educating their clients in “ich liebe dich”….

So folks… stand with me… post a comment to show these “WHAT” sayers that we are ready to hear the HOW… the art of business….

Cheers

N