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12 Comments to “How to Beat 80% of the Competition from the Start”

1. January 18th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
   Derek said

   Now that is some great advice. They were able to pack in the reason why people succeed and fail in less than 50 words.

   Additionally, I think the founder of both Gizmodo and Engadget once said, “the key to successful blogging is showing up.”

2. January 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
   Sarah Browne said

   Liz, I love your tell-it-like-it-is posts. I totally agree with Chris about the 80%. It *astounds* me how many so-called business people don’t do the basics — like showing up. The other day, I got an email from someone who was referred to me. She sent me her resume with a request for help in finding work. I dutifully read the resume and tossed her a couple of key questions via email (what’s your dream job?) largely because it’s my way of getting to know someone –but also because her resume had been a bit fuzzy.

   A day later I got an email back from her saying that she would reply to my questions on Thursday. It was then Monday. Thursday came — nada! Interestingly, I got a phone call from a colleague searching for someone with a skillset like this job seeker. Guess who didn’t get the referral?

   Why ask for help and then show me in every possible way that you’re not professional?

   I feel so blessed to love what I do.

   I am so sorry I missed Wordcamp. I’d been at CES all work — loved Social Media Club’s Ultimate Blogger Dinner — but I had to go home and dig into a juicy project. It sounds like you all had an amazing time.

   Liz, again, thanks for posting this illuminating article, and (again) for your beautiful Frost piece. While I am still a Cheesehead at heart, I am enjoying wearing my Packers T shirt today over shorts!

3. January 18th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
   ME Liz Strauss said

   Yep, Derek,
   Malcolm Gladwell said in “Outliers” that the successful don’t just work harder than other folks, they work much, much, much harder.

4. January 18th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
   ME Liz Strauss said

   Sarah,
   Thank you for adding such a perfect example. You wouldn’t believe how often I run into just that same situation you describe.

   Thank you, too, for sharing so much of you!

5. January 18th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
   --Deb said

   Paying for reliable, responsible service? Well, yeah!

6. January 19th, 2009 at 5:46 am
   Carlos Lorenzo said

   Thanks for sharing these words as an example. Yes, I think that they express all in all the secret to keep people’s trust and create buzz enough as to take a bigger share and beat your competence by an 80%. A secret that implies just a little extra work: showing up.

7. January 19th, 2009 at 8:37 am
   Ujjwal Trivedi said

   That’s a great point to make note of. Its the basic of every service centered business. If you dont “show up” you don’t “serve”. Infact that’s one of the first and magical way to make a reader/client/fan feel that she’s being heard. That’s what makes someone addicted to your service.

8. January 19th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
   Patricia said

   Being responsible must be coming back into vogue..sometimes poverty and strife can make us better individuals - the up side?

9. January 20th, 2009 at 7:26 am
   Ricardo Bueno said

   You know, it’s NOT easy to find service like that! It’s damn well difficult! And when I do find it, I appreciate it and I evangelize their product/service for it.

   I love his response. And it’s something every solo-practitioner should work towards! Doing that, will garner so much more by way of results. I know because I’ve been told that people appreciate my follow up more than anything else.

10. January 21st, 2009 at 8:01 pm
    Todd Jordan said

    I was going to respond to another post but this one really caught my eye.

    The other one was about trust, but this one is as well. Trust that when I contact you, that you are treating me, my request, and my time with respect. You are not blowing me off, laughing at me behind my back or ignoring me.

    That’s a powerful statement.

    If you get where he’s at, you’re head and shoulders above the rest.

    Had a situation today where an internal customer was not happy, and not well trained and was very frustrated. Another member of our team had ‘helped’ him by walking him through the process he needed to do.

    Sadly, the person that helped the customer basically didn’t provide him anything but a few minutes of over the phone guidance and then left him be. The customer was not happy and I ended up calling him back.

    The customer was frantic, and displeased. He wasn’t satisfied with the walk through, still didn’t have instructions in hand, and didn’t feel confident about the procedure he was required to perform.

    I went back to the team mate’s supervisor to find out what instructions if any existed and if I could send them along. The coworker felt the need to get in the middle of my query and make it about himself and about how the customer isn’t going to be happy and it’s not our job to help them get that way. OMG was I angry.

    Needless to say tonight I’m angry at myself for being angry and still angry at him.

    Best lesson is though, I’m going to take it upon myself to do what he should have done, make sure the customer really has it in his hands and knows that we are there for him if he really struggles. That’s our job.

11. March 4th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
    Chris Schultz said

    Liz - thank you so much for this post, and it was great to meet you in Vegas. As is clearly demonstrated by me missing this post and lack of a google alert, I have been working hard the last month since we met.

    I really do think that being professional and responsible is a key and often overlooked part of success. Just showing up is something that really can be that easy.

    However, in our evermore overwhelming world, its tough to keep up with. As Richardo mentioned above, particularly for solo practitioners this is critical, because it is easy to get overwhelmed.

    The other lesson I’ve learned with clients is over communicating. Too many freelancers fall of the grid when they are in the weeds (I know, too much lingo). All this does is bring the frustration and resentment on a project to a boil. Tell your client you’re overwhelmed, sick, that the project is taking longer than you thought, whatever… just tell them what is up. Be honest and transparent.

    Thanks again, and I really appreciate the thoughts. With that, back to work.

12. March 4th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
    Kevin Cullis said

    Great info, love the content and thanks.