Successful Blog

When Anything Is Nothing Next to Something … One Sentence that Will Keep You Stuck

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People Who Need Help

In my business and though my conference, I meet people and businesses who are looking to move forward. I love helping people be successful. I love building businesses. Some make easy to help them. It’s a pleasure to help them get what they need or want. Some think they they make it easy, but in reality they do not.

One sentence I’ve heard too often lately has made me realize that it has the opposite effect of its intent. The sentence is …

I’ll do anything.

That sentence doesn’t win clients, doesn’t gain partners, doesn’t attract friends of the very best sort.

When Anything Ix Nothing Next to Something

Attraction happens when we know who we are. Whether we’re an organization or an individual, we need to attract people. Nothing attracts like focus. Focus draw others to us in the same way our eyes will follow a shining light curving through the dark.

That focus says they know where they’re going. They’re predictable. They’re productive. They’re positively contributing. Even when they aren’t in our business, we can learn something from them while we’re helping them.

Focus drives people and organizations to know things. You can bet they’ll know what sort of help they need. They’ll also know what values and skills they have to offer. When they ask for assistance, they’ll make it a conversation about working together. You’ll meet on the same side of the table.

People with focus offer something — they offer best of what they’ve got.

Focused people and organizations are easy to work because they come with an offer, a package put together with some thought. They do the work before you meet, which shows a high possibility that they’ll deliver. If the offer doesn’t match perfectly, it’s a place to start.

“I’ll do anything” is nothing next to something.

“I’ll do anything” leaves it to you to decide the offer. It leaves it to you to think up what the package might be and how to construct the relationship. It’s your time and it’s your thought put to work guessing at their values and their skills. Not a good idea. How can you be sure that they will deliver? It’s like saying “Here’s a tool you’ve never seen. Use it for anything you want.” The anything offer is nothing, because you have to decide everything about it for it to work. You do the work of thinking. You take the risk. They’re delegating up.

Turning Anything Into Something Valuable

Anything might only seem like something to the person who is offering it. Anything is nothing if the person getting the offer doesn’t know what to do with it. To turn an anything into a something think it all the way through. Be able to say exactly how your finished work will make what they do

  • easier
  • faster
  • more valuable

Then you’ve got something valuable — something worth talking about.

Ever taken someone up on an “I’ll do anything” offer. How easy was it to figure out what that anything would be? Would you take the offer again?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: We're Talking SOBCon09!

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Join Us Tonight

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM

Who, What, When, Where, Why and What’s for You?

The event that started right here in the comment box is taking place for the third year in Chicago this week. Stop by to add a word or two or to find out what will be happening that you might want to pay attention to.

Oh, and bring links of memories or bring your questions.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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The Dangers of Old Think and the Dangers of Thinking New

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The stories on the top of Google Blog Search Business aren’t optimistic. They haven’t been for a while. Yet the predictions for social media, mobile and the growth of online advertising are huge. New jobs are being invented, described and defined, and invested in. New people are learning new skills to do them.

What happens to businesses that keep thinking “old think” when huge new opportunities are happening?

Saturday on Twitter, Dan Pancost offered these thoughts in response to my question.

@jazzlover: Those not willing to change with the times will still be hurting…. They’ll experience a lot of missed opportunities. Their businesses will probably begin a decline.

Adapting and changing to this new terrain is vital, thrilling, but not as simple as it seems.

Are You Trying to Fit Old Think into a Culture That’s New?

Past successes often inspire us to new things. It’s been said that “success breeds success.” But that isn’t always so. When we take on a new endeavor, we have to take on the new behaviors that will propel it up and forward. Yet, who hasn’t tried to use skills that made success in the past to build a future?

The old skills and perspectives don’t work when the culture and climate are new.

“Old think” businesses simply won’t prosper as much as the more flexible business thinkers and doers. Dan added later in the conversation. It would seem that most folks who read here would understand what Dan meant. I totally agree with what he said. We need to get out from under the burden of old thinking, to throw off old habits and thoughts to take on new ones.

But new thinking is dangerous too. I see signs of new thinking gone wrong every day. Here’s a few ways that thinking new can derail us just as horrendously.

  • It’s a good idea because it’s new. We act as if our fluency with the new culture ourshines our lack of experience. It’s still a new culture. We do foolish things and have unfortunate ideas.
  • Bye bathwater. Bye baby too! We turn our backs on what could still serve us well. Previous relationships and processes that have value get set aside. We take our new ideas out for a spin in our new environment, leaving safety nets and guideposts in a past life.
  • Everyone’s doing it! Our values become those of the new culture without thought. We do what everyone is doing. We accept everyone’s rules.

Whatever the economy, whether you’re solo or CEO of a huge enterprise, the challenge is continuous. How do we keep the best of what we know and throw off what is no longer true?

Old think or new think nothing beats thinking things through.

Depending on where you sit in the social business world, I’m thinking you see people in danger of old think or in danger of new think. What advice do you have to offer the thinking business folks you know?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Sign Up for the Newsletter to Get Your Virtual Swag-bag

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sobcon-swagSOBCon starts this Friday! It is sure to be an exciting time, with over 100 attendees and some fantastic presenters. Our most excellent sponsors are providing some really cool items for all of the folks that will be there, as well as some virtual goodies that they would also like to share with the entire SOBCon community.

The SOBCon09 Virtual Swag Bag will include contributions from attendees, speakers, and sponsors in the form of ebooks, slideshares, presentations, product samples, case studies, contests, and exceptional discount offers. It will be available at the end of May. We’ll announce it here, in the newsletter, and on Twitter.

So, if you are not coming to Chicago but are interested in sharing in this SOBCon love be sure to subscribe to the SOBCon newsletter so that you can get the links to these goodies. Thanks!

Subscribe to the
SOBCon09 Newsletter

Email:

WILF Comes to SOBCon

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Today we have a guest post from Robert Hruzek, a SOBCon alumnus that I had the pleasure of meeting last year. I am looking forward to spending more time talking to him this year!

What I Learned From...
What I Learned From...

Howdy fellow SOBCon folks!

Hey, if you’re scratchin’ your head and wonderin’ what the heck WILF means – and what it has to do with SOBCon – well Bubba, wonder no more!

It stands for “What I Learned From…” and is a groupwrite project we run on the first Monday of every month over at Middle Zone Musings. Yup; every month!

In fact, since we started back in May of ’07, there have been 23 editions of WILF with a total of 650 entries to date! Pretty amazing, when you get right down to it.

As the name implies, the purpose of the WILF groupwrite project is to encourage folks to share something – anything – they learned from… well, whatever the topic that month happens to be. And, in doing so, they collect a link (and sometimes two) back to their blog. It’s that simple.

So what does that have to do with SOBCon? Well, for the month of May, the topic is (sound of drumroll) COMMUNITY – which happens to tie right in, don’cha think? So for the next project I’m extending a special invitation for all my fellow SOBCon’ers. (Is that a word? Who cares?) And, it’s not limited to those who will, y’know, actually be there. Nope; it’s a lot bigger than that!

In fact, this topic is for anyone who:

  • A) plans to be at SOBCon09,
  • B) has attended any previous SOBCon,
  • C) hasn’t made it yet but wishes they could one day,
  • D) never heard of SOBCon and accidentally stumbled across this post, or
  • E) has a cat who walked across the keyboard when you had the SOBCon website up on the screen. Or whatever.

(I think that about covers everyone, don’t you?)

So, no matter which letter of the alphabet you happen to, uh, B (sorry), you’re invited to join the fray and tell us what you learned!

Here’s how it works.

Write an article sharing something you learned, either from SOBCon, or because of it, or would like to have learned from it, or – hey, you get the idea, right? Length isn’t important –you can be as eloquent (or as brief) as you like. (Note: there’s only two rules: Be nice – and keep it “G-rated”)

Then, you post it on your blog sometime that week and email me the link at rhruzek [at] sbcglobal [dot] net. I’ll collect ‘em all, then post the entire list of entries at the Middle Zone. The list will then point everyone to YOUR brilliant blog! Plus, you’ll have a great compendium of lessons learned, to boot! I’m tellin’ ya; ya can’t beat that with a stick! (Well, I guess you could… but that would be, y’know, wrong!)

OK; mark your blogging calendars, folks, ‘cause the kickoff for this special WILF will be on Monday, May 7 (right after SOBCon weekend), and will be open for entries through Sunday, May 13. (But don’t worry if you’re late – I can always add your link to the list later.)

Hey, I look forward to seein’ y’all in Chicago. Tap me on the shoulder and introduce yourself, won’t you? Just look for the hat.
_______________________________

Robert Hruzek
Robert Hruzek

Robert Hruzek currently lives in Houston, Texas, and thoroughly enjoys being married to The Most Wonderful Wife in the Whole World (sorry fellas, it’s no contest). He is usually employed as an engineering project manager, a job which has allowed him to travel, live and work in many interesting locations within the United States and around the world.

Robert writes on the Web at Middle Zone Musings. It’s described as a comfortable place to stop, have a cup of coffee, swap a few stories and share practical ideas for the real world. He doesn’t ask for much, just a bit of your brain every now and then. Why not drop by, grab a seat, take a load off, and relax…

Beach Notes: I Can See Clearly Now the Rain Is Gone?

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

On Friday we wondered if we would get to swim in the sea. Following a week or more of fierce storms with a consequent build up of debris, the sea was so murky. The locals including ourselves were reluctant to swim. Thursday we stood on the beach discussing why it was taking so long to clear. We didn’t swim that day.

Then overnight, as if with the wave of a magic wand the sea had become crystal clear. You could see the fish and your own feet.

Life itself is like that sometimes I find. Last week I was in one of my "overwhelm" states. HOW would I get everything completed IN TIME?

Des says let’s get everything that is in your head onto a spreadsheet. VOILA, magic wand time again! I have been able to get clear and move forward. What’s great is I am checking things off. This give me good feelings as well as giving me clarity.

What do you do when things are not clear?

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh