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!!

Two Things Successful People Do to Get Where They're Going

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Things in Twos

Yesterday Karen emailed to say that she won’t be able to attend SOBCon. Her company is sending her to California next weekend.
Karen has been a good friend to the conference and an attendee since the beginning. This year she was also going to speak with Glenda on accessiblity. Later in the day, I found out that Saul Colt had a similar situation.

It was the kind of news that happens. That doesn’t make it less disappointing. I got two for the price of one.

How did I get to be so lucky?

Two Things Successful People Do to Get Where They’re Going

Yesterday was a day of twos, I had two speakers to replace and two last minute contracts to write up. I had two kinds of people come knocking — people who wanted to help and people who wanted me to do something for them. The event prep for two events came through — two key things were missing. I had two other projects that I wanted to move forward. The details to be handled seemed to be multiplying by twos every time I communicated with anyone about anything.

I had two choices — to take a nap or to keep going.

At about 2pm, I was going through more SOBCon preparations and my eyes landed on the name of man I admire. I got thinking of something simple and profound he once told me.

Successful people do two things to get where they’re going — talk and move.

It only took those two things to get everything back in order.

I’m pleased to announce that Jeff Willinger will be partnering with Terry Starbucker Friday afternoon at SOBCon to bring a spectacular session on the infrastructure of an online business. And a second plan is in action for Karen’s session with Glenda. Can’t wait for that.

Two more things about talking and moving …

  • Talking needs to be about the opportunities.
  • Moving needs to be invested in a positive action.

Thanks to all of the people who’ve been helping!

What sort of positive talking and moving have you been doing?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

What Robert Hruzek said . . . about Listening for Gold

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A community isn’t built or befriended,
it’s connected by offering and accepting.
Community is affinity, identity, and kinship
that make room for ideas, thoughts, and solutions.
Wherever a community gathers, we aspire and inspire each other intentionally . . . And our words shine with authenticity.

When We Listen for Gold

Everyone is hungry to be heard, but we don’t have bandwidth to listen to everyone. So we filter to get to the gold … faster, easier, and more deeply.

What are we missing

Here’s what Robert said . . .

Howdy Liz! I liked that “panning for gold” analogy so I took it a bit farther…

I know folks who are always “skimming” for big ideas and world-shaking nuggets. They may (or may not) find one, but the fact is, those types of things are actually few and far between.

On the other hand, if they’d just “shift their sights” even a little bit, there’s a whole bunch of smaller chunks, just lyin’ around for the taking. Tune your sight to the finest setting and you’ll find there’s a ton o’ dust down there at the bottom of the barrel. All we gotta do is drill down to it.

I guess what I’m sayin’ is, we should learn to listen to whole conversations, not just search for, and key on, certain “triggers”.

There are riches at every level.
Robert Hruzek from a comment on April 21, 2009

A successful and outstanding blogger said that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register for SOBCon09. May 1-3!

Don’t miss a chance to change your life.

Hidden Assumptions and Business Likeability

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Twitter Conversations and Reality

One strength of Twitter is the speed, reach, and ease of connection that is social business. In a few tweets and direct messages, we can gather a team and make a project happen.

The Likeability Factor as Tim Sanders defined it — friendliness, relevance, empathy, and authenticity — is a critical component to online social business. We make business relationships and referrals from our “friends” list on Twitter.

Social business connections happen so quickly and easily. It’s not hard to develop a false sense of a person’s abilities. Extended online business conversations that explore theory, philosophy, and expertise can overshadow the reality that we’ve never actually seen or worked with a person.

Hidden Assumptions and Business Likeability

As a young manager making my first hire in the offline world, I was swayed by whether I liked the candidates sitting across from me.

But when folks can’t or don’t do the job, they become problematic no matter how likeable they are in a more social context.

Tim Sanders suggested likeability was necessary, not a replacement for, traditional skills sets. It’s easy to get caught in hidden assumptions about these equally important business “abilities.”

  • CAPABILITY – Does this person actually have the skill set that job requires? Conversation is not the same as the ability to actually do something well.
  • “RESPONSE ABILITY” – Does she respond quickly, thoughtfully, with a focus and a solution that will last longer than 140 characters?
  • BELIEVABILITY – Does he tell the truth, even when it’s not easy? Have we actually experienced that?
  • ADAPTABILITY – Will the person understand when change happens without responding like a frustrated 4-year-old?
  • ACCOUNTABILITY – Does she own what she does, fix what she breaks, and strive for quality?

BUSINESS LIKEABILITY – competent, trustworthy, and a pleasure to work with.

No time before has any culture had the power to build deep, strategic networks so efficiently. The connections have incredible potential to keep our businesses growing with minimal overhead and maximum accomplishment. No time before has business been so global and fluid. We’re learning to navigate a new reality.

We have to keep remembering to ask questions.

Do online conversations to lead to hidden assumptions more often than the offline equivalent?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Why Can't Everyone Think Like We Do? What to Do about the People Who Disrupt Our Lives

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Why Does He Care So Much about THAT?!!

Life is going. Things are urgent, important, and vibrant. I’m in the zone, making things happen, feeling the vibe. Then it happens.

Someone points out a tiny crack. Even worse, he’s worried about it, fretting about it, suggesting extreme precautions for fixing. And I can’t believe that anyone has invested the time … to write 100 little sticky notes that say exactly the same thing when one big note would have worked; to interrupt the conversation on a heartfelt idea to point out I’ve mispronounced a word; to check whether I want to order special paper for a document that’s late.

I’m not good at reviewing the soil composition when I’m moving mountains. I’m also not good at the opposite when someone brings up the mountain when I’m analyzing the soil.

The disruption is the same.

I tend to be drawn to people who think like I do. It’s so much easier to relate to them.

Why can’t everyone think like we do?

What to Do about the People Who Disrupt Our Lives

It’s a fact. We think that people who think like we do are brilliant, easy, and wonderful. They truly are intuitive, perceptive, and world-changing leaders in every way. But you know, the ones who we need most are the people who think differently.

We call them “difficult,” because they’re challenge to understand. That’s the value of being around them.

People who think differently than we do care deeply about things we don’t even think about. Therein lies their strength.

We should celebrate the people who disrupt our lives.

  1. Start with thank you. The second that you want to say “WHAT?!!” say “Thank you for saying (seeing, asking about) that.” Whatever issue (problem, outlandish idea) someone brings, know that he or she invested time thinking about it and bringing it to your attention. Say that you know that.
  2. Value the execution that comes from commitment. People who go to unimaginable extremes to make sure something is right care more about that something than we ever will — therefore they execute it better than we ever would. Rather than being perplexed by their values, value their commitment.
  3. Change their title from obstacle to safety net. Let them be on the team. Let them in on your goals. Invite them to take care of what they do well and know they’ll have your back on that.

Innovation, progress, and safety come from brave, valuable voices different from our own. The very differences that make them valuable also make it hard to hear them.

If you believe opposites attract, maybe you should.

Ever had an irritating, interrupting difficult person save your butt? Did it change you somehow?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

How Do You Make the Dream Within You Visible?

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Do You Dream a Dream?

We unconsciously believe “What you see is what you get.”

When I started this quest for visible authenticity, I didn’t realize how important it would be. I didn’t know how hard I’d been working to get past what people assumed about me. I thought it was just my shyness from childhood kicking in. Now with minor changes barely in place, I already see a difference in how people are responding.

After our first meeting in November, Kali wrote …

“Liz’s visual presence is perfect for someone, just not Liz Strauss. It sorely misrepresents who she is and the depth of her talent. If the bulk of Liz’s interactions are vocal or written, she may be less aware of the impact of her visual image – but I am certain that it is affecting her life.”

“I am confident that when Liz is in front of people, she is taken less seriously than she should be,”

The same could be said of Susan Boyle the amazing, inspiring woman in this video. She wasn’t taken less seriously than she should be. Even if you’ve seen this video before, watch again. Experience what happens when people realize “what you see isn’t always what you get.”

YouTube keeps disconnecting the embed. You can also view it here.

When we see each other’s dreams, visibly authentically, we are drawn into to them.
Susan made her dream visible. Imagine if everything about her shared her dream — what then?

Do you dream a dream? How do you make the dream within you visible?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Make your dream visible.