We can talk about where we find them, free and inexpensive ones, sources that have delicious photos and art, public domain sources, our personal favorites . . .
and whatever else comes up.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?
Are you still with me?
Here’s where we are.
We started inside our hearts and looked inside the hearts and heads of our ideal customers, as best we could . . . hopefully we’ll keep doing both. It’s not a spreadsheet. It’s personal, from me to you, to me, and back to you again.
Now that we’re used to that, we can work on the most basic decision model. Every decision that follows will have this model as a test.
Here we go. We started building it sometime last week.
the model that we’re building will test future decisions about a specific business. To do that we need to define the business by building these four parts.
All parts work as a whole to define the business from view of the ideal customer. When all parts are defined together, this definition becomes the touchstone to which all future questions and definitions can be tested and verfied.
Does what I’m about to do fit within this model to make the business stronger, clearer, and more real to my ideal customer . . . or does what I’m considering weaken my plan and fogs up my message?
Use the model to be sure that future decisions support how we’ve defined the company.
What do you see here so far? What questions do you have?
More is coming I promise.
Next: The tagline
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Is your business stuck? Check out the Start-up Strategy Package. Work with Liz!!
Related
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.
I sit back in my chair, exhausted. I stare. Silence is all around me. It’s a fine, harmonious sound. It’s broad and clear. I can hear myself. I can hear myself thinking.
A cell phone wouldn’t dare interrupt.
A loud voice doesn’t exist.
I can feel my heart. I can feel my heart beating.
I remember when I used to not like to be alone.
Then I learned how.
Learning how to be alone is as easy as learning how to feed yourself
and just as messy at first.
I think of the softly lit stars. I feel the silence of their being. I feel a home in the universe. I’m hospitable, joyful, forgiving, and generous.
A friend once said, “The universe shall not be thwarted.” So I stopped trying to rearrange it, stopped trying to change it, stopped trying to put myself in the center.
Instead I sat in the dark and listened. Silence is a harmonious sound.
I can hear myself. I can hear myself thinking.
I can feel my heart. I can feel my heart beating.
I’m reflective, thoughtful, and filled with meaning.
I learn how to be alone.
It makes me better when I am with other people.
We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
In the group of about 25 or so that I met. Many were charming new bloggers at their first conference of any kind . . . ever. Most of them had mommy blogs or were political bloggers. Two were conference sponsors.
Read the whole feature in today’s Blog Herald by clicking the logo.
It’s about blogging and real life.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
At the Blog Herald, I write about books, information, and relationships, making connections from the patterns she sees. I consider these keystone articles.
Authenticity and Transparency in the Real World
In the Real World — The Half-Full, Half-Empty Glass
The Universe of People, Black Holes, and Stars
Connectors and Mavens on the Tipping Point
The Writer’s Dilemma and the Blogger’s Secret
The Two Webs: Information or Relationships?
Social Networking: Am I Person Or an Item?
Listen in to my latest answer in the ongoing, one2one conversation that Dawud Miracle and I are having.
Just the other day, Dawud asked me (and you.)
I’ve always seen you as having a great deal of clarity around your blogging and your business. What do you lean on to help you keep that clarity?
Why is that? How is that? I clearly know what to do? I have to start with a story . . .
This week, I spoke to a close friend on the phone about the serious accident that involved her child. We talked about how every member of her family was doing. She mentioned that one member in particular “rose to the occasion,” and was always the best person, a hero, when emergencies happen.
For a moment the conversation was about how tragedy brings out the higher side of people — that they suddenly become clear in knowing what’s important in life. We talked slowly together about how most folks we knew dropped pretense and petty issues in favor of authentically showing up to offer support. They clearly knew what to do. . . .
Since one particular morning years ago when I closed the door on my childhood, I’ve thought about this way that people get clear when faced with mortality. I’ve wondered about it. I’ve thought it’s a comfort that builds community.
I also have revisited character-building moments to keep my priorities straight.
You see, Dawud . . .
In my personal story . . . clarity in business and in life comes from knowing where I’ve been, where I’m going, and what I value on the days that tragedy strikes.
Some folks believe that people can’t help it when they mean things in anger. I believe the world is so many choices. I believe you can choose not to say something mean ever. I believe my work, if I do it right, can make me a better person. I try to live up to that.
When I write, I like to start out knowing what I want to say. When I do something, I like to know how I’m going to do it and why. When I live my life, I like to keep an eye on what I do — to see what I can learn. All of the time, I want my my heart in it feet first.
I don’t always succeed. I don’t always try.
But I know that if I show up and pay attention and if I keep myself looking in the direction where I’m headed, I’m likely to get there — even when, maybe especially when, I set the highest standards.
I also know that most of what I need is inside of me, not out there in other people. The truth is there to discover and to put to use as a light for my journey. I use that light to sort the good guys from the bad. I use it to keep the fire going when I’m going through the pains of learning.
When I fall, I have friends to lean on. I also have my head and heart packed tight with faith, hope, and love — yeah, love. Any business without love is, well, kind of heartless.
Heartless is not what I want to wake up to in the morning. I’m clear about that.
Who isn’t?
And since this is a one2one conversation . . . and I’m inherently currious . . . to Dawud, (and you too)
Have a question . . .
What do YOU wish for your business when it grows up?
If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your answer too.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
One2One is a cross-blog conversation. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.
I admit it. To my thinking, one thing is worse than herding cats. It’s wrestling with the things I have to do. In my world, a To Do List can quickly get overwhelming. It can be filled with things I don’t know how to do, little things that are labor intensive, and too many things that are unrelated yet need getting done in the same time period. It always seems that part of the list is extremely URGENT and can’t wait for my learning curve. I can’t get to done that way.
To Do items are in the flow of things when there are only a few. When there are many, I have to get out of the details to where I can see to move them into a organizational groups. These are key steps to mastering a To Do List.
Every item I write begins with a verb. When appropriate, they begin with “Learn to” to remind me that they need more time and more steps.
Attend to the HOT List immediately. Attend to the Quick Hits as time opens — carry it with you to take advantage of opportunities wherever they arise. Attend to the To Do List when you have scheduled each item. Turn off interruptions when you’re working. Revisit your plan every morning to sort, list, and schedule the day.
You might think that three lists are more work than one, but in fact, three shorter lists allow focus and save time when scanning for the next thing to do. The key, of course, is to list everything that needs doing and doing everything on the lists.
Did I just confuse you?
–ME “Liz” Straus
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.