Successful Blog

The Mic Is On: We're On a Deserted Island!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

What Would You Take?

There’s plenty to talk about. Here’s a few ideas to get us started:

  • What music would we listen to?
  • What books would we want to read?
  • Would there be anyone else with us? Like Gilligan?
island

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey.

Oh, and bring links about the deserted island to share!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: What Would We Take to a Deserted Island?

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Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight

Join Us Tonight

What Would We Want if We Were Alone on Deserted Island? . . .

Think about it!

We can talk about what music we would want, what books we might take, whether Gilligan would be there, and whatever else comes up.

Oh, and bring links about desert island equipment and toys to share!

The rules are simple — be nice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

1.2 WHY Doing What We Love Is Solid Business Thinking

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Not Self-Indulgent, Good Business

inside-out thinking

Did I really mean to say the word? Yep.

Love. Not like, enjoy, or get kick out of, but have a passion for, live for, hold in highest esteem. Every person needs a quest, a cause, and a purpose.

That’s right. One — that one simple question.

What businesslike thing do you love doing?

is critical to your business.

Why?
Because it’s how we’re wired as humans. We bring our best to whatever challenge we face. We’re better when we’re inspired by deep feeling. We’ve known that since we were kids.

Any less is inauthentic, second-best, didn’t try, plan b, was absent that day, ho-hum, phone it in, stand in right field and let that pop-fly pass us by instead of saying the game . . . we might as well be out!

There’s a reason that so many folks — on TV, in IT, in academia, in every career — say the same thing. . . . find your passion, do what you love.

They’re not promoting self-indulgence. They’re supporting solid business sense.

WHY Doing What We Love Is Solid Business Thinking

What makes loving our work solid business thinking? Why is it more critical now than before?

In his book, A Whole New Mind, Dan Pink points out that “high concept” and “high touch” values (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning) have become as important as linear thinking, detailed analysis, and spreadsheets.

On his blog, Doc Searls recently said this about how business is doing. It was part of an interview with Shel Israel.

In the original website version of Cluetrain, Chris Locke wrote, “we are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers and our reach exceeds your grasp. deal with it.”
Recognizing a situation and dealing with it, however are two different things. The “dealing” has barely begun.

In this Internet, global economy we deal direct — no middle man. Conversation and relationships matter as much as schedule and budget do.

In plain and simple words, thinking and doing what everyone has thought and done no longer work. Now it’s think and love what we do — That’s the only way to draw customers to us.

Think hard. Thinking alone doesn’t solve every problem. Some problems are human. Some require empathy and finesse. Some situations call for more than intelligent reasoning. Before you talk yourself out of what you love doing . . . think about the reasons we need to bring all of yourself to your business — head and heart.

7 Reasons WHY Doing What We Love is Critical

When we bring all of who we are, full engagement of head and heart, we bring 7 deeper values and higher outcomes to our work.

  1. Complete presence — focus. We’re all there — the all thinking business is no longer sufficient. Computers can’t smile. Computers can’t listen to the spaces between words. People buy what we sell.

  2. Peak performance — productivity. We invest more, do more, go further for the work we love.

  3. Tolerance — perseverance. We have more patience, time, and energy for problem solving when we directly reap the benefits.

  4. Value and Appeal — compelling story. To compete a product or service has to be useful and beautiful. Simple and elegant, for to the adult and the kid in each one of us. Bringing logic and emotion to a business outdistances the world view of logic alone.

  5. Total Differentiation — identity. The uniqueness of our being shines through in concept and execution when we start from what we love.

  6. Fully Invested and Worth Investing In — market value. Rolling all of the above values into one, nothing beats the 360 degree investment of brains, money, and dreams all in the same direction. Any VC worth his or her salt looks for that combination when funding a small business.

  7. Sense of Worth — authority. We value what we earn and what we love.

Can you see why it’s only sense that a strong business is built on doing what we love?

Got questions yet?

Next: 1.3 WHAT IF you don’t know what you love to do?

–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.

Change the World: Forget the Kids at School, Say It Out Loud

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We Know, But We Can’t Say It

changetheworld8

It’s those words. They sit right up there in our foreheads. They are the important ones. More often than not, they are words kept captive there by a fear we hold dear.

We know what words they are, in our hearts we do. We know what they mean to us. We can’t say them out loud because, then we would hear them and, we might get the kind of response we got once. We know that’s not so, but knowing is one thing that is easier to say, than to do.

About three nights before SOBCon07, nearing midnight I was on the phone with a dear friend. We were talking about the conference, how the event would soon be real.

I called him by name, I said, “I’m afraid.”

As any friend would, he asked what it was making me feel that way. I saw the words, felt the words, knew the answer then. I probably knew the answer for days before this conversation took place. I felt my throat tighten to think of saying the words out loud.

I said, “I know, but let’s talk some more. I can’t tell you right now.”

A while later, the subject came up again in a natural way. I knew it was important that I say the words out loud for someone to hear. I worked my way up to give context, to build courage, to make sure that we both understood. What I said came out something like this. . . .

I’m not afraid that no one will come. I know they will. I’m not afraid that the event will not be successful. It will be an experience that the attendees will never forget. I’m not afraid of the people in the room for whom I will be speaking.

I’m afraid of the kids I went to grade school with.

He wondered what I meant. I laughed and said, “Don’t worry I can handle them.”
He said, “Please explain.” I did.

What I thought was a story that’s so universal. I said, “Remember when some kids at school made you feel small?”

But those kids had shrunk and vanished the minute I let that fear out of my head — when I said it. At that exact second, they were no longer near, they were decades ago. I knew that they had forgotten me, and I could forget about their laughter at my expense. They looked small and young in the distance.

I wish we didn’t hold a fear to say what we know is our truth waiting to be said. “I’m afraid, because of the kids I went to school with.” How silly is that? Boy am I glad that sentence is out of my head.

We hold onto sentences like that. I can’t say out loud who I am, what I’m good at, what I love, where I’m going, what I dream, what I fear, what I need, what I hope, because if I say it out loud I might hear and you might respond like the kids did at school.

Imagine if we choose wisely enough to trust and to talk out loud to folks who can see us.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

He Can't Let It Go . . . Maybe You Can't Either

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look at this

Jim Walton over at church tech matters responded to I Can’t with thoughts of his own. Hi post is well worth checking out . . .

While you’re there follow the link to the post with Clif’s comment. It’s got another powerful take on the “can’t” discussion.

And don’t miss Vern’s powerful conversation, that starts with can’t, from his post here on Sunday.

Of course, if you just can’t right now, I understand . . . completely.

Smile,

Liz's Signature

No Mission Statement: One Simple Question

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Enough

inside-out thinking

Last week a Dawud Miracle and I discussed the problems faced by businesses. We mentioned entrepreneurs, small businesses, even corporations. So much of what came up was not encouragaing — bad messages; bad service; empty offers; no customers; not unique or remarkable; broken promises; clueless and out of focus. Not much most folks would take a risk on.

It’s as if some folks “get,” and the rest don’t get to know.

People rush after productivity tools and use them to further confuse their issues. People wait for customers, and no one comes. They talk about the chances they never got, but that that doesn’t get them. They’re stuck.

Why should anyone be stuck? . . . overwhelmed and out of focus? Why are there problem solvers without problems to solve?

It’s a disconnect. A swiss cheese hole in the available information.

Voices across the Internet say . . . Find your passion. . . . Choose your target market. . . . BUT, they stop there. No one says HOW to do that.

It’s got to be frustrating.

This connector can’t stand to watch problems going unsolved. I’m for breaking OUT of this paradigm starting now — with tools, models, and some basic Inside-Out Thinking.

Inside-Out Thinking

What is Inside-Out Thinking? Plain and simple, it’s starting from you — head and heart — who you are, as a person or as a company. We’re going to the core to find the values on which to build a concrete foundation.

I’m not talking hours parsing words on mission statements that gather dust. Their pretty, but they don’t pay the bills. I’m talking key, core terms that tell about DOING.

Don’t think heaven or humanitarian honors. Forget making money or impressive words.

Please, answer to one simple question.

As a company, as a person,

What businesslike thing do you LOVE doing?

Here’s how to answer that:
Forget any thought of money. Don’t you dare devalue or discount what you love doing. Not sure? STOP. Quiet yourself. Remember your successes. Here’s where to look for them.

  • Look to the future. Three years from now, if a wealthy patron financed you, what would you be doing?
  • Look in the past.
  • Look at last Saturday or the last time you were with friends. What were you doing that might apply?
  • What about your favorite job? What did you love about that?
  • What were you really good at in school?
  • What are you good at? What would you miss if you couldn’t do it?

You get the idea.

If you don’t know how to complete the picture of you. Ask a friend to tell you what you love doing. Ask quite a few. They know. Truth is, so do you. Once you find out what you love doing, that’s when the thinking starts.

I’m getting jazzed about this.

So, go ahead, give it a shot . . . what do YOU love doing?

It’s not hard. It’s just different — there wasn’t a model before. There will be now.

–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.