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Defining Greatness: Delicious Chocolate Lollipops

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By Jael Strong

Greatness is associated with unusual power and intensity. When something is “great,” it conveys excellence and brilliance; it is truly impressive.  So, is your blog great?

We must face reality. The vast majority of blogs fall short of greatness. Mediocrity seems the aim for many. But isn’t this to be expected? With millions of blogs in existence, and more being added each day, can we expect a flood of greatness? No, of course not. But don’t we want to be listed among the greats? Sure, who doesn’t?

So, what are the ingredients for greatness? I wanted to come up with something witty, but all I can muster is Delicious Chocolate Lollipops, commonly known as Design, Content, and Loyalty.

Delicious design

Blogs should be inviting, accessible, and navigable. Great blogs appeal to the eye. A trademark image and a catchy slogan can go a long way. Readers can easily remember these things, making it that much easier to find you again when they get a hankering for a good read.

Hand-in-hand with this is the concept of simplicity. A cluttered blog is just asking for readers to click away. I hate it when I go to a site and I am inundated with a plethora of useless links and advertisements. It’s like going to the mall around on Black Friday; I feel like I’m being pushed and shoved, and it takes forever to get what I came for.

A well-organized blog will not deluge its readers with nonsense. Rather, it should be like sitting down to eat a decadent dessert made especially for the reader.

Smooth chocolaty content, please

Appealing to the eye is good. Appealing to the mind is great. Once a reader is attracted to a particular blog, the writer should deliver with some great content. An excellent idea delivered poorly is like promising a moist chocolate cake, but bringing a piece of crusty, dried-out, cake-from-a-box instead.

How are you delivering your concepts? Do you try to be original? Are you checking for distracting grammatical errors? Do you mix in some humor? Most importantly, is your content relevant and up-to-date, providing something that readers are really looking for?

The loyalty lollipop

Loyalty is like a lollipop, you love it and you carry it with you wherever you go. A great blog is a blog people will think about even when they aren’t in front of their computers. They’ll recommend it to friends and colleagues, and look forward to being engaged by it again.

How do we build this loyalty? Bloggers have come up with some great tools for this. Of course, we should always encourage comments. Another tool is allowing guest bloggers to write for you. Sponsor contests and allow short humorous submissions that you will in turn publish on your site. Welcome feedback. Make your blog an open room where readers feel like they are part of the process.

Of course, loyalty is not one sided. You must be loyal to your readers as well. If you sponsor contests, allow submissions, or welcome guest posts and comments, keep up with time lines and respond to your readers. Also, keep a schedule that your readers can recognize. In other words, don’t take two months off without writing and then expect a warm reception on your return.

By combining quality design and content with reader loyalty we can all aspire to greatness and rise above the average. Talk to us, what tools for greatness do you utilize?

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Jael Strong writes for TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written both fiction and non-fiction pieces for print and online publications. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas.

Thanks, Jael

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Get Your Leadership ON … Before You Get Folks “on the Bus”

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10-Point Plan: Building a Team

Bringing Irresistible High Performers Into Your Brand

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Whether you’re a solopreneur in Ladd, Illinois or a C-suite executive at a Fortune 100 corporation, leadership — building a business — means you aren’t doing what you’re doing alone. It’s tried, true, and almost tired wisdom that getting the right folks on the bus is the first step in the process of building a great business. Every advocate of Jim Collins knows that you need the right team to take a business from good to great.

Seems simple. Enlist a great team and win.

Yet when the time comes to get other folks to board the bus, we can so get busy filling seats, much that we could consider about who joins us is left back on the curb long after the bus has already taken off.

In a strange way, we sometimes don’t let our leadership kick in fully until we see a team in front of us and at best that’s a little late. You see at the moment we need someone to help with our business, our brand, or our quest, we often get focused on the task we need with and lose sight of the person who will be doing the task.

Here’s how the process often works.

  • We have a job that needs doing. Someone has left the team or the business is growing and it’s time to add another someone to the group.
  • We determine the nature and scope of the tasks, the level of work, and the skills and time required to fill that gap.
  • We find an old job description. We edit that to construct a new one.
  • We share that new job notice with people who know great people and in places where appropriate candidates will see it and respond. Then we review submissions for experience and expertise.
  • We invite people to interview for the position and select the candidate we feel most likely to be qualified, committed to the work, and a good fit for the team.

Yet, a few months later we often find that we have a whiner, slacker, complainer, an under-performer, or a person who’s personality doesn’t fit the work or the people with whom that person regularly interacts. .

Somewhere between process and performance we’ve left a leadership gap.

Get Your Leadership On … Before You Build the Team

When I worked in publishing, I watched and worried over the variation in performance in freelancers and employees and from employee to employee. With some serious thinking and calculated tweaking, I found the process by which a person was enlisted could get the right people to stay with it to “get on the bus” and the bad fits to decide to pass on that opportunity. What it took was a willingness to go a little deeper – and to leave the “driver’s seat.”

It starts by shifting priorities from those of a boss or a manager to those of a leader building a team.

  • A great boss hires great employees who can get the work done.
  • A manager enlists great people who have the individual expertise and team skills to execute collaborative projects to successful outcome.
  • A leader attracts and chooses other great leaders who have the abilities, motivation, and complementary skills to become a team that can build something outstanding and lasting that no single member could build alone.

A leader spends more reflection on what’s missing and what’s needed to fill out the team — focusing strategically on a longer view and stronger growth rather than on the tactical response to a present need. A leader sets the standards higher. Leaders expand the thinking from not just what we need — someone to do a job — to what will attract true leaders who will grow with the company and even more than that fill in the gaps of the team.

With our leadership ON our priority becomes “all good people” to build the strongest team possible. And we apply that standard to every role that interacts with our team — employee, volunteer, vendor, partner, customer, friend. The key to “all good people” is to develop a process that attracts the kind of people we want and is such that the people who don’t want to be outstanding employees and volunteers just don’t come.

As I describe this leadership matrix, you’ll see how the process can do just that for you.

The Leadership Matrix for Choosing Outstanding Employees and Volunteers

Strauss Leadership Matriix for Choosing Winning Employees and Volunteers
Strauss Leadership Matriix for Choosing Winning Employees and Volunteers

Here’s how the process changes when we have our leadership on before we build the team:

  • We have a job that needs doing. Someone has left the team or the business is growing and it’s time to add another someone to the group.
  • Not just the job. We analyze the situation, conditions, and opportunities. We look first at the people currently doing those tasks. We ask those people what they could be doing more of and should be doing less of in order to be bringing their best game to the business.
  • Not just the expertise. We look for the expertise to that’s missing from the team. Some of what the current team could be doing less of to perform higher are tasks that they’ve outgrown. Some of what they could be doing less of are skills that aren’t their strengths. If we build a job description to the team, rather to the immediate set of tasks, we’ll gain new skill sets that aren’t currently available. For example, if the team is great at people skills, but weak on data skills, we can look for someone who also brings that.
  • We share that new job notice with people who know great people and in places where appropriate candidates will see it and respond.
  • Not just the desire or potential. We build a short-answer values and potential survey rather than a submission form. Each question might allow only 100 words. The questions might be …
    • What led you to apply for this position?
    • How do your values align with the values of our business?
    • How do you see your contribution in helping the business grow?
    • What in your life or work experience proves to you that we’d be successful working together?
    • How would you describe the optimal working relationship we might have now and moving forward?
  • We invite people to interview for the position and select the candidate we feel most likely to be qualified, committed to the work, and a good fit for the team.
  • During the interview, we introduce the candidate to the business, to members of the team, and to the employee or volunteer who last joined the business.
  • Not just a fit. We ask the newest employee or volunteer to assign the candidate a small task. The task might be writing a blog post or a proposal for a new idea. The task is chosen to fit the skills needed by the team. The newest team member is asked to give the candidate this slightly ambiguous guidance.
    • This is not a test. It’s so that we have something of a project nature to talk about.
    • It’s not expected that it will be a final, executable idea.
    • When you (the candidate) are ready, please call to set up a meeting to discuss what you bring.
  • Not just leadership. The candidates who set up meetings show up with a project and ready to share their thinking. . The meetings allow you and the team to discuss how the candidate makes decisions and what he or she valued in developing the meeting project.

The task sorts the candidates with leadership qualities, initiative, and motivation. Those who set up a return date are the ones can deal with ambiguity and have the ego strength to bring their ideas with clients and colleagues with confidence. The people who don’t want to invest or risk in that way sort themselves out of the process.

The meeting itself allows everyone — candidate and the team — to try on the fit and by discussing “real work.” The team can see the candidate’s ability to trust in him- or herself, the work, and the group comes out. The candidate can experience how the team discusses ideas and relates to each other as a group.

I used this process for 18+ years and only once did a candidate make who set up the meeting turn out to be one who didn’t belong on the bus. All of the others were high-performers who fit the team.

How do you get your leadership ON before you build a team?

Be irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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What Is Your Title, And Why Do I Care?

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By Terez Howard

I have a secret to share with you. After years of studying online writing, I decided to become a “professional blogger.” And you know what? I made that title up.

I was in an interview once, and I was asked what it took to be a professional blogger. I was thinking, I made that title up to tell people who I am without having to explain who I am. Now you want me to explain it?

The writer, the blogger, the candlestick maker

When you introduce yourself to someone, you say, “Hi. My name is (insert name).” The stranger always gets around to asking, “So, what do you do?” That’s your opportunity to give your title. If you’re like my husband, you say that you are a teacher and a professional violinist. If you’re my niece, you say that you are a dental hygienist. But, when you’re a freelancing jack-of-all-trades, what do you call yourself?

You have to give yourself some type of title. Please don’t call yourself a freelancing jack-of-all-trades. I will give you three reasons why you need a definite title:

  1. Your title is part of your brand. It automatically gives people a mental image of what you do. A blogger blogs, and a marketing specialist markets. It is a snapshot of your work.
  2. Your title can open doors. When you tell someone what you do, it can be an opportunity for a super short sales pitch. For instance, my husband and I took a visit to an insurance agent who asked me what I did. When I explained my work, he said that he wished he knew me a few months ago because he was looking for a writer. I am confident that he will remember me if he needs a writer in the future.
  3. Your title makes you feel like you have a real job. When you blog online, some tend to get the idea you are practicing some sort of hobby to pass time. They don’t realize you are building a business and get paid in dollars and cents. Some of my friends still seem to not understand that I actually work from home. I have a job, and here is my title. Even if they never get it, I can feel like I am a member of the workforce. It’s a boost.

Choosing your title

Yes. You get to choose what to be called if you work from home as a freelancer. It is an easy, simple way to build your brand. Pick the right title, the one that tells people exactly what you do.

Be as specific as possible. If you blog about travel, then call yourself a freelance travel blogger. If you write press releases, then you are a press release writer. If you want to blog about and review screenplays, call yourself a screenplay blogger. That’s right. Even if you don’t have all the references, testimonials and samples to prove it, choose the title that will best describe who you want to be.

If you need to make a change in the process, do so.If you see that your type of blogging is evolving and that you are beginning to become someone other than the person that your title embodies, gently transition to your new title.

If you just happen to do more than your title says, don’t stress over it. Yes, I call myself a professional blogger. But I also write for a magazine, edit, build websites and create online content. I still call myself a professional blogger. However, if I find that the scale tips more toward another niche, I’m not afraid to make a change.

In the end, you are who you say you are. By the way, who are you, and why should I care?

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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas. You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger.

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Delegate…and relax

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by Patty Azzarello

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How well do you delegate?

Most people inherently know that they should delegate more, and delegate better, but one big obstacle keeps them from doing it…

It will be better if I do it myself.

Who’s at fault?

It it doesn’t come out right, the uncomfortable question this raises is – did this person fail to do a good job because:

1. They are not good enough at the job or
2. I am not good enough at delegating?

You don’t need to get comfortable with worry!

The real secret of successful delegating is not to learn how to deal with the emotional discomfort of letting go, and learning to live with being worried about the outcome, or accepting bad outcomes…

It’s about preventing reasons to worry

Your job is to delegate, let go, NOT micromanage… AND create structure, support and processes so you ensure that it is going to get done right.
You don’t deal with the worrying, you ensure it’s not necessary.

Ways to build comfort and insurance into the project

(without micro-managing)

1. Let the person create the timeline, define the deliverables and how you will measure them.  The encouragement and trust goes a long way, and you either get the pleasant surprise of a better plan than you would have come up with, or you get an early warning that this person needs more support.

2. Tighten the Outcomes.  If you are concerned that the person is not capable enough to run with the project, Instead of a 6 month outcome, discuss outcomes that occur every two weeks.

3. Focus on the outcome, not the activity. No two humans will do a task exactly the same way.  If they deliver the outcome, it shouldn’t matter how they do it.  Let them worry about how and what.  You worry about WHY, and what needs to be true when it is done.

4. Create an actual process and tracking system for long term or repetitive tasks – a software development lifecycle with checkpoints is a good example.  But why not define a project lifecycle with checkpoints for a quarterly analyst presentation, a press release, or a marketing campaign?

5. Third party reviews. Get yourself out of the position of always being the one to judge whether a deliverable is good enough or not.  Get the actual consumers of the deliverable to review and provide feedback.  Your employees will learn far more this way.

6. Don’t forget to inspect and measure things along the way.  If you set up a timeline with review steps along the way, you must follow up.  A great deal of your comfort comes from the fact that people take you seriously and actually do the committed work.  A long time mentor of mine always put it “You get what you INspect, not what you EXpect”.

7. Teach. When you are delegating things you are personally good at, always think of delegating as a teaching opportunity. If you need to sometimes jump down and do the work yourself, make sure someone is watching and learning.

Bottom line…

You need to delegate effectively if you want to get anything significant done, get anywhere in your career, and save yourself from an un-doable workload.

If you are either doing the work yourself, or worried about the work not getting done, you need to change your strategy.

You can delegate and feel comfortable that the work is getting done as long as you do the higher level work of setting up the systems, processes and measures that ensure the right things are happening along the way.

What has worked for you?

Please share your ideas about how you got better (and more comfortable) with delegating. Let’s discuss in the comment box below!
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Patty Azzarello is an executive, author, speaker and CEO-advior. She works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. Patty has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

Negotiations: 3 Steps to a “YES” and a Great Relationship

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A Guest Post by
Zelko Kecman

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We’ve all heard this when buying a car – “let me check with the manager and see what I can do for you”. The interesting thing for me is this also happens a lot in business and almost the same type of conversations. Someone almost always has to go away and ask for approval either on price or a clause in a contract.

Here are some simple principles that have worked for me over the years that will get you to a mutual Yes and more importantly won’t harm your relationship for future business. Lastly this is a very high level view as what I’ve outlined is generic for both business or personal. There are some additional considerations when dealing with very large organizations and large values.

I see negotiations in 3 phases, Preparation, Discussions and Done Deal. The more time you spend on step 1, the less time you’ll spend in 2 and you will be more likely to get to a good deal.

1) Preparation (aka Do your homework)

– #1 item is listing specifically what is most important to you. What is absolutely not negotiable and what is and how far. WRITE it down and be specific with the details.
– Leverage your network of friends and colleagues (that’s what Facebook and LinkedIn are for)
– Google, Bing, your own internal databases: look for other similar cases, going prices, reviews, what are you worth, how the company is doing, etc
– What role does the person you are going to be talk with have? Think of this, someone in procurement is measured by how much they get from the other side financially in most cases. Also is it month/qtr/year end?

2) Discussions

First of all, before you even get into the hard discussions and start throwing contracts or wants around, try to understand who you are dealing with. If you meet someone who is good at what they do, it almost always starts with seemingly harmless questions and discussion. The reason for this is to get a better sense on who that person is or what is important to them. Also, have faith the other person is being honest, but do not trust. I know this sounds harsh, but being naive will not serve you well.

Here’s a simple checklist during the discussions:
– Keep a cool head all the time, be friendly and keep emotion out of it.
– Be open to heated debate. Just don’t make it personal, keep it factual.
– For each item being discussed, clarify your intent. I can’t stress this one enough. Especially in legal terms, legal is not as black and white as people believe.
– Take notes on actions and decisions and owners of each
– Don’t commit to something unless you are 100% sure. Take it away to verify. Again, with the car, “so if I were to drop $xxx off you would buy the car?” – you’re response should be “let’s take a look at the whole deal and decide then”
– At the end review all the actions and decisions

At this point, you’re either getting closure on the deal or steps 1 and 2 will need to be done a few more times as people take away action items or revisions. Remember this is negotiations and you should be able to give on items (look at your list you wrote down in #1 and push on others you want. Also, it is very important to know that if you truly have 1 item left that there is no mutually agreeable way forward you should be able to step away from the situation and wish the other person well. If you can not you better be ready to give on that item then.

3) Done Deal

Great job, both you and the other person have come to an agreement. Neither side should walk away from the situation feeling like they got taken advantage of, if it does happen, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll never to business again. Close the conversation like it started with a friendly conversation and a follow up once you’ve completed the transaction. You never know when you will be back at the table and having a supporter of you will be important.

Lastly, getting to a point where you are comfortable with negotiations is not something you get from a course or book alone. It really is something that you need to do regularly. It can be with simple negotiations with your kids, spouse, stores, banks, anyone, you just have to be conscious that you are practicing your skills or in participating with others who are seasoned at it.

There are hundreds of resources out there for learning negotiations, however one of the best that I have seen as a starting point is “Getting To Yes” .

I love debate, discussion and comments so please feel free to let me know what you think.

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This blog post began as a Twitter conversation with Zelko Kecman – @zelkoCA – You can find out more about him through his linked in profile.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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The January SOBCon Report: Chats, Webinars, Soda Pop Parties, and Chicago Beckons

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Hi all!  Starbucker here, filling you in on all the SOBCon goings-on.

The Main Event

First,  SOBCon Chicago on April 29 – May 1 is rapidly approaching – our lineup and program is stellar, with the theme of “Building the New Leadership and Loyalty Business”.   Liz and I love this program so much that we decided to lead two of the 6 “Model” sessions ourselves, so we’re really looking forward to that.  Ticket sales are well ahead of past years (thank you!),  so if you are thinking about coming, make your plans now – remember, last year sold out.

(Pssst…Here’s a secret for you – sign up for our newsletter and you’ll get a ticket discount code)

Also, we recently announced our host hotel and event partner, Hotel 71.   We have rooms available at the great price of $169, so get them while they last.

The FREE SOBCon Preview Webinar

On February 1oth, from Noon to 1PM EST, our great friend Chris Garrett will once again be hosting “The SOBCon Preview Webinar“.  There, you’ll meet 4 of the speakers that will be at SOBCon Chicago (Me, Liz Strauss, Michael Port, and Derek Halpern), get previews of their presentations, hear more about this year’s event, and get a chance to ask a few questions.  We’ll also have a couple of surprises for you.  If it’s anything like last year’s Webinar, it should be an interesting, informative, and entertaining hour.   This Webinar is FREE, but the only way to get the dial-in code is to be on our Newsletter list – so if you are not signed up, do it now!  We’ll be releasing the code a few days before the event.

The 2nd Annual SOBCon SXSW Party (and a Cool Road Trip)

On March 13th, Liz and I will be hosting our 2nd annual SXSW party in Austin, Texas, at the Key Bar on 6th Street  This year we’re pleased to announce a co-sponsor, Jones Soda Co.  They will have plenty of their product at the event, and, as was the case last year, there will be some fun activities to go along with the great conversations and networking.   If you are going to be at SXSW and are interested in attending,  sign up for our Newsletter and drop us a note at sobevents@gmail.com, because this is an invitation-only party, and you need to be a Newsletter subscriber to get one.

Our friends at Jones have a cool opportunity surrounding SXSW that we’d like to share – they are looking for a blogger to accompany them on a RV “road” trip from Phoenix to Austin
Here’s what they are covering:
– Airfare from your hometown to Phoenix, AZ
– RV Road Trip from Phoenix, AZ to Austin, TX
– One night accommodations in Phoenix, AZ
– One night accommodations in El Paso, TX
– All meals on the RV Road Trip
– All the WhoopAss and Jones Soda you can drink on the RV Road Trip
– Airfare from Austin back to your hometown

If you are interested, contact Todd Martini at Jones at tmartini@jonessoda.com It sounds like a fun trip!!

The #SOBCon Chats are Growing!

Every month we’ve seen a growing number of folks participating in our #sobcon Twitter chats – just today we had a Twitter chat hosted by Heidi Thorne and Lisa Petrilli on blog inspiration, and it was a great conversation, with over 600 Tweets.

Mark your calendar for the next one – February 17th, at 12 Noon CST.   We’ll be Tweeting out the topic as the event approaches.

That’s it for this month!  Don’t forget, if you haven’t already, sign up for our Newsletter, so you are eligible for our Webinar, the SXSW party, and the special Newsletter SOBCon Chicago discount.