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Discover Your Strengths and Supercharge Your Business

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Have you ever been kept awake until 2 in the morning having an imaginary conversation with one of your blog readers who thinks you’re great and left a long comment telling you so? Or spent hours obsessively trying to figure out how to do better work, spurred by a fan letter from a customer about the terrific job you did? Or is it maybe more likely that your late-night solo conversations and obsessive problem-solving go to the trolls , the complainers, and the folks who just plain can’t stand you? Don’t worry. If you give an undue amount of attention to negative comments and feedback, to the extent of almost ignoring the good stuff altogether, it doesn’t mean you’re neurotic. It means you’re exactly like the rest of us. Chip Heath and Dan Heath in their marvelous book Switch make this observation: Imagine a world in which you experienced a rush of gratitude every single time you flipped a light switch and the room lit up. Imagine a world in which after a husband forgot his wife’s birthday, she gave him a big kiss and said, “For thirteen of the last fourteen years you remembered my birthday! That’s wonderful!” This is not our world. But in times of change, it needs to be. Play to your strengths I’ve long been fascinated by the advice to those who tell us to focus on our strengths, not our weaknesses, in order to create breakthrough success. It’s so appealing. You mean I don’t have to learn to cold call, balance my checkbook, or know how my RSS feed works? Sign me up. But it seems like it might be contradicted by another idea that’s gained a lot of attention recently: there’s not really any such thing as talent. Researchers like Carol Dweck and brilliant nonfiction writers like Malcolm Gladwell tell us that what we call “talent” is really the result of a heck of a lot of hard work. What are strengths, anyway? Until recently, I never realized this was a trick question. I thought that your strengths were things you were good at, and your weaknesses were things you sucked at. But Marcus Buckingham, who’s made a career out of writing about strengths, put it this way: A strength is “an activity that makes you feel strong.” It is an activity where the doing of it invigorates you. Before you do it, you find yourself instinctively looking forward to it. While you are doing it you don’t struggle to concentrate, but instead you become so immersed that time speeds up and you lose yourself in the present moment. And after you are finished doing it, you feel authentic, connected to the best parts of who you really are. Your strengths are the activities that give you the juice to put your 10,000 hours in. They’re the work you love enough to become the best in the world at. I’ll give you an example I recently heard Yo-Yo Ma giving an interview about how he got started as a cellist. As it happens, Yo-Yo’s parents are both musicians, and had high musical expectations for their little son. So when Yo-Yo was three, they gave the boy a violin. And Yo-Yo hated it. Wouldn’t practice. Wouldn’t focus. Didn’t have any zest for it. His frustrated parents finally gave up in disgust. And then little Yo-Yo saw and heard something amazing, something that surprised and delighted him. Something that he knew was exactly what he wanted to play. It was a double bass — the violin’s really, really big brother. Now that was more like it. He and his parents split the size difference, and Ma began to study first the viola and then settled (at four years old) on the cello. By seven he was a recognized prodigy, performing for Eisenhower and JFK, and by eight he played on national television, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. To have become so skilled between the ages of four and seven, he must have put in untold hours of practice. But they were hours spent on something he adored. One thing that interests me about Ma is that he isn’t just a brilliant cellist. He isn’t just world-famous and in-demand and a name brand. He also seems to be a remarkably happy and kind human being. He loves working with children. He’s been married a long time to the same person. He radiates kindness and a certain goofy charm. He’s got a great sense of humor, referring to himself at times as an “itinerant musician.” And he’s known for boundless energy. If I’m going to be a nationally-famous virtuoso, that’s the kind I want to be. Build your business like Yo-Yo When you see someone busting her tail to build a business, writing tons of great content, reaching out to potential customers, speaking and podcasting and doing everything we’re supposed to do to build a terrific content-based marketing program , it’s easy to ask: How does anyone find the time to do all that? The truth is, it’s not a time management problem — it’s an energy management one. When you focus on your strengths, you do the work that gives you energy. You do the work that drives you, that makes you giggle, that keeps you up late because you’re just having too much fun to stop. When you’re starting out, you do everything. You build the blog site and write all the content and do the bookkeeping and answer the support emails. Some of those things build you up and some wear you down. Pay attention to which is which. As soon as you can (it could be today), find partners who are energized by the tasks that exhaust and deplete you. If you can’t find the right partner, outsource the aspects of your business that make you want to crawl back into bed. And put your time and attention on what the Heath brothers call the “bright spots” – on what’s really working today. Put your time on the work that gives you juice. Do more of what’s working well. Do more of what energizes and strengthens you. Do more of what your readers and customers adore. Do more of what you can do better than anyone on earth. I know it sounds too simple to be real. But it’s how every genuinely great business — of any size — is built. About the Author : Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger, CMO of Copyblogger Media, and founder of Remarkable Communication . Share your bright spots with her on twitter .

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Discover Your Strengths and Supercharge Your Business

The Glass Ceiling, the Inner Circle, and the Key to Building a Popular Blog

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“What am I doing wrong?” I whispered to the computer screen. A part of me wanted nothing more than to go to bed and forget about blogging forever. And yet, there I was, hunched over the computer, as I dug through my traffic stats for the millionth time. Somewhere inside was the answer to why I wasn’t getting more traffic, and I was going to find it. Some people would have said I was asking for too much. The blog was already doing decently well, averaging about 100 visitors a day after only two months. I got at least a few glowing comments on every post I wrote. Several people had sent e-mails, complementing me on my writing. But the problem was the blog wasn’t growing. I was putting out better content than anyone else in my niche. I tried every traffic strategy you can name. I was working on it so hard that my day job was suffering. And yet the traffic stayed the same. It was like I’d run up against some invisible barrier, and nothing would push me past it. I was beginning to think I’d be doomed to 100 visitors per day forever, and that certainly wasn’t enough to quit my job over. I sighed and pushed back from the computer. “I’ll figure it out tomorrow,” I said, heading off to bed. And the next morning I woke up with a peculiar idea that explained everything. The glass ceiling What if I told you the blogosphere has a sort of “glass ceiling?” The idea goes something like this: Anyone can start a blog. If you work hard, you can even grow it to a few hundred visitors a day or so. But at some point, the growth stalls out. You reach a plateau. It’ll be like you’ve run into a glass ceiling — an invisible but bulletproof barrier. You’ll see bloggers on the other side, and they don’t seem to be doing anything different than you are. But for some reason, they were able to break through, and you weren’t. It took me two years and three failed blogs to figure this out. And the answer is nothing close to what I expected. The inner circle The good news about the glass ceiling is there is a door. The bad news is it’s guarded. You see, every niche has an “inner circle.” A group of people who command a lot of attention. Everyone reads their blogs (or books). Their opinions are widely respected. And they often coordinate their marketing to help each other grow. In the blogging niche, it’s people like Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan, and Sonia Simone — who, of course, all came together to form Third Tribe . In real estate investing, it’s gurus like Bill Bronchick, Ron Legrand, and Robert Kiyosaki. It doesn’t matter what niche or topic you point to; you’ll find an inner circle. And if you want serious traffic — and by serious, I mean thousands of visitors per day – the fastest way to do that is to convince members of the inner circle in your niche to promote you. They’re not going to come find you The odds are you’re not going to publish a post some day that makes all of the insiders in your niche want to know you. If you want their help, you have to proactively build relationships. The bloggers who bypass the glass ceiling don’t just do it by publishing more or better content than everyone else. They also do it by working behind the scenes to build friendly relationships with people who can help them. The question is, how? That’s the last piece of the puzzle. And it’s one that I stumbled across totally by accident. The key to building a popular blog Late one night, I was working on my blog and just so happened to get an IM from Brian Clark. I’d been hanging around in the Teaching Sells forums for a few months, not only soaking up the content, but answering questions from other members. Little did I know it, but I’d caught Brian’s attention, and he reached out to me. “I really like what you’ve been posting in the TS forums. How would you like to do a guest post for Copyblogger?” I was stunned. Copyblogger was quickly becoming one of the most successful blogs in the world, and I didn’t think I was anywhere close to being ready to write at that level. But I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity, either, so I agreed. A week later, my first post went up, and it was the highest traffic day in the history of my new blog. It wasn’t thousands of visitors, no. I still had a lot to learn about writing a really strong post. But it was an eye-opener. Brian’s help didn’t stop there. He gave me invaluable advice on how to grow my blog, and he started connecting me with power users who could help promote my posts on Digg and StumbleUpon. Within a few weeks, I was up to an average of 2,000 visitors per day, and I had hit the front page of Digg, bringing me 20,000 visitors within a few hours . I was euphoric, and there was no question Brian’s generosity with his connections and advice were the key ingredient to making it happen. So I started to wonder. “What if I did more of this?” I started to guest post wherever I could, and before long, I was getting so much traffic that my server started to crash, and I had to switch hosting companies. Performancing even nominated my blog for the Best Business/Money Blog in the world. I felt like a genius, like I’d discovered the cure for cancer or something. But then I started to look around. I wasn’t the only one guest blogging. People like Leo Babauta , Chris Garrett , Sonia Simone , and Dave Navarro were doing it too. And they were reaping incredible benefits. That’s when it occurred to me: the best way to build a relationship with anyone is to give them something of value. It’s the whole principle of reciprocity . It goes back not just to the work of Robert Cialdini, but to the good old Golden Rule. And what do popular bloggers need more than anything else? Great content. Why guest blogging is such a powerful strategy It’s hard to fathom when you’re a beginner, but running a huge blog is a lot of work. You have to come up with something brilliant to post every day, or you risk losing the attention of your audience. No vacations, no holidays, no calling in sick. You have a huge crowd of people waiting to hear what you are going to say next, and it had better be good. Many popular bloggers publish guest posts just because it gives them a day off. Someone else can take over the show, and they can take a moment to relax and regroup. It’s not laziness; it’s a creative necessity. And it’s also a big opportunity for you. Not only does guest posting give you a chance to connect with a huge audience, but it also makes you a sort of understudy. The blogger begins to care about you and how you’re progressing, and they’ll go out of their way to help you grow. The result? Lots and lots of traffic. Look into the history of almost any popular blogger, and you’ll find they guest posted for other popular blogs. In fact, go through the list of 30 bloggers to watch in 2010 , and over half of them have written for Copyblogger alone. It’s not a coincidence. It’s the way the blogosphere works. Everyone talks about building a relationship with your audience — and that’s critical. But few talk about building those relationships behind the scenes. Not sucking up or trying to exploit anyone, but making yourself useful and valuable. Becoming a contributor to their success is one of the best ways to build your own success. That makes guest blogging a smart strategy. Stay tuned and I’ll give you some quick tips for exactly how to do it. About the Author: Jon Morrow is the Associate Editor of Copyblogger. Get more from him on twitter .

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6 Steps That Get Big Shots to Answer Your Email

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You need to get the attention of a powerful internet marketer, A-list blogger, or busy CEO. Maybe you’ve got a brilliant idea for a joint venture that would make you both scads of money. Or maybe you just wrote a brilliant guest post that a certain top blogger’s audience will love. Whoever it is, you’re convinced you’ve got a win for this person. Unfortunately, the big shot you’re pitching won’t answer your emails. It’s not because she’s evil, honest. She’s just got a lot of other pitches in her mailbox, and there’s no way to give all of them her full attention. Your mission is to get yours to the top of her list. Here’s how. So how do you get prominent people to pay attention to you? Obviously, the most sure-fire way is to know the hotshot personally. If you didn’t happen to go to grade school with your famous person of choice, you can still make a connection. You can go a long way just by being consistently sincere and helpful to her and her friends. Social media tools come in handy here. That takes time, though. When you don’t have time, follow these six steps instead. 1. Open with compelling subject line Your reader likely gets hundreds of emails each day. Make yours stand out — not with all caps or lots of exclamation points, but by condensing the best points of your offer to create a sense of urgency . WEAK: An invitation for you STRONG: Paid speaking opportunity, no travel required (deadline approaching) 2. Introduce yourself in one sentence Your reader doesn’t care about you (yet). Don’t blather on and on about your accomplishments or your history. Introduce yourself in one sentence. Include a link to your site, so if your hotshot wants to know more, she can investigate. 3. Do your homework What sorts of offers has this person accepted in the past? What kinds of propositions is she interested in, and what sorts of incentives does she need to say yes? If you find that your big shot agreed to a $6000 fee for a three-day conference, offering $2000 for 90 minutes of her time on the phone makes for an irresistable offer . 4. Keep it short State your offer clearly in one paragraph. Not a long run-on paragraph either. Six sentences, tops. 5. Be bold, not precise Your goal for this email is to get this person interested . Too much detail at this point wastes your reader’s time and attention. (But do include the one or two details that will capture that attention.) You’ll get 51% of the registration fees from the people who click on your affiliate link, unless they click on someone else’s affiliate link after they click on yours, or unless they clear their cookies or buy from a different computer or switch browsers. Or unless the cookie volcano erupts. Way too complicated. Instead, stick with: You’ll get 51% of the profits from everyone you refer ($212 per sale). Keep it bold and simple . 6. Don’t squee all over your shoes. Acting like a rabid fan won’t win you any points; it will get your proposal taken a lot less seriously. Don’t go on and on about how you’ve read all this person’s books and that you stood in line for hours at a convention once to meet her and does she by any chance remember the woman with the mauve hair carrying a bunch of asparagus because that was you. Act like a peer with a good proposal, and you’ll find you’ll get replied to like one. It’s fine to mention that you like the person’s work. But too much gushing and your email is going to wind up with all the other fan mail — not in the “A” folder of messages that need a quick response. No one can guarantee you’ll capture that busy big shot’s attention. But follow these six steps and you’ll stack the odds in your favor. About the Author: Pace Smith is the co-leader of the Freak Revolution , a bunch of weirdos who do awesome stuff. Her latest project is the World-Changing Writing Workshop , featuring six famous writers who replied to her email.

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6 Steps That Get Big Shots to Answer Your Email

Online Business Disaster: Where to Go When the Volcano Blows

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“I don’t know where I’m a-gonna go when the volcano blow.” ~Jimmy Buffett Ever feel like you’re trapped in a pseudo-reggae song written by a white guy from Mobile, Alabama? Some days it’s a sick kid, or spouse, or dog. Some days it’s a key vendor who disappears on you, or a merchant account that freezes a bunch of your funds, or a web host that implodes on launch day. Some days it’s a choking cloud of ash that spreads over half of Europe. Rest assured, one day (soon), you’re going to have a crisis in your business. It may not reach Eyjafjallajokull proportions (and it will probably be much easier to spell). But it’s coming. You can handle it well or you can fall apart. Here are some ideas for where to go when the volcano blows (and handling it well). Build redundancy Try not to have one of anything important. Are you outsourcing some key processes to a VA? Great idea. But start cultivating a backup person for the day he breaks his leg and is out of commission when you really, really need his help. Do you have a vendor you trust and love? Do keep your relationship with that vendor, but also regularly use a second vendor who’s maybe nearly as good. Don’t just have their address handy. Use them. Regularly. It’s always smart to have more than one way for customers to give you money, more than one backup of your database, more than one power supply for your laptop. The worst “one” of all? One customer. No client should represent more than 40% of your business. If that’s the case now, build some diversity, fast. No matter how much that client adores and relies on you, clients can disappear instantly, for all kinds of reasons you have no control over. Don’t let them take your business down when that happens. Cultivate flexibility Richard Branson tells a great story in his autobiography Business Laid Bare . He got stuck at a small airport when his flight was cancelled and he truly, seriously needed to get to a meeting. Instead of doing what I do, which is to drag my carry-on to the bar and sulk, he walked over to the charter company on the other side of the airport and immediately booked a flight to where he needed to go. Then he made a handmade cardboard sign selling seats on that flight, walked back to the first ticket counter, and immediately signed up enough stranded passengers to pay the cost of the charter. I’m not that light on my feet . . . yet. But I’m working on it. When volcanoes strike, immediately start thinking about your available resources. Try to see as many as you can. (You’ll probably never be able to perceive all of them.) What could be leveraged differently? How could you borrow from Peter to pay Paul, in a way that made both Peter and Paul happy? Where have you got extra bandwidth that you haven’t been using? How could you do something smarter, leaner, more efficiently? Of course, it’s a pretty smart idea to start asking yourself these questions before the volcano erupts. But sometimes you need to react to the situation quickly, as it presents itself. Practice that. Get by with a little help from your friends Have you got some great business and blogging friends who’ll take a bullet for you? That’s one of the reasons we go to conferences even if we don’t see a single panel. There’s nothing that can substitute for hanging around with business and social media buddies, turning into actual friends, staying up way too late telling embarrassing stories and sharing tales of woe. If you’re trying to run a business of any size, you probably get “too busy” for friends. I’m as guilty (actually, probably guiltier) as anyone of that. Bad idea. As Dan Kennedy said in his new biography, Wives, dogs and horses may come and go . . . but true friendship is constant and certain. Fortunately, most of my friends are in the same crazy business I am, so when I disappear for a while to get a stack of launch emails written, they know I still love them. But I’m (slowly) getting better about making time for some standing appointments with friends. Weekly calls. Actually leaving my office to get a coffee with a local social media pal. Spending time with a friend on the phone to chew on business ideas we may not implement this week (or this year), because they’re fun to think about. And yes, we do have a weird idea of a good time. Also, little spontaneous acts of generosity can have a big impact. See a friend mention on Twitter that she’s been meaning to pick up a book? Send her a copy. For twelve bucks and ninety seconds on Amazon, you can make a major impression. The full catastrophe Life is all about glitches and problems and crises, both large and small. Without them, we get so bored that we go entirely bananas. While you don’t want to become a crisis junkie (I’ve seen it, not pretty), you can safely embrace the fun side of working your way through a crisis. You’ll discover a lot about your own resilience. On-the-fly problem solving will bring out some of your best qualities. And when you work with other people to figure out a path around the volcano, you come closer together. How about you? What do you do when volcanoes erupt in your business? Let us know about it in the comments. About the Author : Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication .

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Online Business Disaster: Where to Go When the Volcano Blows