Dave Crenshaw's Blog, page 44

Get Organized – 5 Tips for Entrepreneurs

Feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of your messy workspace? You’re not alone. It’s funny how small business owners and entrepreneurs always manage to find something more important than getting organized. That’s exactly why I’m here to help.

With hectic schedules there’s barely any time to slow down and get organized. But letting that clutter take over can make life really chaotic, really fast.

So watch my 5 organization tips for entrepreneurs. Or keep pretending there isn’t actually a desk under all that clutter…

Get a physical inbox. In fact, get two: one fixed and one mobile, so you can have somewhere to collect business cards and papers when you’re on the move.

Next, get in the mindset that everything has a home—whether that home is a filing cabinet or a garbage can, get it there fast! How? By processing. Pronto. Setting aside time to address your chaotic clutter each week.

It’s your turn to share! Do you have any invaluable tips that entrepreneurs can use to get organized? What kind of homes do you have for all those items in your inbox?

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5 Reasons You Deserve Success As a Business Owner

Some small business owners seem to have doubts about whether or not they actually deserve success. This kind of thinking provides the perfect opening for chaos to get into their hearts and heads.

Not only is internal chaos detrimental to your confidence, but it’s bad for business, too. Think of it as a caged zoo animal with a sign declaring, “Please don’t feed the Chaos!”

So, instead of shouting “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!” Take a look at my 5 reasons why you deserve success as a small business owner…

“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” Repeating this over and over is great, but not enough.

My point is that you shouldn’t sell yourself short. You’ve got the vision, the fearlessness, and the genuine desire to do good for the world around you, so why shouldn’t you be successful? Plus, you build jobs, which creates success for your employees and their families.

If you took a step back and saw someone else working this hard, wouldn’t you think they deserve success? Not only have you earned it, but others are rooting for you, too!

In fact, I know you deserve success because otherwise you wouldn’t be watching this video and contributing every week! Your participation is just another reason why you deserve it. Comment below and let me know ways in which you know you deserve small business success.

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5 Big Biz Marketing Tactics Small Businesses Should Avoid

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you’ve probably felt the pressures to keep up with the big guys. You know, those bigger versions of your business with even bigger wallets. Well, I’m here to warn you that the more you try and “keep up,” the more likely it is that Chaos Inc. will take over.

Small business marketing is difficult enough, which is why entrepreneurs get the bright idea to borrow big business tactics. Unfortunately, that strategy is like putting a big fish in your small business pond—it just doesn’t fit.

Before you cave to marketing peer pressure, have a look at my 5 big business marketing tactics that small businesses should avoid. Otherwise, you may look like a small business pufferfish—the appearance of size, but no substance.

Avoiding all these impractical marketing tactics will keep your business from the clutches of chaos. Small businesses are known for providing the best value and service, so your marketing should convey that.

Refrain from taking on ego-driven tactics like misleading offers, endless self-promotion and image-building campaigns. The soul of your small biz is acting with integrity, building relationships, and harnessing your creativity. Don’t emulate those other guys.

And forget costly television ads and price wars—let the big businesses pick up the check for those! Instead, build a value and community so strong that customers LOVE to do business with you.

Any small business owners out there who want to share your experience in beating the big guys by marketing your own way? Or what about your epic fails in attempting to use big business marketing tactics? Anyone? Bueller?

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5 Tips to Avoid Virtual Assistant Disasters

Entrepreneurs are quick to find out how much time is really required for day to day business needs. In fact, you’ve probably thought, “Maybe I should get one of those virtual assistant thingys to help tackle my workload…”

Although that can be effective, if done wrong, it can get really chaotic, really quickly.

Hiring a virtual assistant seems like the obvious answer, but oftentimes small business owners find themselves with more work than they began with. Avoid a potentially chaotic outcome with my five tips to avoid virtual assistant disasters…

Virtual assistants aren’t “virtual” at all—they’re real people! Keep in mind that it’s not software working for you; it’s a long-distance contractor working with you. And remember my 2/3 rule: 2/3 of their work should be automatic. Feeling like you have to oversee your, well, overseas employee will actually create more work for you.

Think of hiring a virtual assistant as an audition first and permanent solution second. Giving someone a paid test through a site like oDesk.com ensures they’re capable of handling your tasks in the way that you’d handle them yourself.

If you’re new to using an overseas employee, using recruiting sites like virtualstafffinder.com and onlinejobs.ph can help you quickly locate the best, most reliable virtual assistant candidates. Why the .ph? Because I’m a firm believer in hiring from the Philippines when it comes to filling these positions. Pinoys have proven time and again to be trustworthy, friendly, and overall excited to be working with American employers.

Do you have any additional tips and tricks to offer those entrepreneurs wanting to jump into the valuable world of virtual assistants? Let’s hear ‘em!

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Special: Interview with Bruce Heavin, co-founder, lynda.com

Dave Crenshaw: Hello, Invaluable Personal Coaching members. This is Dave Crenshaw. Welcome to another edition of Invaluable Audio Coach. In thisedition, I bring in an expert—someonewho I believe is going to open your mind, expand your vision on how you can be more valuable in the workplace.

I’m really honored frankly by the guest we have today. Bruce Heavin is the cofounder and Chief Innovation Officer of lynda.comoverseeing its visual branding and style. An acclaimed illustrator and designer, Bruce helped broaden the company scope to include photography and graphic design.A graduate of Art Center College of Design, he has created graphics for national magazines and major media companies.

Bruce, thank you so much for taking a few moments to speak with us.

Bruce Heavin: Thanks for having me, Dave.

Dave Crenshaw: And I always like to ask because I interview people all around the world—whereare you located right now?

Bruce Heavin: I’m in a small town called Carpinteria, California. We’re just south of Santa Barbara.

Dave Crenshaw: That is one of my favorite places in the world, such a beautiful little town there where you guys have your offices.

Bruce Heavin: I’m actually looking out across the ocean at the islands right now as I talk to you.

Dave Crenshaw: Oh man, what a beautiful view that is!

Well, okay. So let’s dive into this. We’re going really to be talking about some of your experiences and some of the process that you go through asChief Innovation Officer. I know that what you talk about revolves around failure, passion, luck and experiences. Why are those four things very important?

Bruce Heavin: Well, those four things are important to me. I don’t have an MBA. I don’t have a business degree. I’ve built a pretty impressive business with my wife, but a lot of the drivers that came out of here came out of passion.

A lot of the impetus for starting this business came out of passion of my wife and I and her desire to teach. I opened it with my passions, as well. So when she wanted to teach, it was the impetus for starting a business because we moved to a town where there are no schools. It really came out of need and passion.

Dave Crenshaw: Talk to me a little bit about failure because I think people largely want to avoid failure, right? They think that’s something that we should stay away from. We don’t like it. Yet, you believe that’s a big part of your success ultimately, right?

Bruce Heavin: I think it’s a part of how we are able to do a lot of things. Failure is the foundation we build our successes upon. It’s our learning. It’s how we go about it.

Walt Disney was a huge failure at first. Einstein didn’t get it right. There are so many examples in business where people just don’t go out and get the answer on the first knock when they first try.

My example I like to talk about is riding a bike. When you learn to ride a bike, you want to ride a bike like the big kids, the big two wheel bike. You’re on a tricycle and you move to a bike with training wheels. You eventually take them off. Then you’re wobbly, and you fall over and you fall over. You don’t like falling over, but you keep doing it. You’re not really conscious of other people looking at you or laughing at you. As a kid, you just want to do it.

So you keep at it. You have this tenacity and eventually you’re able to make a straight line. Eventually, you’re able to make those curves and you’re thinking hard about not falling. You’re thinking hard about how to break. As you build these abilities, as you build your muscle memory, as you do this again and again, you start thinking “I just want to visit my friend around the corner”. So now you are thinking about navigating.

Then when you and your friend get together, you are like “Hey, we want to go out and go to the donuts or the candy stores.” So now you are thinking more high level on navigation and you’re not thinking about braking, pedaling, falling or turning. You are thinking about where you’re going. As you learn all the parts and pieces and you learn them though failure, eventually you are able to put together all these pieces and achieve higher level objectives.

Dave Crenshaw: Can you, Bruce, personally point to a failure in your mind that was a turning point in your career and in your life?

Bruce Heavin: I have a lot of failures to look at, a lot of things I tried. As a painter, I have a very silly failure and I didn’t understand black point. I was using one black and I’m like “Well, I wonder if Mars black is darker than carbon black?” There’s almost no difference between the two. My problem is I didn’t make one black darker than the other. I didn’t adjust my values properly and my images.

That’s one example and it’s just a learning example. I have businesses I started. I thought I could be a salesman and sell knives when I got to college. I learned very quickly: I’m not good at being a salesman.

So sometimes, it’s all about understanding your weaknesses and your deficiencies. I’m probably not the best person socially. So, how do I address that? How do I work that? And how do I make that into strength? How do I work with people that could help me or how do I work with people that could advise me?

Dave Crenshaw: I love what you brought up there. It’s something that I teach in one of my courses with lynda.comregarding focusing on your Most Valuable Activities. Like you said, you tried your hand at sales and you realize, “Wait a minute, this is not one of my Most Valuable Activities.”

And so you’ve learned to focus on the things that are your strengths, but also you’ve learned how to be more focused by delegating to other people.

Talk to me a little bit about that process of how difficult was it for you to begin once you realized “Wow, I need to delegate to other people. I need, not just build this company by myself, but to have other people involved.” Was that a difficult process for you or did you find that easy to do?

Bruce Heavin: I found that incredibly difficult. I’m a person who makes things. If we didn’t have anything on photography, I just step in there and I made the photography courses or I made the courses on design. I would go in and just do it myself. I used to do all the artwork courses.

And a lot of the jobs, all these things today I no longer do. I hand it off to other people to do and it was really hard even programming of what the courses and who to hire, when I let those go.

It’s essential for growth that I am not the person blocking the progress of the company. So we went from me and Lynda, now we’re close to five hundred employees. And if I were doing all these things, I don’t think I’d be able to breathe. I don’t think we’d be able to grow.

It’s a hard thing because you can only control the quality and you can only get things right if you do it all yourself. If you’re an artist, you know people aren’t going to replace you as an artist, but you’re going to have to trust they’re going to have to do something you believe is representative of your company and your brand.

Dave Crenshaw: Yeah, you mention the word “Trust”. One of the things that I really like about lynda.comand the experience that I’ve had with the business is you have a great culture there. And one of the things I teach is that a business is a reflection of its leadership.

So I would have to say that culture is a big result of you and, of course, Lynda and your perspective. Can you talk a little bit about what you did to create such a positive culture there at lynda.com?

Bruce Heavin: I thinkthere are a lot of things coming to it. I mean, Lynda herself is a major part of it. She has a personality and we both kind of came at it with the attitude of generosity where we kind of gave more than we got. We treat our employees really well, but I want and I expect my employees to treat our customers and our members really well. We kind of hope that our actions transcend downwards through our staff, to our customersand to our members.

If we can’t be good now when things are good, we’re not going to be good when things are bad.

Dave Crenshaw: Can you expand on that a little bit? What do you mean by that?

Bruce Heavin: Well, think about it. We’re doing well as a company and we’re treating our employees well. If we can’t do that now when things are good, maybe we have to trim things down in the future, but we treat our employees really well. We pay for their meals. We pay for their healthcare, their siblings’, their families’, their medical, their dental, their optics.

We try to get them the best of everything we can. We try to make the workplace a wonderful place to work and as ourselves work here all the time. We live most of our lives here at the office. So we try to make this an environment that we want to live in, as well.

Dave Crenshaw: So most of our audience is people who are running or managing within a small business and perhaps they look at the success that you guys have had, and say “How could we do that?”

I’m sure you have many conversations with managers and leaders there at lynda.com. What would you say to someone to help them create that culture of generosity that you mentioned?

Let’s pretend that you’re in the room talking one on one to one of these managers, what would you say to them?

Bruce Heavin: I think the culture of generosity is one thing and that reflects inward on your employees and hopefully on morale, and hopefully in trust of them with you to feeling secure and working in a good place.

But I think there’s a second level that deals with brand. And that really is external on many occasions.

Brand is about creating creative experiences. So I’m talking about creating great experiences for the employee. But I also think about creating great experiences for the customer.

When I think of brand, I think the logo is the last thing I think of. The company color is the last thing I think of.

Dave Crenshaw: What’s the first thing that you think of?

Bruce Heavin: Experience!It’s all about the entire experience. I look at how the experience all comes together as a whole.

Probably some of the better brand experiences I think are probably that of Disney or an Apple.

Disney has this experience where you might have gone as a child, but you had a great time or at least your memories were really good of being there. And when you have a child a decade or two later, you want to bring that experience to your kids. The experience causes a repeat of that experience.

Apple does it in a matter where you might hear of an Apple product through a friend. You might see it online and have a good experience at the website. You walk into the store and it was clean. The people there are helpful or at least we hope and everything is laid out beautifully. When you touch the hardware, the hardware is nice and beautifully presented. The software operates effortlessly and it’s simple. When you buy it, the packaging is great. When you use it, you find it as a good experience.

Even when things go wrong, when you have to go to customer support, you still have a good experience even though things are bad. And all these experiences translate to the brand which ultimately is represented by that logo.

Dave Crenshaw: And with five hundred employees, what’s your philosophy on how you get that many people involved in creating that experience and building that brand?

Bruce Heavin: I think I would talk to them on a larger scale. I’d really say “Look, the brand isn’t about the marketing department slapping the logo on or how it looks in the web design. It’s the customer service department and how they work with employees.”

I talk to them specifically. It’s about the sales team and how they approach the sales process to make sure that is a good experience. It’s really talking to each of the teams, even to the finance, marketing, to products, to the educational content. It’s really looking at every little angle and every little touch-point we have with the customer and really articulating what it means to make that a good experience.

It’s really about how do you take all these disparate touch-points to the customer and form together to make one really good experience. So people hopefully will have a good experience.

Dave Crenshaw: So if I were to sum up what you’re saying, really it is teaching, educating, converting the people to this mindset of that experience.

Bruce Heavin: Yes, very much so.

Dave Crenshaw: That’s great!

Well Bruce, I know you are a very busy man. So I’m not going to take more of your time. But what would we tell people would be a next great action for them to take from listening to this? Should they be involved in lynda.com? What would you recommend to them?

Bruce Heavin: What would I recommend them?

Well of course I would like to tell you that you should be involved inlynda.com, but that’s very self-serving. But I do think we do offer some really good, amazing training on lynda.com in a variety of ways. I did a talk that slightly relates to this online that is called The Thinkable Presentation. That’s at lynda.com, you could find it there.

I think a lot of this is really about finding these experiences and finding these truths as you go out there. I don’t think they’re all in one place. There are so many places to find all these things. We capture a lot of these at lynda.com but we don’t have everything.

Dave Crenshaw: Great and also if they want to connect with you, your Twitter account is@bruceheavin, correct?

Bruce Heavin: Right and there is a little bit of a story about starting lynda.com on lynda.com in our About section. There are some videos of Lynda and myself talking about setting up lynda.comup as a business.

Dave Crenshaw: Well that’s great. And I notice also you’ve got what’s look like a blog as well?www.bruceheavin.wordpress.com?

Bruce Heavin: Yeah, it’s kind of garden of neglect at the moment. I haven’t touched itlast year.

Dave Crenshaw: Okay, so we shouldn’t send them to that site.

Bruce Heavin: But there are also some fun things there. I think there’s a discussion there about the creation of lynda.com logo and how Lynda didn’t like it. She thought I turned her into the See’s Candy lady.

(Both laugh)

Dave Crenshaw: Alright. So, thank you again Bruce and thank you everyone for listening. Now go be invaluable.

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4 Things Every Business Owner Should Say “No” To

Entrepreneurs and small business owners can attribute their successes to taking risks, accepting challenges, and saying “Yes!” when others wouldn’t. Too many yes’s, however, can quickly steer your small business over the cliffs of chaos.

Small business owners need to be more focused, and you can’t focus on one thing when you’re juggling ten. Sure it can be uncomfortable saying “No,” but this is less about “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and more about remembering what’s most valuable for your business.

I’m your “No” Guru for the day, so sit back, relax, and learn about the 4 things you should start saying “No!” to…

Everyone, say it with me now: “No!”

Good. Remember: “No” is the most powerful word you have to help you be more focused.

Saying “No” to the wrong customers and charities may feel uncomfortable at first, but once you commit to it there’s a strange sense of relief. You don’t need to devalue yourself, your business, or your product to make a needy customer happy. You don’t need to give to every cause out there. Charities are an excellent way to give back to your community, but they’re also an excellent way to give too much without realizing it.

Networking and premature expansion may seem like the best way to grow your business, but it can also be the reason you get distracted from it. Social networks are a quality-over-quantity game, and you need to focus on the few that help you stay in contact with the right customers. Premature expansion has a way of creeping up on you, taking over your focus and leaving you with regret.

What about all my fellow entrepreneurs out there? What things do you insist on saying “No” to?  How has saying “No” affected your focus?

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5 Ways to Keep Business Systems Flexible

The word “systems” can be intimidating for us entrepreneurs, right? It’s easier to pretend you can continue to run your business smoothly without them; so you do, and it doesn’t. You may as well hand the keys over to CHAOS Inc. right now, because that’s a battle that they’re sure to win.

Instead of hiding from business systems it’s time for you to start embracing them. No, they won’t take the soul out of your business. Systems provide a way to coordinate your team’s efforts so you can avoid the urge to micromanage. They allow you to focus on the things that matter—like building your business.

Still afraid of the big bad systems? Take a look at my five tips to keep business systems flexible and you’ll be yelling “We need more systems!” in no time.

Start thinking of systems as a pattern of preparedness. In the event that something needs guidance, you’ve got your pattern of preparedness in place to alleviate the issue—whether you’re present or not.

By mapping out your pattern with guideposts it will be easier for you to be more results-oriented. You won’t feel like a policymaker, but rather a mentor on how to get from point A to point B. As long as you’re able to keep your systems brief and simple, the execution won’t be overwhelming to the spirit of your business.

The two things that can suck the life out of your business are keeping it from evolving and not defining the values. Much like marketing, systems are a science that must be tested and fine-tuned—especially as your business continues to grow. If you fail to define values, you’re essentially making rules for the sake of making rules. And no one likes that.

I know, I know! You’re so excited to implement systems and can’t wait to get started! Why not brainstorm your flexible approaches in the comment box below? Go on and inspire your fellow entrepreneurs!

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6 Ways to Gain Entrepreneurial Confidence

Having a bad week or even month? It’s easy to let a few rough patches snowball into a great big pile of self-doubt. Especially as an entrepreneur.

Self-confidence is one of the most important characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. Sure, we all lose a bit of faith here and there, but you have to know that you can and will accomplish your goals or you’ll quickly lose drive and focus.

That’s exactly how chaos takes over our business: by sinking its claws into your morale and spreading like a creepy virus. Show chaos the business fighter inside of you by implementing these 6 steps to gaining more self confidence!

Everyone gets the blues, but how you handle it shows your true entrepreneurial spirit! By acknowledging the nagging self-doubt, you’ll find areas for improvement.

Instead of getting green with envy over someone’s “overnight” success, take a deeper look at all of the work they’ve put in. You’ll quickly feel better by knowing you’re on the right path, too! Try tracking numbers to alleviate your impatience and help you understand where your gradual success is coming from, as well as understand where to focus your next efforts.

Think about surrounding yourself with peers and a business coach to help you understand that you’re not alone, while providing inspiration and connections. It’s amazing how quickly confidence skyrockets when you realize that there’s thousands of other people experiencing the exact same obstacles.

Understanding when to be passive and active is a big part of gaining more self-confidence. Be passive towards mundane daily tasks and use that time to reflect on big picture ideas! Be active towards advice you receive during seminars and conferences–notes don’t work unless you do!

I’d love to hear your steps for gaining self-confidence when you’re feeling low. Use the comment box to connect with peers and share some experiences to remind each other that we’re not alone!

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5 Step Formula for Small Business Marketing

You’ve got a great product or service and you’re realizing it’s time to start marketing to really bring in the big bucks. Or you’re thinking to yourself, “Self: You spent a lot of money on marketing last time and it didn’t bring the ROI you need. What can you do differently this time around?”

Many small business owners waste thousands of dollars on marketing strategies that don’t produce results. Instead of diving headfirst into a chaotic campaign, understand that there’s more to marketing than fancy-schmancy graphics and catchy phrases.

What “more” am I referring to? The more as in the grand scheme of your strategy, the more as in the focus of your marketing, the more as in these 5 tips for getting the best results from small business marketing…

The whole point of marketing is to convert, right? Well, how will you convert if your marketing strategy isn’t based around some common denominators, proven results, and clear direction?

Staying focused on one product, customer, and message will not only give you a more consistent marketing campaign, it will give you the kind of results that you want and deserve. Remember that old 80/20 rule: You get 80% of your profits from 20% of your customers. This should be a constant in your mind as you plan out your marketing direction.

Once you’ve got the customers you want, make the job easy for them by being clear and direct with your offers. Then, treat your marketing strategy like the science experiment it is! Fine tuning each experiment is what provides good scientists (and small business owners) with the results they need to succeed!

Now it’s your turn: What tips can you offer your fellow entrepreneurs who are looking to take a leap off the marketing high-dive? Have you found great results doing things differently? Please share below.

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5 Hidden Hazards of Entrepreneurship

Picture this: You’re traveling down the windy road of entrepreneurship and you’re prepared for almost anything.  You’ve got a sunroof, top-notch speakers, and toasty seat warmers to make this ride as comfortable as possible.  Then all of a sudden you drive over a pile of nails (trust me, it happens!) and pop two tires.

Stranded, angry, and confused, you’re thinking: “How did I get here and where on earth were the warning signs!!?”

Sound a bit chaotic?

Being a small business owner doesn’t come with airbags. You need to take some precautionary measures before you wind up in the middle of nowhere!

Take a few minutes to check out my traffic report for navigating that windy, hazardous road we call entrepreneurship…

Now that you’ve got some ideas of the hidden hazards you could encounter, you should be better prepared for that windy road of entrepreneurship.  The primary goal is to stay focused on your business and avoid expanding too quickly, helping too many people, and getting too wrapped up in pointless legal battles.

Those factors are sure to make for a bumpy ride.

By being aware of all the possible wrong turns, distractions, and hitchhikers along the route, you’ll know exactly how to avoid them when they arise—and they most certainly will.

What about you?  What kind of hidden hazard have you encountered that you’d like to share with your fellow entrepreneurs?  Go on—don’t be shy!

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