Part III- Working Well With Others

People. Before you launch a business, you need to like them. This is so blatantly obvious that you may feel it need not be said. So why am I saying it? Because I am constantly running into entrepreneurs that do not enjoy people. They started their own business to get away from Soap Opera City that happens by default in Cubicleland. (It does make you want to run.) But becoming an entrepreneur because you want to get away from people makes about as much sense as becoming a teacher when you do not like children. All entrepreneurs eventually have to work with other people–even if, currently, the only other living breathing soul in your office is your dog. Only people buy products. You will have to meet a few people because your dog will never become your customer. Unless you sell pet food.

Are you able to connect with people easily? Are you able to sit down with a complete stranger in a restaurant and start a conversation from scratch? Your ability in the people skills department will have a direct impact on your business life, for better or for worse. I should know. I am the textbook introvert. I lived under my desk for years. (Introverts still like people–it is just that we prefer and recharge in solitude.)

I had owned a business for several years before I had conducted a single sales call or went to a single meeting. Networking was not only something I did not want to do–I went out of my way to avoid it. My thinking went like this: “It is good to delegate the things you cannot do well.” My conclusion was to hire people to talk for me. However, I convinced myself I was not good at networking, when in actuality, it was an excuse.  Then, in one eventful year, both of these persons that I hired found other employment. The only possible presentation-elect was moi. I was forced into the position, and perceived it as a crisis. It was not. Climbing out from under my desk was a necessary step required for my own personal growth, and the health of my business.

Knowing how to network is not an optional skill. Knowing how to make conversation is not only a necessary skill for business but for life. As a business owner, hiring other people to talk for me was not delegation. It was an abdication of responsibility. Business owners must possess the ability to communicate to survive.

Here are three reasons why:

Entrepreneurs must learn how to Yopp. Like the Who down in Whoville, you must let others know you exist. You must build relationships. Do the thing you fear most. Find someone you do not know. Talk to them. Share ideas. Share yourself. Share life with others in your community. Start small. Join your local chamber. Join for the good of the whole, not just for your own benefit. Force yourself to make a new friend. Even if you cannot make conversation easily, take heart. Practice makes perfect. A business is a business, no matter how small.

Entrepreneurs have to be able to promote their product. If you have a good product, you have to be able to tell other people about it in a convincing way. If you have trepidation, you are not 100% convinced that the claims about your product are true. Ramp up your game, and prepare your product, so that you will have complete confidence to tell others about it. If your product is good and can help others live richer lives and help them achieve their goals? Then if you do not tell others, they are losing out. If you tell them, you are helping them. That is what a good sales technique feels like anyway. It feels like  helping.  

Entrepreneurs have to be able to lead. Many entrepreneurs are reluctant leaders. They never planned to be one. They just want to get their heads down and work. But if you grow, your business will require other people to help you. Hire one employee, and you are a leader.  Great leaders know how to inspire others to their best. Great leaders motivate others by sharing the vision of what they wish to achieve. They help other people become more than they knew they could be. If you do not know how to lead, there are countless resources online to help you. Seek them out and step up to the plate. You must lead or be led.

As I said at the beginning of this series, most of what I have learned in business has been learned in the School of Hard Knocks. I have never understood why we humans are compelled to sign up for classes here. It has the highest tuition. The profs are bad. The classes are outrageously difficult. Sometimes there are pop quizzes, making you feel really, really stupid. But we end up learning something. And we learn it so well that we rarely have to retake the test. 

But you do not have to sign up. Take it from me. If you are secretly avoiding people, you are not helping your business. Learn as much as you can about building relationships and about building emotional intelligence. You can learn by practicing. I have been attending Toastmasters for the past two years, (recommended by the way), reading as fast as I can, applying as fast as I can, and networking as much as I can. I am honing my voice in this blog. (How am I doing by the way?)

Your people skills will make or break your business. They will also make or break any opportunity, and improvement in this department can improve your entire life. If your people skills need an upgrade, take heart. If I the quintessential introvert can learn, anyone can.

Before you launch a business, create a vision, a mission, or a trajectory, hone the basic people skills of life. It is a skill more basic than basic. Don’t leave home,  and don’t start business without it.

Stay tuned for Part IV next week: Fitting It All In

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about the way you manage your business?  Because your graphics will always reflect your internal management. The clearer your vision, the more lucid your marketing, and the better your visual graphics. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

You can read more articles like this, and read Part 1 and II of this series right here at Thincblog.

“God has entrusted me with myself.” – Epictetus

Part II- The Care and Feeding of the Entrepreneur

What determines success in business? Are there any measurable factors? What are the common denominators?

Last time I checked, all entrepreneurs have at least one common characteristic. They are all people. They come from all walks of life. Some are rich. Some are poor. Each has a unique blend of life experiences and skill sets, and all have baggage. No super heroes in the bunch. However, some climb from homeless to head honcho. Others, with every conceivable advantage, fall from the pinnacle of success with the silver spoon still in their mouth. Neither privilege nor degrees nor circumstance seem to distinguish those who will ultimately succeed from those who fail. Rather, the difference is made in the space between the two ears and determined by the distance between head and heart. This is good news indeed for those who feel disadvantaged.

All entrepreneurs come with flaws. Then we take ourselves to work. Thus, we find one defining factor. If you cannot manage yourself, you will never manage a business. Managing yourself is one of the most difficult tasks you will ever do in business. Last week, we discussed how being a well-rounded entrepreneur is not much different from being a well-rounded adult. Adults take full responsibility for their entire life: spirit, soul, and body.

Successful entrepreneurs work hard at becoming what they need to be in order to do what they need to do. Be always comes before do. The nice thing about entrepreneurship? If we are honest with ourselves, we can become what we need to be along the way. In the journey itself.

Your business will never be better than you are as an individual.

Becoming is harder than it seems. But it indeed begins with you:

You are what you believe about yourself, and about the world. Successful entrepreneurs are always aware of their humanity. They know we can at times be blind, and at other times brilliant. They are brutally honest with themselves. No one goes through life with a completely accurate picture of their own person. Some have inflated views of themselves, imagining themselves capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound. (You know them when you see them! These are the ones that wear those NO FEAR T-shirts). Other entrepreneurs fear every decision they ever make. (How will you know if it is the right decision if you never make it?) Both extremes are scary. (Every entrepreneur needs a SOME FEAR T-shirt.)

Be honest now. When you get up in the morning, what are your first thoughts about the day? Do you greet each new day with gratitude, or with dread? Do you feel confident and capable? Or fearful and frazzled? Whatever your attitude is, you cannot but help but live it out in your business. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t–you’re right”. Henry Ford

What you believe about the world filters into everything you do. Healthy entrepreneurs are always growing, learning, and applying. Successful entrepreneurs seek feedback, and use that feedback to take calculated risks. This habitual behavior translates into confidence that can express itself in action. Action is worth ten times as much as any idea.   

You are your expectations. Every new business is like an untried engine. Get it spinning fast enough, and all systems will be strained. Every growing business will eventually experience a few nuts and bolts flying off the machine. If you expect everything will go as planned, you will be easily disillusioned. On the other hand, if you are an Eeyore and expect only problems, you will miss everything that is going right. You will become obsessed with solving the specific issue in front of you, and miss an easier route of reaching the goal right next to you. In all reality, monkey wrenches are part and parcel of the entrepreneurial experience. Disappointments come not from the circumstances but from our expectations. You get what you are looking for. Successful entrepreneurs adapt to change as a way of life, but stay focused on the goal.

You are your motivations. Did you become an entrepreneur simply to escape your old boss and the Land of Cubicles? Sure, you are free to do what you like. But freedom in business is not freedom from, but freedom for. What exactly have you been freed up to do? When our only reason to start business is to escape our current lot, we find more problems than we left behind. If being a successful entrepreneur means taking ownership, then rats! All these problems now belong to me! I just traded one grumpy boss for one hundred grumpy customers. You will find yourself lacking motivation to continue. To sustain business, you must have a vision of something bigger–something to make the world a better place.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish”. Proverbs 29:18.

You are your habits. You will manage your business in the same way you manage your personal life. Think about your bedroom closet for a moment. (Painful, I know. Bear with me.) Your closet is a Rorschach test of how you will handle your business. Scary? Perhaps. Whether cluttered or clean, stuffed or sparse, your personal habits will become your business habits. What is my level of self-discipline? Do I make myself do the things I know I must do? Do I set up systems and structures to create a framework for success? Am I able to structure my time and focus and eliminate my own distractions?  Self-discipline is not just nice. It is a necessity. If the boss does not have it, no one will.

You are what you learn. Learning for the small business owner is as a way of life. What skills do you need to possess to do the things you want to do? The learning curve is no longer a curve. It goes straight up. If you want to be successful in business, you must commit to the state of perpetual student. Learn as much as you can whenever you can from whomever you can. Plan for it. Make space in your schedule for it.

You are your health. It is also amazing to me how many entrepreneurs start business and ignore their physical health. Physical wholeness is as much of a necessity for business survival as your sales figures. You may hold to your busy schedule and claim no time for the gym. But without your health, you have no business. Successful entrepreneurs do not put their health on the back burner in pursuit of the almighty dollar. They feed their brains good food. They exercise. They play. A healthy body is a healthy mind. And a healthy business.

How can I say these things with such confidence? Because I have experienced a lapse of them all. Small business has taxed all of my brain power, affected my self-esteem, challenged my level of self-discipline, and questioned my motivations. Several years ago, I even lost a measure of health for about a year from the false glory of martrydom–from not paying attention to my body.

You have heard it said that you are what you think. I will go so far as to say that your business success is a result of the success of your entire person–spirit, soul, and body. It is not my intent to discourage, but rather to shine a light on a common entrepreneurial problem: we often neglect our own person as entrepreneurs, and it results in business malaise.

It is possible to improve upon all of these things if you bring them into focus. It is crucial to your success to work harder on yourself than you do your business. Make baby steps toward becoming the best you that you can be. Take heart. And take care of yourself, spirit, soul and body. It is not selfish, because others depend on you.

Your whole entrepreneurial world depends on it.

Stay tuned next week for Part III, all about our relationships.

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about the way you manage your business?  Because your graphics will always give away your internal management. The more clear your vision, the more lucid your marketing, and the better your visual graphics. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Part 1

September marks the beginning of another exciting school year for students of all ages from kindergarten to graduate school. Parents work hard to reign their free-wheeling summer children back into the patterns of structure and study and focus of fall children. Teachers are pumped to prepare well-rounded students for service to the world, dishing up the just the right portions of reading, writing, and arithmetic, all in the hopes of being the one teacher who inspires them to greatness. These basic skills are essential, under-girding all the others to provide the framework for success.

The entrepreneurial journey is not much different from the student’s journey. (No summers off being the exception of course!) It also requires structure and discipline and focus and a framework of basic skills. There is such a thing as a well-rounded entrepreneur–one prepared for the future and prepared for greatness–after having spent the time mastering the basic requirements. I spent a few moments searching online to see what had already been written on the subject. “Essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur” yielded 399,000 posts–mostly lists. Some listed only 6 essential characteristics, some had 8, others 9, some 12, and others with 25 and more. Obviously we do not agree on what is essential.  

Yet there are essential basic skills required for the entrepreneurial journey. And despite the industry, there are also common entrepreneurial paths. All of these paths require at least some skills that are more basic than basic. In comparing the actual qualities in the lists, I found most were simply characteristics of being a well-rounded adult. From small business survival statistics, it is apparent that many of us have yet to become one.

Yet maturity happens in the journey. Few entrepreneurs start with everything they need, even with an MBA in hand. I, myself, am one who learned on the fly, and not sure if I have grown up yet. But this is what I love about small business. It grows ordinary people. It provides opportunity to become more than they ever dreamed they could be. In the start-up phase, we are all full of hope and imagine ourselves capable of anything. We are determined not to be derailed. Hope is good. But we don’t know what we don’t know. (I have been there. I was unaware that my tenaciousness was just one step away from stubborness.)

In the beginning, we are blissfully ignorant of what lies ahead, unaware that our baby business will eventually expose every flaw in our character. We are never prepared. We will be the last to know the source of the problems–until the same problems continue to repeat themselves. If we are observant, we will recognize a pattern. More observant still, and we will recognize that we are the common denominator. After that, if we are brave and fearless, we will face it square, and improve our own character. Or not, as the case may be. We might also choose to play the blame game, and pass the buck to some unsuspecting employee. But if we are willing to learn, small business will open our minds and our hearts, and mold us into a bigger person, with an enlarged heart. Not the bad kind of enlarged heart, but the good kind. One with deep humility and patience for other homo sapiens who have the same flaw. It is like therapy for the unsuspecting. And seriously good therapy at that. And we will laugh about it. As C.S. Lewis says, “Humility, after the first shock, is a cheerful virtue.”

So all this month, we will be talking about the basic traits of successful entrepreneurship–not accounting, and not HR per se, but those that seem more basic than basic. In 26 years of business, we have learned most of them in the school of hard knocks. And in all honesty, we are still working on some of them. I will tell you about them as we go along. We have watched other businesses struggle to obtain them too. We are happy to share what we have learned with you, in hopes that you can avoid some of the pitfalls in your own journey.

Join us all this month, for The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs. We hope to be the one who inspires you to greatness.

Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about the way you manage your business?  Because your graphics will always give away your internal management. The more clear your vision, the more lucid your marketing, and the better your visual graphics. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Your Message, Loud, and Clear- Part IV

Did you know that the level of clarity you have about your business internally is reflected externally? All this month we have been focusing on the Unique Value Proposition: finding something you can say about your business that no one else can say.

In Part 1, we encouraged you to find a different word other than quality to describe the way you do business. (Pretty please?)

In Part II, we encouraged you to just say no to the wrong sales- so you will have time to develop the right sales. 

In Part III, we encouraged you to get your eyes off the competition and focus on what you do best.

Doing the work to develop a Unique Value Proposition can help you find a whole new way of doing business. Once you are no longer using tired words, once you are no longer desperately seeking sales, and once you are no longer reacting to your competitors, you can be proactive instead. Once you know what you are not, you can decide who you are. You are then ready to clarify your own unique culture. You can create art. You can do business by design.

Running a small business is an art form, and the visual art of your business will always reflect the level of clarity you have about your mission and vision in the world. Sound preposterous? Hardly. It has always been true. Through the centuries, art has always reflected the culture in which it is found, sometimes more accurately than the writers and philosophers of that same culture. Artists portray the experiences and the values of their own culture, unaware that they are doing it. They are truly in the frame.

Your company graphics will also reflect your company culture. Yes, you are in the frame. Why not become aware? Why not make the picture reflect what you want to say? The design of your company includes your visual graphics, yes, but goes well beyond. Design is everything your business does and how it behaves. Your visual design reflects what your company believes and the way your company does business. It reflects the entire experience, from the inside out. It carries the story, provides context, and delivers meaning to your potential customer. The irony of it all is that it speaks the loudest, (and in a bad way), when the context is not there at all.

It is said you cannot judge a book by its cover. I have to question this old adage. It certainly does not apply in business. People make instant decisions about whether to do business with a company by the cover alone. Your graphics tell the outside world what they can expect inside. Therefore you should have a reason and a why for every font, photo, element, and image you choose. Your graphics should be carefully crafted to fit within the context of your business story and culture. It should never be left to chance–or to your mother-in-law–to define. Sure, your logo and graphics cannot express everything. They are symbolic. But those symbols should be intuitive. They should inform and engage and encourage us to find out more.

You may not buy into the idea that visual design is a necessity for running a small business. But if you want to grow, keep in mind, I know of no Fortune 500 companies that did not invest heavily in the design of the business itself, and the graphic design that represented it. Design is just how they do business. There exists a strong correlation between great design and success.

The unique value proposition is one of the most effective tools in your marketing tool box. Uniqueness adds value to any work of art and makes imitation more difficult. Is the UVP easy to define? No. But it costs you nothing but time. It is time well spent as an investment in your own success.

Your Brand is your culture. One cannot not communicate it–whatever it is. No communication is also communication. Take time to step outside the frame, and take a good look at what your Brand is saying, both with and without words.

Doing business by design will transform your business into a work of art.

“One cannot not communicate” is a quote from Paul Watzlawick, a philosopher and communication theorist, 1921-2007. You can read about him here. 

For entrepreneurs, a good sense of marketing is prerequisite for survival, even if you do not know exactly how to do it. If you did not get that MBA before you began business, many of these kinds of skills are learn-as-you-go. After all, most entrepreneurs do not start business because they just can’t wait to get at the accounting. They start because they love to cook, or they love plants, or they love to cut hair–not because they want to learn the mechanics of business. If you are a chef, you just want to get your head down and create that culinary masterpiece on a plate. But even if you create it? Most entrepreneurs do not want to toot the horn, even if it is a masterpiece. They would rather other people to do it for them. We were taught not to brag, right?

Unfortunately, “if you build it, they will come” as a business philosophy is a pipe dream. Even if you have the best gourmet hamburger in town, no one is obligated to come. You must give them a reason. Your friends, family, and neighbors will eventually tire of your gourmet hamburgers, and you will need to bring in new customers. And if you have not noticed, the hamburger industry is a crowded place. Many industries are crowded.

Which brings me to my point: Competition is good for us.

Right now, the Iowa State Fair is in full swing with concession stands every 15’ ready to sell you anything that will stay long enough on a stick to be consumed. Whether frozen, fluffed, or fried–there is something to satisfy your every fetish and craving. No one is counting calories at the Fair. No one cares if that two-bite treat costs $6.50 plus tax. Everyone has money in their pockets waiting to fly out to purchase the newest confectionary adventure. And let me tell you, if there is an ice cream bar to die for? I’m signing up to die. And there are thousands behind me.

You should see all the competition! Here is why it is good for us:

Much competition means much demand! Demand is a prerequisite to selling anything!

Much competition draws more customers, because they find many choices in the same area. Someone is going to get the sale–might as well be you, right?

Much competition demands that I become a better business person. To attract customers away from my competitor, I must make my product better. I cannot just make claims about it–I have to prove those claims, or the customer will not come back. I must out-serve, out-perform, and out-do my competition in customer service. I must be better than I was yesterday, and find new things to sell tomorrow. To make a profit, I must make my business work like a finely-oiled machine. It makes me be a better me.

Much competition means the door is wide open for opportunity. All you need in such a case is better marketing. All this month we have been talking about the Unique Value Proposition. A Unique Value Proposition is something that you can say about your business that your competitor cannot say. Easy? Not on your life. Thinking about it can blow your mind. But thinking about it will also make your product blow my mind! It forces you to do market research–to find the gap in your competitor’s offerings, and to create your own niche. It forces you to do business in a whole new way.

More important that anything, much competition forces you to know your customer–the best marketing strategy ever.

“Haven’t small businesses failed because of too much competition?”, you might ask. Perhaps. But probably not. More businesses fail because they have not done the research to find out what the customer really wants.

Why not focus on what you do best, rather than turning around to see where your competitor is at in the race? Focusing on others in the race makes you trip. It makes you a follower, not a leader.

Get your head down, and work on making your customer happy. Focus on being the best business you can be, and you will find yourself in the lead.

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etc!graphics exists to help your business develop its own Visual Voice. We help you design your Brand into a visual language. But what if you do not have a strong Brand? If you do not know what your brand stands for, it will be difficult to craft a clear visual language to match. We want to help. Stay tuned all this month for Parts IV of Your Message, Loud & Clear. You can read Part I here, Part II here.

For more information like this, please visit our website at www.etcgraphics.com/thincblog

Part II- Your Message, Loud & Clear

Have you ever been in such a tight place in your business that you felt like you had to say yes to the very next opportunity, even when the work was not something you wanted to do? Did you paste on a smile, and accept the job, all the while dreading that you have to do it?

Seriously, when was the last time you just said no to a sale?

If your answer is never, chances are very good you are conducting desperation deals. This is a place of instability–not a position of strength.

Saying no to a sale is counter-intuitive. Yet, focusing on survival sales merely ensures you will stay focused on survival. Accepting a sale that is outside your area of expertise ensures that you will continue to be distracted from all that  you do best.

Here is where the fear sets in. Many entrepreneurs are closet branders. They are afraid that if they come out and say who they really are, and say no to a customer, that that somebody will not like them anymore. They could miss a sales opportunity. Maybe even this week! In securing one sale, they lose ten. A strong brand message works as a magnet to attract the right customer and is strong enough to draw in those potential customers waiting on the fringes. If I could only help small business owners turn from desperately seeking sales to desperately seeking differentiation, we could stabilize the shakes.

The fear of specifically stating what you are all about, (in other words–branding), is a bit like the young man we watched climbing rock walls in CO while on vacation several years ago. Though thoroughly harnessed and secured, half way up the cliff he somehow lost all chutzpah. He started thinking about how high he was and became paralyzed–he could neither move up nor down. People were shouting at to him, trying to help him overcome his mental block. One thing for certain: he was either going up, or he was coming down. He had to do something soon, or any minute his muscles would give out, all with an uncertain outcome. It was dangerous to do nothing.

Entrepreneurs are no different. You are not a weenie. Much bravery is required to begin the ascent in the first place. You yourself may have risked all you own to get your business up and running. Maybe you are halfway up the cliff, and you are stuck. You can risk moving higher with good branding practices, or you can cling to perceived safety by staying where you are, along with the boring, cliche, and redundant messages. Or you may lose strength to keep up the fight. One thing is for certain–there is no staying where you are for long.

Find your balance, and find safety. Where is your heart? What does your customer ideally want? What are you ideally suited to do? Find the overlap. Package it up and mark it with a T for Terrific. Deliver it with all the right messages to describe the contents accurately. Deliver directly to the gap–the gap in your competitor’s offerings. Then deliver on your promise.

You are now a leader and not follower. You are now proactive and not reactive. You have dropped the desperately seeking deals behavior, and you have adopted a new mindset. And with it, a place of stability. You will gain confidence–enough that your knees stop shaking.

You might even find yourself saying, “I’m sorry, we don’t do that anymore. Try my competitor, down the street.”

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etc!graphics exists to help your business develop its own Visual Voice. We help you design your Brand into a visual language. But what if you do not have a strong Brand? If you do not know what your brand stands for, it will be difficult to craft a clear visual language to match. We want to help. Stay tuned all this month for Parts III-IV of Your Message, Loud & Clear. You can read Part I here.

For more information like this, please visit our website at www.etcgraphics.com/thincblog

Part 1- Your Message, Loud & Clear

You need to stop doing quality work.

Yes, just stop it.

What? What is this nut-case saying? Please, let me explain.

Most small business owners work very hard. It is not just because there is a lot to do. There is always more to do in a small company than there are people to do it, and true entrepreneurs know this when they sign up. But beyond the day in day out work, there are many reasons that entrepreneurs are willing to work harder than the next guy. For one, most take great pride in their work. It is one of the reasons that they go into business for themselves in the first place–the old boss never gave them credit. Two, they have a vision, and they know delivering on that vision is their best chance of future sales and future return on investment. And three, no entrepreneur likes to eat a bad job for breakfast. It does not taste good–even with sugar on it–as the loss comes right out of pocket. All great reasons to work hard and work smart.

So why, why, why do entrepreneurs succumb to the tired old slogan, “We Do Quality Work”? “Quality” is so passe. Quality is anemic. It is the least creative way to express the passion and the pride that you pour into each and every product. You deliver far more than Quality. If your product is something to buzz about, and these words are the only words you can think of to throw at it? You are shortchanging yourself. Think about it. If the only reason you say “We Do Quality Work” is because you do not know what else to say? You are shooting a hole right through your marketing foot.

If everyone is saying “We Do Quality Work” what does the word Quality even mean? It means Quality is what everyone claims to deliver. It means Quality is table stakes. Quality is average. Normal. Expected. Quality is, well, not outstanding. Which means you are not standing out. It is time to hang up Quality Work. Do outstanding work. Do sterling. Do superb. Exemplary. Choice. World Class. Do anything, anything but Quality.

Tell the story straight. This is not about spinning a yarn. If your product is not all you claim it to be, go back and start by improving your product. Your words should not only be a fit description of your product to encourage a sale, but should not disappoint expectations after the sale.

One of the best ways to increase the resonance of your marketing is to find the unique value that only you and your company can provide. What can you say that your competitors cannot say? Say it, loud and clear.This unique value is called your Unique Value Proposition. The UVP is one of the most powerful tools you have in your marketing toolbelt. Do yourself a huge favor and spend the time and energy and creativity to unearth these words, brush them off, and hone them to fit. It does not cost you a penny.

The real question is, do want a Bland or a Brand? If your business is hiding underneath a bunch of weary, worn, and sad little cliché’s? Do yourself and your business a favor. Take some time to brainstorm your UVP.

Your marketing will then work as hard as you do.

Knowing the Score– Part IV Finale

Entrepreneurs are a strange breed of people. All we need is for someone to tell us, “you can’t do that”, and that is challenge enough. With all the enthusiasm of an addicted gambler, we will head straight for the unpredictable, the uncertain, and the unlikely to happen. We thrive there. But as averse as we are to boredom, the odds are still stacked against us and looming larger every day. Disruptive technology and uncertain economies mean that entrepreneurs need the ability to morph and adapt to new environments quickly–just like a real transformer. Presto. Chango. We are something else now.

Believe it or not, there is a certain breed of musicians who also thrive on this type of adrenaline: jazz musicians. Good jazz musicians and good entrepreneurs have much in common. That is exactly why jazz is a great model for small business strategy.

Let me count the ways:

1. Jazz is improvisation.

Have you ever seen a jazz score? Take a look at the measures marked “solo”. Nothing there at all, you say? In the early days of jazz, performers had to share music scores quickly between gigs. They developed a method of music shorthand–a musical template, called a chart. The empty bars represented measures where the musician can play anything at all, as long as it fits within the structure. Small Business encounters many a situation where the answer is also not prescribed. But where the basic structure is defined, (melody, chord structure, rhythm and tempo), players can build on top, and make the most of any opportunity. Everyone gets a chance to solo and show their unique strengths.

2. Jazz is efficiency.

Jazz is more about what you do not play than what you do play. Jazz is lean, mean, and tight. The point is to play only the notes you need to play, and nothing more. Most jazz groups are small–quartets or quintets–and voicing is minimalistic. For that reason, the sound is quite different from other genres. Though the music may be highly advanced and technically difficult, it creates the most with the least. Savvy Entrepreneurs do the same.

3. Jazz is experimentation.

Jazz is highly adaptive to change. Jazz is serendipitous. Miles Davis said, “If it sounds clean and slick, I’ve been doing it too long.” Miles Davis wanted to play everything fresh and new as if he had never seen the score before. There were times when he would announce a key change of a jazz classic right before the performance so that the musicians would have to rethink the notes. Jazz musicians play and experiment at the same time.

4. Jazz is collaboration.

Jazz thrives on unpredictability, yet it is not a free-for-all. It is a requirement that jazz musicians listen closely to one another. Jazz is nothing without collaboration. Jazz is the musical equivalent of E Pluribus Unum, (Out of Many, One). Once the structural foundations are established, each musician can take risks in an encouraging environment, alternating between supporting and lead roles. Beauty is created upon a foundation of trust and a high degree of individual competency. Where the musicians get “in the zone”, they can transcend the music, and create something entirely new. Each time jazz musicians play a tune it can sound different from the previous performance. Not only is jazz change driven, but its very purpose is to change it together. No one could possibly get bored.

5. Jazz is leadership.

The jazz model of small business is a synthesis between structure and flexibility, between control and autonomy. Good business leaders, like good band leaders, share the structure and get out of the way so that the musicians can build upon it. The very limitations of the group are disguised by the way the leader puts the group together. Leaders find musicians that will practice and hone their chops. This practice enables consistency- and prepares them for opportunity. The musicians trust one another and know each others technical abilities. And when it is their time to shine, they connect disparate parts to create something new and wonderful. And they create it together.

Great entrepreneurs can create more innovation in the ranks using jazz as a strategy for business. Provide minimal structure to enable maximum collaboration and then get out of the way.

When you do, you will create something cool, like jazz.

You cannot improvise on nothin’ man. You gotta improvise on somethin’.  –Charles Mingus, bassist, composer

Knowing the Score- Part III

One of the best techniques to ensure a return on your marketing and advertising is completely within reach of every business. Whether a startup or seasoned business, this strategy costs little or nothing to implement. Why more businesses do not use it, I have no idea. It is one of the smartest and easiest things to do and requires no extraordinary talent.

So what is it? The answer is as easy as tapping your toe. Rhythm.

Rhythm is consistency. Consistency is the magic DNA of trust. It is modeled to us from birth. From your earliest days on earth, you learned your Mom was a trustworthy person because that face consistently presented itself with rhythmic predictability. It did not take long to learn this face would appear upon demand, bearing certain comfort. You were sold. She was the only woman for you. She could not get out of your sight, and if she did, a hissy fit would ensue.

Mom taught you colors, numbers, or the alphabet using the same principle– consistent presentation and rhythmic repetition. Later that consistency was relegated to higher forms of learning. My younger brother Jason, as well as whole generations of kids, learned I Is For Impolite well before he ever got to school–all because Sesame Street repeated the same entertaining cartoon every day for many years. He knew the little ditty completely by heart and went around the house reciting it.

It takes repetition and rhythm to teach anyone anything at all. Consistency forms patterns, and patterns form rhythm. We humans are hardwired to to recognize and respond to pattern and rhythm.

I remember going to my first rock concert as a kid with my older sister Sue. I knew most of the Doobie Brothers songs by heart, (yes, I am that old). When we heard the familiar strains of “Wo-ah. .. . Wooaaaah, Listen to the Music”, people were on their feet, clapping in unison, and raising the rock and roll fist pump. They could not help it. Music provides a very rare phenomena: people in harmony, compelled to do the same things at the same time, and enjoying every minute! (Think about that! We rarely get that–rarely in politics, not in the office, only sometimes in church!) The Doobie Brothers created raving fans–with rhythm and consistency.

Imagine that same kind of driving rhythm applied to every area of your business!

The visual graphics of any company reflect its strength. About 50% of our brains are used for visual processing. That is a lot of brain power devoted to sight. What if every visual generated by your company had a striking consistency with the last? By creating a brand guide, using the same fonts and the same colors, you can build consistency into every visual. You can harness that brain power to produce memorability. You can show you are consistent, credible, and trustworthy until you get a chance to prove it. Memorability, followed by a consistent customer experience, creates trust.  Every entrepreneur knows that trust is the biggest hurdle in any sales effort.

What if every customer experience were consistent with the last? It would prove you were worthy of trust! You would likely have more opportunity to prove that you were the supply for their demand. It would not take long, and there would be no other company for them. They may even have a hissy fit if you ever went away. You would have your customers doing the fist pump!

Creating a business with rhythm requires a strategic plan, a bit of ingenuity, and a commitment to follow through. But it is the best way to get your customers to hold up their lighters in your honor. Create consistency, and you, too, will create the DNA of Trust. You, too, will be singing “I Got Rhythm”.

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Like this article? You can read Knowing the Score, Part 1 here, and Part II here.  All this month, we will be discussing music, and especially Jazz, as a model for Small Business management and marketing. Stay tuned, (pun fully intended!), for Part 4, as we hone our chops, grow, and become the entrepreneur we were intended to be. Etc! Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Knowing the Score – Part 2

Music resonates with us in so many different ways. There is so much more going on at a concert than meets the ear. If there is one thing that the music industry can teach us about business, it is synergy. Your product, everything before it, everything surrounding it, the delivery, and everything after the delivery, must work together from beginning to end.

Take for example how disappointed the fans in Georgia would be, if Ray Charles showed up to give a concert and neglected to sing Georgia while in Georgia. Of course, he would never do that. Before jumping a plane bound for any concert, Ray selected his playlists with the specific local fans in mind. The venue, the delivery, the instruments, down to the style of attire that his backup musicians would wear–all must meet expectations.

Whose expectations? His own? Not on your life. His fan’s expectations, of course.

Many entrepreneurs want to find more fans. In fact, they want lots and lots of fans. They search for magic formulas. They find promising blog posts with titles like “Ten Ways to Triple Your Sales in 2016”, and then carefully follow the directions on the package. Ten emails per month, (check!), networking, (check!), and 4 cold calls per day, (check!), all in the hopes of finding someone, (anyone?), with a pulse on the other end of the line. Unfortunately, all of this honing and tweaking of sales processes is focused on the company–not the fans.

Want an easier way to find new fans? The answer is so intuitive, it is frequently overlooked.

Let me say in advance that the answer assumes that you, the business owner, like any aspiring professional musician, already know the song you were born to play. If not, make sure you believe in your own song first. Most of the time, studious practice alone will supply the answer to this question. And here it is:

Develop a uniqueness that no one else can duplicate.

Perhaps you work in an industry with cut-throat competition. Finding a unique way of doing business seems virtually impossible. Reframing your thinking is in order. Too much competition in your market is a really good sign. It indicates an abundance of demand. This “problem” gives you a boost over the first marketing hurdle.

Now, what resources do you have at your disposal? What disadvantages do you have? Disadvantages? How might you turn disadvantages into assets? Remember Dizzy Gillespie’s horn was bent right before he was to play. A comedy dance team accidently stepped on it while fooling around back stage. Dizzy went on stage and played it anyway. His trumpet not only became his trademark, the horn’s unique sound made Dizzy a jazz sensation. Billie Holiday burned her hair while preparing to sing in a night club. She put a gardenia in her hair to cover the damage. The flower became trademark to her fantastic set of pipes, and the rest, as they say, is history. Woody Guthrie’s songs were so unique that he used a copyright that allowed everyone to copy him. He knew that wherever his songs were sung, it would only add credence to him as a folk singer and songwriter. 

So everyone else is singing your song! Practice till you can sing it better. There are plenty of covers that people love more than the original. Elvis’s famous Hound Dog was originally sung by Big Mama Thorton. Over the Rainbow, originally made famous by Judy Garland, was resurrected to contemporary fame by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. Oh What a Beautiful Morning, from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma, could not be more beautiful as sung by Ray Charles. You probably have a few favorite covers of your own.

The more a business focuses on singing their own song, to the best of their ability, the less they have to look for fans. Sing your own song. Sing it the best way you know how. And I will not be surprised at all if the fans come looking for you.

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Like this article? You can read Knowing the Score, Part 1, here. All this month, we will be discussing music, and especially Jazz, as a model for Small Business management and marketing. Stay tuned, (pun fully intended!), for Parts 3 and 4, as we hone our chops, grow, and become the entrepreneur we were intended to be.  Etc Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.