Making Your Client the Hero

Understanding Why the “About You” Section 

is Really About Them

Image courtesy of Sira Anamwong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I assume you're reading this because you want to find an effective way to help people.  You’ve already done the hard part. You developed a great solution to your prospect’s problem.  Yet convincing people probably feels like your hardest challenge.  It doesn’t have to be that way.   

One personal productivity maven teaches entrepreneurs how to build their platform.  Michael Hyatt helps people define it in a powerful way.  I highly recommend you check out his work - especially Platform.   

Part of what makes it powerful is his understanding of how to attract your ideal client.

Who’s the Hero?

What changes the game is the concept of making your client the hero of their story.  YOU aren’t supposed to be the hero that saves the day.  Not even if you do most of the work for them.  However, you CAN play the part of the trusty side-kick who shows them how THEY can save the day - using your product or service.

It’s YOUR product that will allow their vision to come to fruition.  But to attract them, it must always be about THEM.

The “About Me” that’s About Them

So using that perspective to create content for your website, how do you do an “About Me” section … that’s actually about THEM?

Step back and review your market analysis.  You should have an idea of the age group of these people, whether they are primarily men or women, and what their lifestyle is like.  

Four Questions to Answer To Attract Your Ideal Prospect

1. What is the pain in their life that you offer to resolve?  (Get their attention.)
2. How did you experience that pain in your life? (Establish that you understand their struggle, start to develop a sense of commonality and trust.)
3. Why did you develop that solution?  (What have you gone through that may be similar to the trial and error they have been going through, without a satisfying resolution of the problem? This is further proof that you really DO understand the frustration of their pain.)
4. How did you develop that solution? (How you found the solution and what your life is like now that you have this solution.)

Proving There’s Hope

The purpose of your "About Me" story is to give them hope.  You are like them.  You discovered the solution to your problem.  Reading about your story lets them know their lives CAN be better.

Whatever you write, ask yourself how it relates to their story.  If it doesn’t relate, ruthlessly cut it out.  Your results will thank you!

No, I haven't affiliated with anyone yet, including Michael Hyatt. However, I'd be honored to do so.  I can't recommend him highly enough. I hope you'll check out his page.

Weekly Challenge

I was supposed to be working on my website this week, but I’m still working on the written portion.  Some life stuff got in the way … but that’s a post for next week!   

What are you working on?  Are you wondering if your story is about them enough?  The first ten people who comment with their website will receive a free evaluation of your "about me" section.

Make Room for Breaks – Or Suffer the Consequences

Boosting Performance by Reducing Stress

Starting a business is a bold move.  It usually requires far more than you ever thought possible.  Yet you still want it – without losing everything else you hold dear.

Science indicates that simple things such as time for breaks, hobbies, and vacations are crucial to maintain your edge as an entrepreneur.   

Time for Breaks?  Ha!

 

I know, I know – there’s no TIME for breaks.  What if I said there’s no time to miss breaks? 

 

Consider what working straight through, and during “off hours” is stealing from you:

•    Your brain rejuvenates less at night, reducing creativity and productivity
•    Your family and friends don’t see you, increasing distance over time
•    Your body relaxes less, increasing aches and pains (headache anyone?)
•    Your energy is reduced, leading to burnout and possibly depression

The American work ethic is an interesting study in culture.  Don’t get me wrong, work is a virtue to be sure.  Yet somewhere along the way, workaholism replaced work as a virtue.   

Always “On” Syndrome

 

Innovation slowly tightens the noose around your neck.  Your devices make tasks faster to accomplish.  You feel pressure to do more.  It’s easy to find yourself “always on” – checking messages and emails through the evening and first thing in the morning.

When you work from home, any sense of getting away is difficult.  It’s easy to develop the habit of working in the evenings and on weekends because there is always lots to do.  

Science says you might not be getting ahead of anything.  In fact, you'll likely hurt your bottom line in the end.

"Staying inside, in the same location, is really detrimental to creative thinking. It's also detrimental to doing that rumination that's needed for ideas to percolate and gestate and allow a person to arrive at an 'aha' moment," Kimberly Elsbach tells Jeremy Hobson, host of Here & Now. 

Boosting Creativity

 

"We know that creativity and innovation happen when people change their environment, and especially when they expose themselves to a nature-like environment, to a natural environment," says Kimberly Elsbach.  

Walks at the park or beach are incredibly restorative.  More than that, it gives your brain a chance to assimilate everything that’s going on.  By removing yourself from work, you get a different perspective.  You’re far more creative in your solution when you give yourself the gift of getting away from it all for a while.

Tim Kreider put it a different way. “Space and quiet … provides  a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done." 

Getting Away More Often

 

Research is showing the restorative effects of a vacation lasts a limited amount of time.  People need to get away more often.  

Jeroen Nawijn (from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences and his team are published online in Springer's journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.) suggests that people are likely to derive more happiness from two or more short breaks spread throughout the year, rather than having just a single longer vacation once a year. 

Scheduling For Success

 

My challenge to you is this:  schedule regular breaks during the day.  Find some time each day to sit still without thinking about everything you need to do.  Find some time each week to get out into nature for fresh air and calm surroundings. In addition, if you can afford it, get away for a long weekend a few times this year.  Schedule this in.  Your business needs it.  So do you. 

Weekly Challenge

 

Last week, I wanted to work on homework for the workshop I’ll be attending next week.  I have started into it.  There is a lot more work than expected.  This week’s challenge will be to contact three people in my niche and interview them to learn the pain points in that world.

What task do you need to do this week that will move your business forward?

Avoiding Entrepreneurial Burnout

Why Your Personal Mission Statement is Critical

More often than not, you feel frazzled.  It’s hard to get through each day.  You are so busy with family and work and church and community and …  all sorts of good things.  Yet something doesn’t feel right. You wonder why you feel ineffective.   

Is a fulfilling life an unlikely fantasy to write off as impossible?

According to Brendan Burchard, your focus likely changed.

When you find yourself frazzled and going through the motions, you are just surviving.  You're just doing what’s gotta be done.  Yet what if you can do better?

I was going to talk about the value of your business mission statement today.  As I kept studying, I realized your personal mission statement needs to come first or your business might not survive.

When you drive yourself with a lot of “shoulds” in your business, you risk burn out.  You’ll go through the motions until you can’t keep fighting anymore.

Personal Statement Acts as a Compass

How does a personal statement avoid burn-out? 

1.  It forces you to define your core values.  Why are you here on this earth? Who or what is your center? It demands you look at the future.  You need to know who you want to be in five or ten years. 

2.  It clarifies your actions.  If you know what you are here to do, it makes it easier to say no to good things that aren’t related to your purpose.   Even if you aren’t aware of your purpose yet, chances are you have some goals.  But the next benefit is realizing this key point.

Saying Yes Can Hurt Everyone

Saying yes to things not meant for you robs three parties:  

·         It robs you of time to get involved in the project you were meant to do. 

·         It robs the person who was uniquely suited for the project. 

·         It also robs the person (who asked you) of the other person’s unique ideas/contributions to the project.

Why does it matter to your business?

Your business must be in alignment with your core values or you run the risk of burning out.  It’s easier to show you.

Imagine you have this great idea to put together some tours.  It makes some money AND you get to travel for free.  What’s not to love? 

 

But one of your core values is family.  This requires you to leave your family for a week at a time.  How long until the tours are frazzling due to your absence at home?  How long until it bugs you that your family can’t join you because of school or work obligations?

Either you do shorter tours more often (still loss of family time) or you realize that it’s a great idea - just not for you.  Loving something isn’t enough if it clashes with your core values.

Creating Your Statement

It’s easy to feel lost when starting.  What exactly is a “core value” and how do I know which ones are mine?  An easy way is to search for a list of core values. 

1.       Write down all values you like.

2.       Prioritize the values.  The ones on top are your core values.  They compel you.  You get stressed when you go against them in favor of a lesser value.     

  Write a sentence or paragraph stating the person you intend to be.

Finding Freedom

For some people, this exercise feels restrictive.  Yet it actually gives you freedom to operate as you are designed to function.  It helps you make wise choices with your time.  You move with purpose, rather than obligation.  This will go a long way toward avoiding entrepreneurial burnout.

The Mayo Clinic talks about various factors in job burnout.₁ “If your values differ from the way your employer does business or handles grievances, the mismatch can eventually take a toll.”  It makes sense this is also true for your partners and employees within your business as well as suppliers and clients.

Using Your Statement in a Meaningful Way

Knowing your core values gives you a framework for making goals and decisions.  How you spend your time and energy affects how you feel about your life.  We’ve all heard stories about people who are living fulfilling lives, in spite of extremely challenging circumstances.  We have also known people who are very able-bodied and can’t seem to get out of their own way.  I’ve been there.

Ultimately it boils down to mindset and purpose. You may know bits and pieces of it and struggle with putting it into words.  Maybe you never thought about a statement before.

Start by observing what you value.  See if you recognize the values that really mean something to you.  Then be deliberate about showing up the way you want to be.  Use the questions to see if you have room for improvement.  (Hint: if you are alive, you have room for improvement.)  You should see results from your effective focus.

Reviewing these frequently keeps you focused on living out your core values.

Expect to Tweak Your Statement

I have no doubt there are people who nail it the first time and never have to change it.  The rest of us mortals will need to adjust ours.   

Maybe family requirements shift as your kids move away and there’s more room for community. Maybe loyalty gives way to financial stability when you realize appreciating the people you work with isn’t enough and you must let an overly time-intensive client or employee go.

We will grow and values will change.  This isn’t a bad thing.  The thing is knowing who you are and living as authentically as possible.

Next week we’ll talk about developing your business mission statement.

Weekly Business Challenge

Looking back at what I planned to do this past week, I spent time chasing down issues with my internet provider (turns out it’s my machine) and researching solutions on my email provider.  I have developed a list of things to maintain my electronics.

As for marketing, I handed out my business card to several people and offered to do a web presence audit for someone else.

This week feels full.  However, I will continue working on my personal mission statement and my business mission statement to share with you next week.  I’ll defrag my computer.  I will spend some time getting more comfortable with Linked In and add at least one more contact.

What about you?  Do you have a mission statement that reflects your current values and who you are moving toward being?  What sort of business challenges are you going to tackle this week?  Post below.  Your idea will probably give someone else ideas!

₁ http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642?pg=2

You Already Know There “Aren’t Enough Hours” in the Day. Or IS There?

Overcoming Your Own Unreasonable Expectations

Everyone finds themselves too busy from time to time.  In frustration, it’s easy to find ourselves muttering, “There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all!”  And that is true.  We can’t do it all.  We aren’t even meant to do it all.  So why do we try?

Everyone has the same number of hours in our days.  However, the uber-productive performer has someone taking care of things behind the scenes.  That person is doing $43,860 in billable hours a month routing phone calls to a personal assistant.  Billing is handled by someone else.   So is prep-work and marketing.

 

It All Takes Time

When you are first starting out, you have it all on your shoulders.  You are developing your product, your marketing, your process, and dealing with the paperwork as you go.

And you still have a home, a family, and yourself to take care of.  All of it demands time and energy and care.

I found myself frustrated that I couldn’t spend 8 hours on research and writing.  I learned it was unreasonable to think I should.  I need to consider marketing, ongoing education and personal enrichment, and administrative tasks like ordering paper and ink cartridges.

I also learned that organization makes a big difference.  Ok, I knew that already, but I was struggling to figure out how to make that happen with a small desk that I use for my home stuff.  I have education materials here for two businesses, plus other home bills and projects.  Where do I go with it?  It’s all a part of developing process.

I learned that my health routines are essential to handling everything else gracefully.  It’s easier to shut down my negative voice telling me how I should be able to do everything that my aunt does, and my mom-in-law, and that lady I read about, and my work-at-home friend in another state, and some other things I want to do, too.  Oh, and the stuff my husband wants me to take care of for him, too. And … I got lost. 

Can’t. Do. It. All. At. The. Same. Time!

I had to step back and re-assess everything.  I needed to get back to priorities.  It’s work-life balance.  It’s efficiency.  It’s taking care of myself.  It’s cutting out less valuable things.

So today, I want to share with you some thoughts about priorities.  It cuts out a lot of unreasonable expectations.

Know Where You Are Going and How You’ll Get There

The first key is your vision.  What do you want to accomplish?  This would be your mission.  List that for all of the key areas in your life.  Some list 4 areas, others write out up to 10 to dial it in better.   Comment below if you want to see mine.

The second key is how you plan to get there.  What skills do you need to develop to make it happen?  Who do you need to mentor you?  What are the steps to make it come together?

Know Your Personal Values

The third key is valuing relationships. With a husband, and perhaps some kids, you have priorities beyond your vision or dream.  You want to enjoy your family, too.  You want rich friendships.  You probably even want to be involved in your community.

The fourth, but not least, you need to value you … your physical, mental, and spiritual health.  Neglecting any of these quickly brings unbalance.  What are the habits that support your best you?

Directed Productivity

Getting clear on what you want and where you are going lets you define the tasks that will get you there.  Those are your priorities.  Brain Tracy likes to ask, “What are your highest value activities?”₁ In other words, what are the things you do that gives you the greatest results? 

Knowing how to manage people is essential.   As Alan Chapman puts it, “Other people’s demands on our emotional and time resources are a significant aspect of life balance.”₂ Sometimes those demands are just life … someone’s in crisis and they need your help.  Schedule around it.

  

If someone loves to complain, be cost-aware and leave little room to tolerate that kind of loss.  They aren’t growing and changing their situation.  Schedule it out. 

Alan goes on to say, “If you do not manage these demands they will leave you with no resource for yourself, your loved ones, your other passions in life, and the changes you want to make in order to pursue them.”₂

 

Saying No to Good Things is Good

Carson Tate didn’t mince words when she said, “Becoming aware of what impedes your ability to focus and eliminating distractions so you can complete your work are essential to enhancing your productivity.”₃  

Facebook is a great example of this for me.  I can waste hours upon hours on Facebook.  They have the trending section.  They have live feeds.  Contacts post all sort of memes and … videos.  I have a policy of watching almost no video clips because I look up and 30 minutes is gone. 

I learned I can’t possibly watch every video clip any more than I can read every good book that’s out there.  That means I need to be comfortable turning away good things.  It hurts at first.  But if my life is to matter, I MUST pick and choose where I spend my time.  So must you, my friend.  Make it count.

There is a time and a place for hanging out and not pursuing my goals.  Those things must be in moderation.  Not all things are beneficial for me.  I resolve to choose wisely.  My goals are worthy. So are yours.

 

How about you?  Have you found yourself sad to let good stuff go so you could make room for better stuff? 

₁ http://www.briantracy.com/blog/general/5-key-questions-for-setting-priorities/

₂ http://www.businessballs.com/life_balance.htm

₃ http://www.carsontate.com/blog/2016/09/time-set-priorities/