In my first post about Pinterest, I provided a basic overview of what Pinterest is and how to use it. In my second post in this series about Pinterest, I gave you some fundamental rules and a few general ideas of how you can use Pinterest to market your business. And last week, in a “hey, this is an interesting topic post,” I talked about ways to protect your content in Pinterest (and all social media, for that matter).

Today, as I complete this series on Pinterest, I want to start out by sharing something interesting that happened as a result of having posted this article series about Pinterest on Pinterest. One of my Pinterest pals asked me, “I have a sign shop and was thinking about doing some type of advertising on Pinterest but I definitely don’t want to turn people off. I’m going to read your pin but I’m just curious if you have some feedback for me.”

I wrote:

“The real key is the same for Pinterest as for all social media: focus on the community, not the advertisement. It’s not about flooding the site with a one-way broadcast, but about engaging in conversation with your audience.

What kinds of things do sign customers want to know? What can you teach them? Post in your blog on those topics. Best practices for signs, what makes a great sign, how to make your sign stand out, etc. Then pin the blog post and tweet about the pin.

I’d also recommend that you create a board dedicated solely to crazy signs. You could also run a contest asking people to create a board with your business name on their accounts and pin weird signs, the weirder the better. Weirdest sign wins…I don’t know, something awesome.”

One thing I really like about social media is that blog posting initially feels a little abstract or isolated…until someone comments and a conversation can begin. Blogging is only the start of the conversation. And sharing this blog post on Pinterest turned a general post into something quite specific. I love that! So I’d like to encourage you to think about how you can write blog posts for your business that can initiate a conversation, once you share the posts in social media, including Pinterest.

Look, Pinterest is cool. It’s fun. It’s addictive. But at the end of the day, it really is just like every other social media platform, in that the rules are the same across the board. Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, G+, and whatever else comes along, the rules are the same. 

So whatever new platforms emerge, while there may be some sort of learning curve associated with the new technology and perhaps some fun and exciting new ways to leverage the specific platform for marketing, the rules of engagement probably won’t change. They won’t change because the rules for social media are the same rules we use in person, and those haven’t changed for eons. We’re talking about things like: When you’re in a room full of people, don’t talk about yourself exclusively. Ask people about themselves. Get to know people. Focus on them and not on you. Build your KLT Factor (know, like, and trust). Engage, converse, discuss. Don’t broadcast or advertise. Deliver value, bring something to the table. Be interesting, but more importantly, be interested.

Break these rules, and you’ll be perceived as obnoxious and your business will suffer. Follow these rules, and you’ll be a welcomed member of the community and you’ll see  a return on your efforts. It’s really just that simple.

I try to keep my personal politics and my faith out of my business. I think these topics are just too… personal, so more often than not, unless there’s something that I simply can’t help speaking out about, you won’t find me talking politics or religion. Make no mistake about it, I love politics. I find it fascinating…but this post is not about politics.

This past Sunday, while watching political commentary, I had a realization: Mitt Romney is teaching us a heck of a lot about business and personal branding right now. In fact, every entrepreneur and small business owner should be watching this guy and looking at exactly what happens when you can’t connect to your target market.

Again, this isn’t about politics. This is about what happens when you, as an entrepreneur, miss the mark with your target audience- when you speak to them in a language they can’t connect with, when they can’t see any way that you can possibly relate to them and their problems, and when, ultimately, you fundamentally fail to help them to build that all-important “KLT Factor.”

What’s the “KLT Factor?” Most entrepreneurs by now have heard that one of the golden rules of doing business is that “people do business with those they know, like, and trust.” Working to build relationships with people so that they can know, like, and trust you is what I call “building your KLT Factor.”

Now, starting with the “K” in the KLT Factor, it’s fundamentally important that your audience knows you. How do you let them know you? By sharing, wisely and strategically, parts of your life and yourself in an authentic way. And as you share more and more with your audience, they develop a mental picture of who you are, a picture that they add detail and color to, the more they get to know you.

Politicians, as a rule, are fairly scripted and calculating about trying to create a picture of who they are for the voters. And while they’re creating these images, their opponents create alternative pictures. Getting to know any candidate in an authentic way is increasingly difficult. Some politicians are able to appear less scripted and more authentic, but as most analysts agree, this is an advantage that Mitt Romney doesn’t really have. And as it’s become more and more apparent, Republicans are increasingly concerned that Romney doesn’t appear to be connecting with the people or letting them in so they can get to know him.

So if we can’t know him very well, what about liking him? This is the “L” in the KLT Factor, and getting your target market to like you means creating a brand that people look at and say, “I’m like the person that brand represents,” “I want to be like the person that brand represents,” or  ”I want to hang out with the person that brand represents.”

Mitt Romney fails to connect with his audience in large part because his net worth has afforded him a certain lifestyle that makes his life experience vastly different from the majority of voting Americans. As a result, few people are likely to look at Mitt Romney and say, “I’m like that guy.” And since much of his wealth was inherited, and Americans generally dislike those they think received their wealth without putting any hard work into it, it’s also unlikely that most people will think, “I want to be like that guy,” when they look at Mitt.

That leaves us with “I want to hang out with that guy” as the only reasonable alternative for Mitt Romney to build the “L” part of his KLT Factor, getting people to like him. One thing that George W. Bush did pretty well was that he seemed like a guy you could go have a beer with. Even if you hated his politics, “W” seemed like he had a sense of humor and like he’d be a little goofy if you were just hanging out with him, shooting the breeze.

Now ask yourself…can you imaging hanging out with Mitt Romney? Or do you get the vibe that he’d be pretty stuffy, perched uncomfortably on his barstool, adjusting his tie, politely waiting for you to finish your beer while he eyed his mug suspiciously, worrying that the glass wasn’t clean?

Finally, how about the “T” in the KLT Factor? Do people trust Mitt Romney? Probably not, now that he’s been portrayed as a “flip flopper” on the major issues.

So, unless I’m misreading virtually everything that’s being said about Mitt Romney, from both the left and the right, his chief failure is to connect and relate to his target market…the one thing every entrepreneur should know is at the very heart of the success of any business.

Lest you think I’m showing my political colors here, let’s look at a brand that handles the KLT Factor brilliantly, Nike.

Do you know what Nike stands for? You sure do. It’s in every single ad and every single commercial. You see those driven, intense, sweaty athletes and you know exactly who those people are.

How about liking them? If you’re one of those athletes, you look at a Nike ad and you think, “Heck, yeah, that’s me!” If you’re not one of those athletes, you most likely look at a Nike ad and you think, “That could be me, if I just got my butt up off the sofa!” And as for trust, well, somehow, you trust that Nike gear is good enough to get your feet on the street, running, sweating, and getting you closer to the goal of being that athlete.

That is what we want to create as entrepreneurs. That’s the kind of connection we want our audiences to feel to our brand, to our products, to us. That’s what draws more people in, makes them want to know more, makes them choose us, choose to buy our products and become our brand ambassadors. It’s always about the connection and the engagement.

Granted, a brand like Nike isn’t exactly the same as the brand of a politician, but they’re not as different as you’d think. And thus far, politics aside, Mitt Romney is giving us a great example to learn from…of exactly how not to build a brand.

I recently posted a series on Pinterest and how to use it for small business marketing. A couple of days ago, one of my readers, Joan, posted this comment:

Thanks for two great articles on Pinterest Susan. There is a lot of controversy around the re-pinning of third party content from around the web and Pinterest TOS. Photographers and Artists appear to be perturbed about Pinterest taking ownership, and being able to use their works without requiring permission.

Personally I like the ease of use Pinterest has introduced, sharing of information is global. [The] majority online love for their content to be shared. Any idea on copy right for the above mentioned, to protect their work?

I thought this was a great question and as I started writing my response, I realized that I had enough to say on this topic that it warranted a full blog post.

I, too, have followed the controversy on Pinterest, copyright, ownership, etc. It’s the same debate we’ve had for years about other sites, and I imagine the debate will continue. But because Pinterest is the newest platform to be engaged in the debate, I thought it worth mentioning today.

Of course, there are benefits to artists and photographers when people share their content on Pinterest. In the big picture, you generally do want people to share your stuff, because the wider dissemination of your materials, whether your “stuff” is art, photography, writing, products, or services, builds visibility for your brand, which should lead to more business. On the other hand, if people are sharing anyone’s content without attribution or permission, there’s no business benefit and obviously, that’s a problem that must be addressed.

(Side note: This isn’t an issue that affects only artists and photographers. I recently discovered that a stock photo I bought to use on the Business in Blue Jeans web site was pinned as an inspiration image for how someone wants to look in their blue jeans! The image was pinned directly from my site, so I received credit, but it surprised me a lot to see how that image was showing up.)

Unfortunately, we’ve had this problem since the early days of the internet. There are far too many ways to take content, no matter what kind of content it is. With writing, there are ways to find out if people are using your content without permission. For example, Copyscape is a fantastic site that searches the web to help you find out if your content’s been stolen. Their Copysentry tool will even track your site and content and notify you if and when anyone ever uses your content.

As an artist or photographer, it’s more difficult to locate if your images are being used inappropriately. There are, however, several strategies you can use to protect yourself, each coming with its own pros and cons (and most of these apply across the board, regardless of which social media or other site you’re worried about, with regard to infringement):

• You can check http://pinterest.com/source/businessinbluejeans.com (replacing “businessinbluejeans.com” with your own domain name) to see what’s been pinned from your site. However, if someone has downloaded and posted/pinned your images, you won’t see it there.
• You can embed your images with Digimarcs, allowing you to convey copyright information in the image, but this option comes with an annual fee.
• You can use text to put a copyright and your business name on the image itself, though with the right skills and technology (read: Photoshop or similar), that can be stripped away.
• You can use coding on your web site to prevent downloads, but I’m not sure that would prevent people from pinning images, and I’m certain it doesn’t prevent people from using screen captures to take those images anyway.
• You can use TinEye, which is a reverse image search tool, but reviews indicate it’s not fully reliable.
• You can hire a company like ImageRights to track down images being used without your permission and to get paid for their use (ImageRights takes a portion of the money they help you collect).
• You can also use Flash, which can’t be pinned, to display your portfolio (just don’t use it for your entire web site or your SEO can suffer).

Pinterest does care about your copyright. In the terms and conditions of the site, they explicitly say,

You agree not to do any of the following:

Post, upload, publish, submit, provide access to or transmit any Content that: (i) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy;…

Also, they have a listing in the About menu specifically for Copyright specifically intended to tell you what to do if you find out someone has been taking your content without your permission. Here’s what they say:

Pinterest (“Pinterest”) respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same. It is Pinterest’s policy, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe or are repeatedly charged with infringing the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of others.

Then they go on to tell you what to do if you discover a copyright infringement on their web site.

As for Pinterest claiming ownership, they don’t:

By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services. Cold Brew Labs does not claim any ownership rights in any such Member Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit any such Member Content.

I always find this kind of “We want to exploit your content” legal language somewhat distasteful, but frankly, it’s not uncommon to have this kind of language in a site where members contribute the bulk of the content. The company wants to use your content to market their site and they want to be able to distribute your content socially, which is the entire purpose of the site- they just need your permission to do so, and if you want to use the site, you have to give them that permission. That’s how all social media works, pretty much. You’ll find similar language on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and CafePress, for example.

I’m not sure what else Pinterest could do. CafePress has super-secret digital scanning algorithms that scan every image uploaded to ensure that you’re not using copyrighted materials to create products for sale. But Pinterest isn’t selling anything, thus the sharing of links and copyrighted content is and should be encouraged. The issue is in using the content inappropriately or illegally.

Philosophically, it’s difficult to know where the responsibility lies, if members of a site are engaging in copyright infringement. Is it the job of the social media platform to police its members, or is it the job of the artist and photographer to adequately protect his or her work? In this day and age, when it’s so easy to steal an image here and bootleg a DVD there, I imagine this debate is far from over.

Welcome back! Last week we covered the basics of Pinterest, a new social media bookmarking site that’s taking the online world by storm. This week, I’ll cover ways to use Pinterest in your marketing, what to pin, and how to get your stuff into Pinterest without being obnoxious about it.

The first thing I want to address is the issue of how to use Pinterest for business marketing. Marketers have gotten a bad reputation on social media. Plain and simple, there are folks out there who get it wrong and blanket social media with advertisements that feel a lot more like demands than the conversation that social media is intended to be. And that group of marketers have given marketing in general a bad name, because their advertisements and “in your face” commercialism have, at least according to some, ruined sites that others found to be pretty enjoyable on a personal level.

So let’s talk about how to avoid that with Pinterest, because Pinterest is one of the coolest, most enjoyable sites out there right now. Let’s not ruin Pinterest with a bunch of marketing junk! Instead, let’s join together to bring quality content and a higher level conversation to Pinterest that enriches the community, instead of transforming it into a much less-appealing, commercialized marketplace.

1. Don’t be all business. Create boards that are business-oriented, but also create boards that are personal and let people get to know you. Also, bear in mind that Pinterest does not want you using the site for self-promotion, as they tell you in the rules.
2. Don’t be spammy. Whatever you post, post it only once. Don’t repeat-post on Pinterest. See Rule #1.
3. Be a part of the community. Don’t use Pinterest just for marketing and SEO. It’s great for those things, but if that’s the only reason you’re there, you’re missing the point. This holds true for every other social media site, by the way. Join in the conversation. Use the comments field on pins to engage in dialogue with other users.
4. Contribute in multiple ways. Maintain a new pin to old pin ratio of anywhere from 5:1 to 10:1, just make sure you’re both repinning and adding new content.
5. Don’t be the only one pinning from your own site. Make your blog more “pin-worthy” by creating fantastic content, using amazing images in your blog posts, and adding a “Pin It” button on your site (in WordPress, you can use the “Pinterest “Pin It” Button” plug-in, or the “Social Discussions” plug-in, which includes Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.). The “Pin It” buttons make it easier for people to pin your stuff and the quality content makes it more likely they’ll do so.
6. Use the Pinterest-provided “goodies” to let people know you’re on Pinterest. Pinterest provides “follow me” buttons and all kinds of other cool stuff for free here. You can also use plug-ins in WordPress to display your latest pins, which makes it more likely you’ll build a following on Pinterest.
7. Display your pins. You can install the “Super-Simple Pinterest Widget” plug-in in your blog to let people see what you’ve been pinning. This also helps to build your Pinterest following. You can also connect your Facebook presence to Pinterest. Connecting all these social media platforms really helps you to build a tribe. I’ve gotten to know people on Pinterest in a way that I haven’t known them on Facebook or Twitter, and vice versa.
8. Pin first, tweet second. Pin cool stuff to your Pinterest boards, then tweet about the pin. This serves the purpose of expanding your Pinterest following while also delivering your web site or blog content to both social media platforms.
9. Check your web analytics. Pinterest will give you great data. Facebook, not so much, because clicks go through a script filter before heading to your site. On Pinterest, you’ll know exactly what pins sent people to your site. That’s great information!

That’s it for now on the Pinterest front. More next week. Got more ideas about how to use Pinterest? Share ‘em!

Happy Valentine’s Day! In honor of today, the day of love, I thought I’d share a few insights into what I’ve learned about business from the one who knows more about love than anyone else: Cupid. Why Cupid? Well, first of all, he’s build an extremely successful personal brand for himself and has been around forever. Second, he’s a cute little baby…and who doesn’t like babies? So here goes…

1. Do what you love, but don’t let passion get the better of you.

Love matters in business, believe it or not. In fact, it’s so important that I made it the first lesson of Mega-Successful Entrepreneurs: Find Your Fervor – find what you love and what you’re really fervent about and that’s the first step to finding success. It’s not the only thing that matters, but if you don’t love what you do, you’ll wake up dreading every day. In contrast, when you do what you love, you wake up excited about what you get to do every day.

However, you don’t want to let passion get the better of you, which is why I try to avoid using that word, “passion,” when I talk about business. I reserve passion for things like my family and personal life, so that I can keep a cool head in business and make decisions from a place of calm.

2. Age is irrelevant to success.

Cupid is a baby and he’s mega-successful. So…why should age matter? It doesn’t matter if you’re young and it doesn’t matter if you’re a senior. You’re not too young and you’re never done. Take a cue from the baby with the arrow and follow your dreams, no matter what your age.

3. Good PR can overcome an ugly history.

Before Geoffrey Chaucer, St. Valentine was a name that actually referred to a few different guys, all of whom were martyred. The head of one of the Valentine’s was even preserved. Seriously, I read it on Wikipedia. Point is, as soon as Chaucer showed up in the High Middle Ages and he and his friends started giving each other candy and flowers, nobody remembered the bloody history of Valentine. Even if you make a few mistakes or don’t get things right at first, history can be pretty forgiving with the right PR.

4. Success in business requires good aim.

If Cupid misses with his bow and arrow, people don’t fall in love. What a sad, lonely, loveless world we’d live in if Cupid had bad aim, right? Likewise, if you have bad aim, you’ll miss your target market and no one will find your products or services or know you exist. Success in business requires good aim- there’s a reason they call it a target market.

5. Sometimes a good thing needs a little nudge.

Love isn’t always easy- sometimes a little help is required to move things along. That’s what Cupid is for. Likewise, business isn’t always easy- sometimes a little help is required to move things along. That’s what coaches and consultants are for. Sometimes you need a little help to create a structured plan for your business growth, to learn new marketing strategies, to gain insight into the ways that mega-successful entrepreneurs become so mega-successful.

Believe it or not, even though I help entrepreneurs to create and grow mega-successful businesses, I have a business coach/consultant of my own who can see the forest of my business when all I can see is the trees. Lovers turn to Cupid when they need a nudge…you can turn to a trusted business coach or consultant.

There are lots more business lessons you can learn from Cupid, I’m sure, but these are the first five I learned. And stay tuned…next month, I’ve heard St. Patrick will be stopping by! Until then, have a very happy Valentine’s Day! May you receive many bouquets of roses and chocolate hearts!!!

Lately there’s been a ton of blog posts, conversations, and more about Pinterest, the social bookmarking site that’s growing crazy fast. I’ve been using Pinterest for several months and knew right away I wanted to leverage Pinterest as a business-building tool…but before I shared my ideas with you, I did what I usually do when I want to come up with a new marketing strategy for you- I studied how big brands re using Pinterest to build and market their brands so I could translate their big business ideas into small business strategies.

As we’ve been working on the new Business in Blue Jeans web site, I’ve given quite a bit of thought to how I can make the site and the blog more Pinterest-friendly. But maybe you’re not yet familiar with Pinterest or maybe you’re still trying to figure out how a site like Pinterest can benefit your business…or maybe you think that the recent proliferation of Pinterest-related posts are really just awesome justifications for Pinterest addicts to justify all the time we’re spending pinning spectacularly beautiful images to imaginary boards.

Well, let’s break it all down, shall we? We’ll start with the basics this week, then move on to more advanced “how to’s” of marketing next time.

What Is Pinterest?

They’re calling Pinterest a social bookmarking web site, but it’s far more than that. Imagine a cork bulletin board where you use pushpins to hang all kinds of things you love- beautiful images that inspire you, photos of places you want to go, ticket stubs from events you enjoyed, hairstyles you ripped out of magazines, home improvement projects and recipes you want to try, articles with diet tips or social media how-tos, etc. Pinterest is pretty much just like that, only in a digital, web-based medium.

Why do I want to use Pinterest for business?

On the surface, let’s be honest, Pinterest seems like an enormous time-suck. But once you dive into the research, you’ll be amazed at what Pinterest is doing for businesses. First, Pinterest is growing. Massively. In fact, it’s the fastest-growing site ever. Ever.

With well over 10 million members and more signing on every minute, Pinterst is The Place To Be. So your audience is probably already there.

Pinterest is also driving a lot of clicks, so if your content is good and your images are pretty, your stuff will get shared, re-shared, and every share will deliver referrals to your web site.

And, if you’re a micro-entrepreneur and building a personal brand, Pinterest is a great way to get a little more personal with your audience. I spend most of my time writing about business, but all you have to do is hang out with me on Facebook for a few minutes to find out that I have a lot more going on in my life than just business. But there’s a lot in my life that I don’t get to share in a meaningful way with my audience, simply because it doesn’t come up. Pinterest is a wonderful way for me to connect with people in a new, more intimate way that allows people to get to know me and my style a little better than they would otherwise.

Pinterest also offers a lot of creative, interesting ways to connect with other professionals and reach your target audience in entirely new ways. You can hold contests, offer special promotions, do a giveaway to reward users who repin and share your content, and much more.

Plus, Pinterest offers an entirely new way to get to know your audience, what their interests are, and what they find appealing. Looking at the number of repins you receive should give you a good way to gauge what content your audience likes…so that you can create more of it.

How do I get an account on Pinterest?

Pinterest is invitation-only, which means you can go to Pinterest.com and request an invitation, or you can find somebody who has an account and request an invitation from them, which is usually the faster route.

What do I do, once I have an account?

First, I suggest the same thing I recommend for all social media sites- take some time to look around. Click on the Pinterest logo in the middle of the top of your screen, then roll over “Everything” and just start looking around. Find some people whose pins and boards you like and connect with them by following them. Get a sense for how things work in this social medium.

Note that, just as with other social media platforms, the brands that are building the strongest visibility on Pinterest aren’t just pinning their own stuff. The goal is to build community- just as with Twitter, where you build relationships by retweeting and commenting on others’ tweets, build relationships on Pinterest by commenting on others’ pins and repinning them.

Once you get a sense of how things work, set up your profile. Some marketers have been suggesting that you use your business name as your Pinterest username. I strongly disagree with that idea. Definitely include your business name in your profile (see below) and link to your web site. But unless you’re a larger-scale business with staff contributors/pinners or a magazine, use your own name.

People want to connect with you on social media. For example, I have a business page on Facebook, but I find that more people want to know me than my brand. And especially if you’re in a service industry, people do business with people. Remember that old, “Know, Like, and Trust Factor?” Well, if you hide behind a brand and don’t give people the chance to know you, it’ll be hard for them to build that KLT Factor with you.

Just as on Twitter, my user ID on Pinterest is SueBMoe.

Once you’ve set up your profile, start setting up your “pinboards,” which are like those cork boards I was talking about earlier. You can create as many as you want. Topic-based boards work best. For example, I keep recipes I like in my “Nom Nom Nom” board and business tips in my “Business Tips” board. Then start pinning stuff you like.

How do I pin stuff on Pinterest?

To pin stuff that you find outside of Pinterest, I highly recommend the Pin It bookmarklet. You’ll find that in your “About” menu under “Pin It Button.” The bookmarklet allows you to pin anything from a web site (except Facebook, unfortunately) by just clicking “Pin It.”

*Pinterest Secret Tip*
If you highlight text on the page before you click “Pin It”
then the text appears in the description field of your pin.

You can also upload your own stuff by clicking “Add +” from the top right corner of your screen. This link allows you to enter a web site address or upload your own images from your computer.

Finally, you can look through the overall feed or, once you’re following people, your own feed, and re-pin others’ pins to your own boards by rolling over the top of the image and selecting “Repin.” You can also Like pins and Comment on pins, and all of your activity will show up in your feed so every single one of your followers will see all of your activity (so don’t pin anything you don’t want everyone to see- currently there’s no way to create private boards).

(For more details on how to use Pinterest, especially if you’re a techie newbie and need more help than I’ve provided here, make sure to check out Neil Patel’s post. He’s got some great step-by-steps and also has a list of how several companies are using Pinterest in their marketing and branding strategies.)

Next time, I’ll cover some more advanced strategies- ways to use Pinterest in your marketing, what to pin, and how to get your stuff into Pinterest without being obnoxious about it.

As I’ve been ramping up projects in the new year, I’ve been looking for ways to improve my productivity. And I have a few secrets that I’ve kept tucked away in my back pocket for just this kind of moment!

Many years ago, I listened to an interview with Brian Tracy, who, I think we can all agree, is a mega-successful human being. This past week, I  looked back over my notes from that interview and the concepts are just as relevant today as they were back then.

I’ve turned the thoughts Brian shared back in that old interview into five questions to ask yourself- and once you answer these questions, you’ll be able to dramatically improve your productivity (and simplify your life, too!)

Question #1: Are You Ready to Make A Decision?
Let’s face it- if you make a decision, whatever it is- that you’re going to be successful, bring in more clients, learn a new skill- then the first step to making it happen is to make the decision.

The word “decide” comes from Latin for “to cut off,” and that’s what you have to do when you make a decision: you cut off all other possibilities. If you decide to be successful, you have to decide to cut off the possibility of not being successful- more than that, you have to cut off the possibility of being anything but successful.

So, the first question is, “Are you ready to make a decision?” The decision can be about anything you want, however small. But the secret is to make a decision. It all starts there.

Once you’ve made your decision, you’ll want to take a pause for a little strategy:
Make a list of everything you do in the course of a week or a month. If you look at that list carefully, you’ll find that there are three things on that list that are responsible for 90% of the income you create. If you could do only three activities from that list, which three would contribute the most value?

Sometimes the three things on your list that generate the most value won’t be things you enjoy doing. But you really can simplify your life greatly by doing more and more of the three things that bring you the most income- and over time you’ll get better and better at these things and you won’t dislike them so much. Also, remember that often the things we like doing the least are things that bring anxiety, fear or stress. Do more of those, and the anxiety will decrease (tune in next week when I’ll talk about courage in business). So now that you know the strategy to find out what things bring you the most value, let’s get back to the five questions.

Question #2: What should I do more of?
What things count the most? This is where the three most valuable things from your list come into play. What are the three things you should spend more time on? Once you know the answer to that, it’s not hard to start culling your schedule and your “to do” list down to the most essential and profitable elements.

Question #3: What should I do less of?
What things aren’t productive? When you look at the list you made, this is the time to ask yourself which things on your list are things that you don’t have to do- what can you delegate or outsource or just minimize?

Question #4: What should I do that I’m not doing now? 
Now is the time to ask yourself what you’re not doing that you should be doing. Should I go to this conference? Read this book? Should I listen to this audio program? There are so many things you can do to improve and increase your business and we forget a lot of them. This includes things like continuing education, expanding your range of knowledge, and connecting and networking with other business owners. What else could you do that you’re not doing?

Question #5: What should I stop doing altogether?
This was the biggest one for me, because I am the queen of distraction. And working from home, I can be distracted by music, television, a phone call from a friend inviting me to lunch when I should be working, errands, laundry, you name it. However, it’s good to remind yourself that every minute you spend during the day not working on your business is a minute you’ve lost money. I encounter entrepreneurs every day who forget that equation. But keeping that concept firmly in mind makes a huge difference, and when you start to shift your thinking in this direction, you’ll see how much more productive you really are.

All strategic planning starts with abandonment. If you’re anything like me, right now your dance card is full. You can’t do something new without stopping something old. You can really only get your time under control by stopping something that doesn’t count toward your goals in order to start something that really makes the difference. And remember that when you weed out something old and ineffective, you create a vacuum to let a new opportunity come into your life.

This past week in LA, I hobnobbed with some of the most successful people in music at the major industry event of the year (okay, well, more like I saw most of them, but I did meet David Meerman Scott!) . Having talked over the years with mega-successful entrepreneurs about what success really means, I decided to share some of their success tactics with you.

Mega-Success Tactic #1: Define Success For Yourself.

Consider this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“To laugh often, to win the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”

Think about it- what is your definition of success? Is it freedom, financial independence and wealth, international travel, a happy, healthy family, physical health, doing good for others in the world…what does it mean to you to be successful?

This one can get a little tricky- sometimes we want things because we get the idea we’re “supposed” to want them. As my friend Dixie says, “Do you want what you want or only what you WANT to want?”

For example, when I do the Lifestyle & Business Planning Analysis with clients, one of the areas of the questionnaire focuses on what material things you want. I see a lot of answers- cars, boats, vacation villas in Tuscany. And I think we’ve been trained to believe that’s what success is. We see wealthy people on TV with their conspicuous spending and outrageous purchases and think that’s what we’re supposed to want.

But when it really comes down to it, when you soul search and go deep, when you close your eyes and take a deep breath and envision your perfect life, what do you want?

Once you know what you really want, it’s easy to implement the remaining four tactics:

Mega-Success Tactic #2. State your goals in positive terms.

If you believe in the Law of Attraction, you’ve already heard this message. But even if you haven’t or if the Law of Attraction isn’t your “thing,” your brain receives messages in the same way the universe does. If your brain hears, “Avoid creating problems with clients,” what it actually hears is “create problems with clients.” The brain also hears a negative word, “avoid.” This creates a negative state of mind that follows you around. If, instead, your brain hears, “Create a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients,” it hears a positive and clear message and knows exactly what to do. This kind of positive message breeds a positive, upbeat state of mind that follows you around. (And thank you to Kat, one of my Facebook pals who recently reminded me gently of this tactic when I said my mantra was “I’m not getting sick!”)

Remember, too, that your brain needs clear messages. “Avoid creating problems with clients” tells you what not to do, but it doesn’t say what you should do. There are lots of possibilities that aren’t “creating problems with clients,” but which is the alternative that you want?

Mega-Success Tactic #3. Define your goals in measurable, time-sensitive terms.
Once you’ve stated your goals in positive terms, you need to come up with a way to determine if you’ve achieved your goals. How do you know you’ve achieved your goal? By when do you want to achieve it?

Using the previously mentioned goal, you can change “Create a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients,” to “Create and maintain a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients, as evidenced by quarterly customer satisfaction surveys.” Here you’ve created a measure of your success in the customer satisfaction surveys and you’ve said that you will initially create and then maintain your goal, which shows you what you need to see in those surveys- an increase and gradual leveling out in positive ratings. You’ve also made it time-sensitive by stating that the surveys are to be done quarterly.

Setting measurements and timing for your goals keeps your goals clear and attainable instead of wishy-washy and vague.

Mega-Success Tactic #4. Plan ahead.
Sometimes business owners experience what I like to call “post-success laziness.” You have a goal, you achieve your goal, and then you take a break, resting on your laurels and, yeah, let’s face it, you get a little lazy. This happens when you don’t plan ahead and set your next goal before you achieve the first one.

Creating a roadmap of goals does a couple of things. First, in creating a series of goals, you assume you will achieve the closest goal and the next one and so on, and that’s just smart, positive thinking. Second, you avoid the post-success laziness because you’re already working toward the next goal before you achieve the first. You do want to take time to celebrate achievements, but don’t let yourself get so bogged down in the celebration that you forget to keep moving forward.

Mega-Success Tactic #5. Follow through!
The single most important tactic to achieving success is the ability to follow through. If you create goals and then don’t set up systems and structures to follow through on your goals, you’re not a mover or a shaker- you’re a dreamer.

Don’t get me wrong- there’s nothing wrong with dreaming. Being a dreamer is a wonderful, important thing, actually. Dreamers can be extremely successful people, but not without follow-through. So find ways to follow through on your dreams- and if you need help, find it! If there are things you don’t know how to do, learn how to do them or delegate them. If you struggle with time management and accountability, hire a coach. Because once you figure out where you’re going, all you have to do is figure out how to get there and follow through.

So, start by  deciding where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, and then build a plan to follow through. With this plan, you’ll find success on your own terms.

We entrepreneurs have a way of turning into workaholics. It’s so easy to do. When you’re first starting out, there’s so much to do that many new entrepreneurs feel a compulsion to work until it’s all done. And when you love what you do with fervor, sometimes it’s hard to stop!

Usually I spend the month of December relaxing with family, preparing for the holidays, and doing my annual year-end assessment and pre-year planning. This holiday season was a little different. Since most of my clients were heading out of town or focusing on their own holiday festivities, my calendar was light enough that I decided to conduct my first ever group coaching program.

Boy, did I discover some things about balance while trying to do it all! Here are some of the lessons I learned the hard way:

1. Set regular working hours and keep them

The entrepreneurial lifestyle is often appealing because of the promise of flexible working hours. Sure, in many businesses, you can work whenever you want, but that doesn’t always mean that you should.

I set my working hours based on two factors: when I work best and when my clients are working and want to meet with me. There’s balance to be found here. If you happen to be a night owl, there’s nothing wrong with working when you’re at your best, but that doesn’t mean you should expect clients to show up for appointments at 3 a.m.

Regardless of what your working hours are, creating a structure and using self-discipline to stick to your structure will almost always help you to become more successful.

But remember, this works both ways- you have to stick to your structure and not become a workaholic. I myself have workaholic tendencies, and when my husband and I got married, I promised I would stop working each day at a certain time and I wouldn’t work on weekends, and I’ve kept to that…mostly…which has kept me sane and kept my marriage on track (though Leo is super-understanding when I’m on a deadline or working on a launch).

2. Make sure others in your family know your plans.
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that if you don’t make it clear when you’re working, you’re likely to end up getting interrupted a lot. It’s better to make sure everyone knows you’re working, whether you actually say, “I will be working until 3:00,” or post a sign on a closed door.

3. Create a plan for work.
Especially at the beginning when you’re just starting your business, there are a million things to do and it can get overwhelming. If you create an overall plan for where you are and where you’re going, then it’ll be easier to prioritize and know where you can outsource. Once you’ve got that overall plan, start chunking your goals and tasks into manageable pieces, then plan what needs to get done each day.

4. Outsource.
I’m a huge fan of outsourcing, and today, the thriving virtual assisting field makes it easier than ever to find someone to take on tasks that you don’t like, aren’t particularly good at, or just simply don’t need to do.

Outsourcing is economically beneficial, and since it frees up your time, you can use that time for more revenue-generating activities, or you can use it to spend more time with your family.

5. Create a plan for play.
For some entrepreneurs, it’s useful to structure “play time” just as you structure your work time. Many of my clients with workaholic tendencies feel guilty if they take time off and don’t do anything, so we create a plan for their time off as well. That way, they don’t waver around, trying to find something to do. Instead, they designate certain times for certain fun activities.

But be careful that you don’t treat your fun time like something you’re checking off of your “to do” list. Play time should feel like play time. Allow yourself to relax and enjoy it.

6. Sleep.
You simply can’t overestimate the value of a good night’s sleep. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, it’s time to restructure your day and analyze your habits and your sleeping environment so that you get enough sleep and are rested, refreshed, and rejuvenated. This will help you stay on top of things, keep your mind working optimally and your passion high.

If you’re anything like me, your brain has a hard time shutting down, so carve out a 15-30 minute block before bedtime for yoga and/or meditation so that your brain will slow down and let you get some sleep!

7. Stay healthy.
Another thing one can’t overestimate is the value of exercise and staying healthy. If you’re eating badly, it’ll affect your brain and that means low creativity. As an entrepreneur, your creativity is one of your most powerful allies- so feed your brain with healthy food! Eating healthy and staying fit means you’ll have more energy to devote to your business.

The balance between work and home/play is a critical part of your small business success. Pay attention and make sure you include fun in your business plan!

The end of 2011 was a mixture of absolute holiday perfection and complete technological mayhem for me. When last we left the story of my laptop disaster, Lenovo was sending a technician with a new motherboard in mid-January.

However, the very next day after I posted my story about “How A Laptop Meltdown Forced Me to Create Balance,” I received a phone call from Lenovo’s tech support saying that “middle of January” had turned into the middle of February.

Once I stopped alternating between hysterical laughter and mild crying (LOL) I decided that enough was enough and initiated return proceedings for the Lenovo laptop that was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Moments later, I had ordered a new Macbook Pro and was driving to the Apple Store to pick up a new iPad (upon which I’m writing this post, as I await the new laptop). I’m starting the New Year right!

How can you start the new year right? Follow these three steps:
1) Forgive yourself for everything and give yourself permission to succeed in 2012.
Before you head too far into 2012, forgive yourself for anything that didn’t go the way you wanted in 2011. Learn whatever you can from past mistakes, and then let them go so you can move on. Then, give yourself permission to succeed in 2012.

2) Toss out whatever isn’t working.
Your purge should include outdated systems, inefficient tactics, and underperforming strategies. Look at everything- your marketing, your products and services, your customer service, even yourself. What’s not working that you can either improve or get rid of?

3) Work some new stuff into your structure.
At the end of each year, I take some time to look over the past twelve months and see what worked and what didn’t, but at the beginning of each year, I come up with new stuff to work in. For example, this year, I’ll have a new radio show, a new web site, new products, new training programs, and I’m even working on some new time management strategies I’ll be testing out.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that there’s a fascinating split between those who, like me, embrace a new year as a fresh start and a new beginning, and those who see January 1 as just another day.

If you’re one of those who don’t see the point in New Year’s Resolutions or in making the new year a starting point for an exciting time in your business, I’d like to encourage you to give it a try and experience what it feels like when you give yourself permission to wipe the slate clean at the beginning of this new year.