What assumptions do you make about your business? About the way it operates? The amount of income it can earn? About the way your customers buy… even who they are?

Over on Scoutie Girl, I’m giving away a [signed] copy of Chris Guillebeau’s brand new book, The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris’s mantra is:

you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.

Chris challenges everyone to live the life they want, redefine work, and change the world. No short order. And his book is a beyond-basics guide for doing just that.

But I won’t spoil anything from the book, I just want you to think about that first guiding principle:

you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.

At the heart of this principle, is that people make assumptions about the way you’re “supposed” to live. Whether it’s our parents or our friends or our teachers or even our children, we make assumptions about the way they view our successes & failures. Even more so, we make assumptions about what others expect from us. The thing about those assumptions are that they end up being self-fulfilling prophecies. They end up controlling us without having been given much consideration or even investigation to find out if they’re true. What assumptions do you make about what others expect from you?

• that if you’re an artist, you should be a starving artist?
• that if you’re self-employed, you have no security?
• that if you’re not happy, there are no other options?
• that if you’re a small business owner, you have to struggle to stay afloat?
• that if you’re a responsible adult, you make a home & stay in one place?

If you know me, you know that I don’t believe any of those things. I agree with Chris – you have the ability to create a life that is unique, passion-filled, and secure by following your own path. But I also believe that people’s assumptions are changing. That this kind of life is not so strange and that we have the power to challenge others assumptions and our own.

As a small business owner – or aspiring business owner, you instinctively know this already. But what you may not realize is that you’re making assumptions about your own business that could be holding you back. Do you assume:

• that you have to go it alone to make a profit?
• that you know what your customers want?
• that you have to keep prices low to get any business?
• that you have to put all your time into administrative tasks?
• that you have to pursue balance at the expense of success?

Your business might be changing or maybe it was never the way you thought it was from the beginning. You’ve made assumptions about what it takes to turn a profit and how your customers interact with your brand. You’ve decided to push on through, to keep struggling, instead of waking up to the fact that things may not be as they seem.

You can form your business around your hearts desires. You can form your business with profit in mind. You can create a life & a business that work together to make you happy, instead of opposing each other and leaving your frustrated.

Not every business idea we have is a good one, not every lifestyle decision we make is a positive one. But allowing assumptions about others expectations to dictate the course of our life is never positive.

Today, brainstorm what assumptions you’ve been making about your business. Examine what your customers want and how you’ve been delivering it. Dissect your product offerings, your work flow, and your business communication. Consider how your preconceptions have affected those around you. Allow yourself to devise alternatives. Embrace truth & reality instead of assumptions.

Today, have a business breakthrough.

Jonathan Fields – the Career Renegade – starts off each & every day asking “who can I help today?” And he means it. Jonathan is in the business of helping, connecting, and empowering people.

And if you’re in business, and thinking about it in a big way, so are you.

So why don’t you ask that question? I don’t ask it enough because I’m busy, overworked, struggling with balance, trying to find help myself… I also don’t ask it enough because I devalue the amount of help I have to offer someone else.

But that doesn’t cut it. Those are all the reasons I need to ask people how I can help them more. Why I need to ask you how I can help you better. By actively seeking to help you right now, I’m helping myself grow as a problem-solver, networker, and coach. And if that’s not the business I’m in, I don’t know what is.

Asking the question and providing the assistance comes with a reward all its own. It also comes with goodwill, compensation, opportunities, and self-empowerment. And a much better understanding of our value in people’s lives.

All this week, I’ve been doing seemingly non-stop brainstorming sessions. I now have a very good idea of what people need from me: permission & clarity. And oh how I love to give those two things. And oh how far that can take your business when you’re ready for them.

I may be exhausted but I have a very clear answer to the general question of “how can I help you?” Now it’s time to answer some specific questions.

What can I do to help you?

That’s a real question. Please answer it in the comments. What can I do to help you? Think about what I have to offer and how you value my expertise – what can I do help you achieve your goals and advance your agenda?

What can I do to help you?

Wow. That might have worked in the pre-feminism 50s… or in the uber self-conscious 80s… or in the ask-no-questions 90s… but in the postmodern era of Web 2.0, that’s just not gonna fly.

No, in the age of postmodern marketing, you are marketing on message and your message better be good. This campaign was written as a magazine “advertorial.” Those pesky ads that take you until half way through to realize there’s a note at the top that says “paid advertising.” Doh! Smart move if the “torial” part of the ad is smart, empowering, and useful. If it’s offensive, degrading, or preys on the fear of the people you’re marketing to, it’s a very very bad move.

Back in the day, marketing was the message. You convinced people to buy your brand because your sassy ads made a good case for your product. Now, as marketers, it’s our job to fulfill needs, empower people, and provide solutions long before wallets are opened and money is spent.

Social marketing – beyond Twitter & Facebook and into our day-to-day social interactions – requires a much more conscious effort than slipping your product in alongside some seemingly good advice. Social marketing is carefully crafting a brand message that is complementary to your product and empowering to your market.

A blogger that responder very strongly to this campaign, Lissa Rankin, who I’ve been following since BlogHer, runs a site called Owning Pink. It’s a community centered around empowering women in body, mind, and spirit. She wrote this piece in response to the ad campaign and received a message directly from Summer’s Eve brand manager, Angela Bryant:

In all honesty, we never made the connections when the editorial was reviewed and we apologize.

Although I find this hard to believe, it shows a complete lack of understanding of postmodern marketing. As marketers, our job is to make connections. If you don’t make all the connections, you lose the sale – and risk causing a viral uprising.

So, if you take anything from the Summer’s Eve ad campaign, understand this: in marketing your business, concentrate on the connections, the message, and the empowerment of your audience. Use your message to do great things that complement your product. Create great ideas and powerful stories that build relationships with potential customers.

And always remember not to be a douche.

A guest post by Regina Morrison.

Money: it’s what makes the world go round. It is what enables us to do what we want to do as well as provide our basic needs of food and shelter. It is important, there is no denying that. It is fun to have a lot of it and not always that fun to be broke.

A paycheck equals money. A steady job provides a steady paycheck which provides stability, right? Yes…technically. A steady paycheck allows you to pay your bills and put food on the table. A decent paycheck also allows for fun extras like vacation or a new TV. But what about the other areas of your life…the areas that expand beyond just having money? What about feeling fulfilled in these areas? This, I propose, is where a decent paycheck lacks major necessities.

I have worked for a stable paycheck for the past 7+ years and I look back on those years as wasted time. When you are dependent on the decent paycheck and accustomed to all the nice things you can buy with it (not to mention the things you need to buy with it) it becomes a trap. You become trapped into a certain way of life and a certain mindset. You feel like “I cannot quit my job and live my dream because of… (fill in the blank).” This is why I propose that the decent paycheck is a myth.

You are trapped.

The years I have wasted flipping from one job to the next in order to achieve happiness at work and a bigger paycheck have led me to where I am now. I am in a “stable job with a decent paycheck” and extremely unhappy in this job. Would I have been better off without this decent paycheck? Most likely.

Sometimes we become complacent when there is nothing threatening our way of life. I became complacent. I thought I would one day figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up and then I realized…I am pretty much grown up and stuck to a paycheck.

There is nothing decent about that at all.

These past two years have been the most boring of my career. I have been in a mindless day job that I consistently tried to convince myself was doable since the money was so good and the job was so easy. I told myself to listen to everyone around me. I was lucky! But I didn’t feel so lucky. I felt bored. I again felt like I was wasting my life.

When we unhinge ourselves from the trap that is the day job we hate, we have limitless possibilities. It is possible to make as much (or as little) money as we want. Our salary is not set in stone, nor is it something that will come easily. Earning potential in a traditional job has limits and our personal growth potential has major limits. (However, the potential to end up 65 retired and feeling like life was wasted
is quite limitless.)

Making money is a goal of mine and there is nothing wrong with that. I have realized that I have a choice, I can make decent money parked in my cube all day long for the next 40 years or I can break the mold and be financially successful working at a job that is my passion. I have the ability and the opportunity to make far more money that I ever could from a “decent paycheck.”

What would you choose?

Many choose the stable job and many love the work they do, which is fantastic. We all have different talents and needs. Personally, I am not one of those who has found fulfillment in the traditional workforce. I am one who has had a j-o-b for nearly 8 years and has felt stifled and bored for a majority of the time. I feel like I have been on a stationary bike. I keep making more and more money and I am
consistently more and more uninterested in my working life.

In three months I am venturing into the world of working for myself. No decent paycheck to fall back on. Some will call me a fool, some will doubt me, and some might even envy me. I am fully aware that my plunge into the world of an unstable paycheck is one that might make me broke for a while. But, I am also aware that the goal to become financially successful is a lot more exciting when I am the driving force. I believe that I will find that the decent paycheck I was so dependent on for so many years actually did nothing for me. It held me back and held me in a false sense of security.

Is your paycheck holding you back? Is it holding you to a life that you have to afford rather than one you want to be a part of? If it is, think about what you can cut back on. Follow me and be broke for a while…we can do more with less.

I have finally figured out what I want to be and I am going to go be it. It hasn’t been easy and I will hit bumps along the way, but I will also hit highs. Highs that I could never hit stuck to my decent paycheck. At the end of it all, I will create my own security, which is scary, but also so exciting.

Regina Morrison is a writer and owner of Acute Designs. She currently lives in San Diego with her husband and two crazy dogs. Read her blog Useless Endeavor for more of her thoughts on life & inspiration.

Further Reading on the “Day Job:”
How Much Money Do You Need to Quit? on Ittybiz
Take This Job & Shove It by Tyler Trevooren

When I think of you, I feel very subconscious.

I can feel like I’m not enough. Like I’m fluke. Like I don’t know enough. I feel like there’s something missing in my daily routine.

I work hard – but it’s not hard work.

Could I be more successful if I made my work hard? Could I earn more if things were more difficult? Could this business be larger, more expansive, more influential if I worked at the things that were hard?

No, I’ve found my easy.

And when you find your easy, you realize that the work isn’t hard. It’s challenging, it’s uncomfortable, it’s time-consuming, it’s boundary pushing. But it’s not hard.

Of course, I could be more successful. I will be more successful. But it won’t be because of any one book (unless it’s the one I write…) or because of one coaching session or because of any specific knowledge. The hard work of learning what to do and how to do it doesn’t make you successful. All the money in the world can’t buy the real key to finding success:

ACTION.

What is one thing you can act on today to make a difference in your journey towards your goals?

PS I’ve just released an update to my last ebook – Storytelling for Creative Biz Success. Only, I’ve changed the title – so now it’s How to Sell with a Story. I’m working on additional updates for the near future but in this FRESH version, you’ll see a whole new easy-to-read layout, updated chapter on writing Stress Free About Pages, and a video with me explaining my about page best practices! Click here to learn how to leverage your own story to generate more sales & shape your biz!


PPS I’ve also just released that oh-so-popular chapter on about pages as a separate guide! For just $10, you can have my technique for writing compelling, engaging “about pages” and bios without stress or hives. Click here to buy Stress Free About Pages.

When I took over the reins at Scoutie Girl last summer, I had big goals. One of them was to earn enough money to allow my husband to quit his soul-crushing, back-breaking job. January of this year was the first month I out-earned him. I continued out-earning him by larger & larger amounts each month. In April, we started talking seriously about what it would take for him to quit his job.

In July, we realized that we needed to make a decision between full-time daycare in the Fall or him quitting his job. Monday, he gave his 2 week notice.

Nothing makes me happier than to give him back the gift he gave me when I quit my job when Lola was born. Nothing makes me more excited than to imagine what this means for the growth of our family and Mike’s opportunity to explore his own passion – whatever that turns out to be.

Nothing makes me more terrified to realize that’s its my responsibility and mine alone to provide for our family.

Yet, I am confident in my ability to do so, as I continue to accept my own self-worth and ability to produce life-changing, business-shaping work.

the bottom line

But the bottom line is, I wouldn’t be here without you. And so, I want to fulfill two goals with one big offer:

• extend a giant hug & a huge thank you.
• expose a lot of people to big thinking & brainstorming with me.

UPDATE: Brainstorming sessions are officially booked! If you haven’t gotten a confirmation of your time yet… well, I need to figure out how to either work it in or give you the bad news… I will be contacting everyone with super sweet offers though.

So here’s the deal. Mike’s first week home is August 30-September 3. I’m hitting the ground running by offering FREE 30 minute brainstorming sessions. In order to make this work well for me (a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…), I am opening 12:00pm – 3pm EASTERN on the dates above to whoever would like a little (well, big) kick in the pants, or idea generation, or hand holding.

Here’s how to claim your spot:

• Visit my calendar and propose your meeting time. Please be sure to select the week of August 30-September 3.
• When you propose your time, include one goal or idea you’re struggling with and what’s holding your back in the “message” area.
• Also include your website address and a very brief description of your business.

This is first come, first serve and is available to new clients only. Depending on how quickly spots fill up, I reserve the right to do this again at any time!

Thank you to the always awesome Catherine Caine for starting this great idea.

Ready? Go!

My own business breakthrough came not in realizing that my success could be easy, but in accepting that what comes easily to me has great financial value.

How do you leverage what comes easily to you to create monetary gains for your business? Tell me in the comments.

How do I do this? I get people to ramble. I ask them direct questions about the thing they’re really passionate about and just let them talk. And talk. And talk.

And all the while, I’ve got a pen in my hand, jotting key phrases, additional questions, and ideas into my gridded Moleskine journal.

This is pretty easy to recreate for yourself if you have a mildly perceptive friend. It probably helps a bit if your friend blogs… but it’s not necessary.

• Get your friend on Skype, the phone, into a coffee shop.
• Have them start talking to you about your passion.
• As you ramble on about what you love, why you love it, why other people should love it too, why you think things need to change, etc…
• Have your friend jot down anything that seems remotely interesting. If you turn an interesting phrase, have them note the wording.
• When you’ve rambled past the point of no return, stop and have your friend read back what caught her ear. If there’s something more to ramble about there, grab another iced latte and keep rambling.
• Turn the notes into a list of titles. They don’t have to be perfect, catchy titles but they should inspire some key points in your mind as soon as you read them.

At that point, rest.

You’ve probably got at least a few week’s worth of blog post ideas ready to go. As soon as you have time, draft an introductory paragraph to each idea to keep it fresh in your mind. I do this right in my blog’s back end and save the posts as drafts. While I’m writing that intro, I often jot down 3 main subheadlines or a list to keep my piece flowing. When inspiration strikes, I pull up the relevant draft and have at it.

Blogger’s block banished.

If you don’t have a friend with an ear & 45 minutes to spare, I’m offering my Blog Brainstorm & Action Plan for $50 to 10 lucky bloggers. Here’s the catch: in exchange for getting $25 off the price of this service, you allow me to use a portion of your session as a post or promotional content. If that sounds good to you, use code GOBLOGGO at check out. Click here to beat your own blogger’s block.

Seth Godin published a fantastic – no, I use that word to often – monumental piece today called A Post-Industrial A to Z Digital Battledore. In it, he lists an almost alphabetical index of ideas that are defining the post-industrial age & the new economy.

I am reading it and rereading it. And I suggest you do the same.

While many future posts will be inspired by this resource, today is brought to you by the letter P. Aside: p is also what brought Lola a change of bed clothes this morning.

p is for permission

In the past, advertising was obtrusive. We noticed it – it influenced us – because it disrupted our routine. It’s a commercial in the middle of your favorite TV program. It’s a pop up ad on the internet. It’s a door-to-door salesman. Sometimes these ads worked but over time, we began to be able to tune them out. Eventually regulations & technology began to screen them out. Advertisers got nervous.

But with the dawn of Web 2.0 – and certainly before that – came the age of permission based marketing: ads that we welcome into our homes & our lives because they are part of the context. Blogging certainly falls into this category. Product placement ads, Facebook fan pages, email newsletters, Twitter, and brand names on t-shirts those are all permission based too.

Some marketing is done with such style, grace, humor, or usefulness that it becomes a part of us. And we invite it in.

Are you seeking permission – and, better yet, excitement – from your audience? Or are you lambasting them with product pitch after promotion after poor ad?

It’s easy to say “get on Facebook,” “get on Twitter,” “network network network” – but is your brand message one of usefulness & style or one of self-promotion?

Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch aren’t just words on a t-shirt. Those words are a brand message that says cool, stylish, hip, sexy. The brand says, “If this kid is cool enough to wear me on his chest, certainly you’re cool enough.”

Does your brand speak to the people who give you permission to talk to them?

Or does it remain a silent distraction from the goings on of daily life?

Every demographic, every interest group, every religious & political group, every income level is represented on Facebook.

If you’re not using Facebook to market your business, you’re missing out.

Your customers are on Facebook.

When I worked for one of the big box bookstores with a capital B (there’s at least 3…), part of the mission of the company was to be the “third place.” We wanted to be place you wanted to be when you weren’t home or at work. We were pretty good at that part… not so good at turning that affinity into sales though. But that’s a post for another day…

Point being, if you could provide an environment that offered comfort, style, entertainment, COFFEE, and a wee bit of education, you had great potential for being able to influence customers.

Well, forget “third place,” Facebook is the internet’s “second place.” As a society, we wake up, check our email, and then head to Facebook.

Using Facebook strategically & authentically, your business has the ability to insert itself into your customers’ second place. It’s an environment of comfort, style, entertainment, and education. All it’s missing is the coffee. Why, why can’t there be coffee?!

The good news is that building a brand on Facebook is easier than ever.

The bad news is that you’re probably doing a half-assed job. And you forgot the coffee.

Consider these questions when building content for your Facebook page:

• Am I speaking directly to my customer in a way that is meaningful to them?
• Am I engaging my customer rather than broadcasting a message?
• Am I sharing my entire brand message and not just promoting a product or service?
• Am I building a community that is empowered to spread my message organically?

Providing content that considers those questions means that you’re not selling to your customers, you’re influencing them. You’ll have opportunities to sell down the line. Draw them in, build a community, get customers talking to each other. Selling – while oh so important – comes a little later. But it will come.

Want more concrete ideas? Check out my friend Ken’s post 26 Things You Should Be Doing on Your Facebook Business Page. I also offered some Facebook tips in a previous post on this here blog.

The important thing about about building your brand on Facebook is to not become a part of the noise. If you engage your customers meaningfully, give them useful information, entertain them, and find out a way to give them coffee, you won’t be noise. You’ll be part of the experience: the experience that takes up the most important part of the internet day, save email.

Your customers are on Facebook. Bring the coffee.