strategy – Page 11 – Michele Christensen

Should you use a title in an elevator pitch?

Should solopreneurs use a title in their elevator pitch?

Does any one single thing cause more angst than the elevator pitch? You know what it is – that 1-sentence description that you use for short introductions that is supposed to sum up all the amazing things you do with all the different people you work with and all the additional things you could do. I’ve seen it go bad in lots of ways – too little information, too much information, too much jargon, too many hollow phrases, or just being vague. I get that it’s hard – mine is constantly being tweaked and tested and I feel that I need at least a few different versions for different settings. One big point of controversy is whether to use a title or not, e.g. should you say “I’m a fitness trainer who……” or something like “I help women over 50 to…….”

The downside of using a title, especially one that most people know, is that once they hear it sometimes their brain closes off to the rest of the statement. They hear “I’m a fitness trainer” and their mind goes to their own unique picture of fitness trainers and they never hear the rest which is actually what makes you unique. They won’t get an accurate or full picture of how you practice your craft and they may not have any idea of the kind of problems you solve. It also limits who they think might benefit from working with you. They might have no one in their life who has been lamenting their lack of a fitness trainer, but might have lots of people with problems that could be a fitness trainer’s specialty such as low back pain, post baby weight, sleep trouble, menopause, post surgery issues, etc. If you’re in a setting where further conversation is possible, you might find that you first need to uncover their preconceived notions about your work and dispel them just so you can explain what you really do.

The upside of using a title is that it gives people a word to grasp on to that you can begin to describe. If I say something like “I help women over 50 get their energy, vitality and self-esteem back,” you have no idea if I’m a doctor, vitamin salesperson, acupuncturist, yoga teacher, therapist, body worker, nutritionist, etc. But if I say “I’m a fitness trainer who helps women over 50….” it’s instantly a much clearer picture. If you’re a solopreneur, you can make up a title that is more clear than what other people in you line of work may use but be careful not to be too grandiose about it.

The bottom line is that I don’t believe there is just one magic formula for an elevator pitch. You have to test several versions in a variety of settings, and you will probably need at least a few for different purposes. Pay attention to what feels most powerful to you and what you feel most proud saying. Another good clue is if you get any questions in response. If someone asks for more information, your elevator pitch has done it’s job.

Be up front with your opinions

I’ve been writing and posting web content for business in various forms for several years. When I first started, I was shy about causing controversy. I didn’t want to offend

anyone or go on record saying something that someone found offensive. I was striving to be accurate and useful but not necessarily bold in my work. Over the few years I’ve been writing for business, I’ve gotten just a little bolder and in the last few months I’ve really begun to write about what I believe, what I value, what I’ve learned and what I think. It has been a bit unnerving to be so up front when you know that lots of people could read it and that your writing could exist forever. My own business has undergone some big changes in the last year and some things were just bubbling up and needed to be said.

The surprising result is how much more successful my writing is! I’m getting more Tweets, comments and emails from people reacting to things I’ve written. My community is growing. Believe me, nobody expected this less than me. It felt a little self-centered to be honest, spouting off about what I think and feel. I kept thinking that I should be sharing what the big name gurus say, not what I say. Results don’t lie though, and I’ve changed my thinking to reflect that this is how I can provide value. Here are some ideas you can use to be more up front in your business writing:

Pay attention to what people ask you. Even if just one person asks a question, chances are more people have the same question.
If something happens that you feel strongly about, see if you can use the experience to generalize a larger point.
Conversely, if you are writing about a general rule try to use some specific points to illustrate it. Including your own experiences can be great!
Don’t be afraid to show your mistakes. Successful business owners do make mistakes, they just react to them differently than unsuccessful business owners. Be sure not to undermine your authority when sharing your mistakes.
If something disturbing happens, by all means you can use it in your business writing but take some time to react to it privately first. Don’t use your business writing to process your feelings.
Sharing yourself is great, but {opinion here!} I don’t appreciate hearing the gory details of someone’s personal issues when I’m part of their community to read their professional work. Everyone goes through things, and sometimes you can illustrate coping skills and fortitude by sharing some of your personal life in your business writing but keep it in check.

If you have great things to share, try being a little more bold with your opinions. You can be strong in your beliefs without making others wrong for disagreeing.

A solopreneur’s take on what tasks to do

When you’re an employee, you often don’t have a choice about what tasks you work on. Somebody else creates the big picture direction for the company and your job is to carry out the specific tasks needed to bring that vision to life. It’s a great role in some ways – you’re spared some degree of angst in deciding what to do. You’re not responsible for making sure payroll is covered. You may not be responsible in emergencies or for mundane tasks like insurance, licenses and taxes. But being an employee doesn’t allow you to shape the destiny of the company, and you may not be able to innovate as much as you want. That’s one reason why a lot of people are drawn to the solopreneur lifestyle – the freedom to sink or soar on your own merits.

I think many solopreneurs go through a bit of a let down when they see how many tasks they have to do that they don’t particularly like and this may be true even if you have outsourced help. It’s not that they are doing anything wrong, it’s more of a problem of expectations. Many of us go into our business with huge enthusiasm and a fire to help others, but without thinking about the less glamorous tasks like doing the books, filling out paperwork and finding new clients. What makes things even worse is that a lot of these tasks aren’t optional!

The good news is that once you take care of the mandatory tasks required to stay in business you have some choices about what tasks you do. Unlike an employee, you have lots of discretion as a solopreneur in what you work on. You can even, gasp, make decisions that are bad for business but good for your spirit. The important thing is that you do this with your eyes open. For example, I have not yet really begun to use video in my business very much even though I know I know lots of people like getting information that way (and I will add video at some point). The reason is that video is one of my least favorite ways to receive business information. I’d much rather read, which I can do quickly, or listen which I can do anywhere. Even though I know it’s probably not a great business decision, I’ve taken the liberty to make that decision since I can. There are other important things beside the bottom line for a solopreneur.

If you’re doing any tasks that aren’t absolutely mandatory and that you dislike, I invite you to think about giving them up even if it may not be best for the bottom line. Outsourcing is of course an option, but before doing that consider if you even want to be engaged in those activities. After all, being able to make decisions like that is one of the best reasons to be a solopreneur.

Product review – Google calendar

The basics

Google calendar is included with all the features you get when you open a free Gmail account. In spite of being free, it’s really robust and loaded with features. I’ve used Outlook and Blackberry calendars before, and I can’t find anything that’s missing with Google calendar. If you have an events calendar for your company, you can use Google calendar to get it published on your website without any programming skills.

What’s to love

Here are just the top 5 features that I love. There’s many more, but this should give you enough incentive to check it out. There’s also some newer features being tested at Google labs which you can enable as well (check under the Labs tab of calendar settings).

It syncs with my Timetrade (timetrade.com) account so clients can schedule their own appointments. Timetrade only shows when I’m available, not my appointments or what I’m doing when I’m not available.
Custom privacy settings make it easy to share as much or as little data as you want with your spouse or assistant.
You can invite other Gmail users to events and when they accept it shows up on their calendar. This is great for getting things scheduled with no confusion.
You can specify multiple calendars to see in your main view. Mine shows appointments in red, birthdays I’ve entered in blue, US holidays provided by Google in blue and business tasks or reminders in purple. This is helpful because I know at a glance what appointments I have and can look just at that if I want. You could use this feature for various family members or company functions.
I love the seamless sync with my Android phone.

I could go on and on (and often do!), but you get the idea – it’s a great product that happens to be free. This is one of 32 resources I’ve compiled in my Solopreneur Success Rolodex, which you can download by clicking here. The entire rolodex is a pdf with links to the best resources I’ve found for solopreneurs. See a preview of some of the resources and grab your copy today by clicking below:

Michele’s recommended resources

The myth of the business plan

As a business coach, I often get asked about business plans – how to do one, where to find a template, what to include, who needs one, etc. One of the biggest misconceptions about business plans is that there is just one way to do a business plan. There isn’t just one way to do a business plan – whether to do one and what to put in it are dependent on why you are doing the plan in the first place. When someone asks me about a business plan, the first question I ask is “Why are you doing a business plan?” This often brings some surprise because business plans are often included in those lists of things that every business needs so as business owners we don’t always ask the question.

There are two main audiences for your business plan – internal and external. Your internal plan might be a document which helps you make decisions and run your business. You might use casual or colorful language if it’s meaningful to you, e.g. “I want customers to feel like I always felt when I went to Mrs. Smith’s house.” Your internal plan might help employees or outsourced help you hire to feel connected to the big picture of your business and give them a backdrop against which they can make decisions. Your internal plan might help you stay on track when you look at it periodically. It might help you stay focused on why your business is important to you.

A business plan for an external audience can look very different than a plan for an internal audience. One of the big reasons you might need a business plan is to get funding. Your potential investor or lender will want to see that you have sound, well-researched ideas with a clear path to profit. A risk-adverse funding partner may want to see that you’ve done all you can to reduce risk of loss. A speculative investor may be looking for the potential for big returns. Even if you’ve established that you are doing a business plan for the purpose of getting funding, you still need to know what’s important to the person or organization you are approaching.

I suggest that all businesses at least have an internal business plan. It’s important to get all your great ideas and guiding principles out of your head and into a document. This will help you guide your business along and move steadily forward. It doesn’t need to be formal for you own use. If you need to approach someone outside of your organization with your business plan, you’ll need to polish it up and formalize it and maybe even create a different version for different purposes. If you start with an internal document though, you’ll be helping your business and have a great foundation for the day when you need a more formal plan.

What are some things you stand for in your business?

What values does your business represent?

You probably know what your personal values are, but do you know what your business values are? What do you stand for in your business? What principles guide you? These are really important questions to answer and to contemplate regularly in your business. Being clear about what values your business represents helps you make good decisions in a number of ways.

It helps with your marketing communication. You’ll be much clearer if you know what’s important to you and the people for whom you’re a good fit will know it. One of my business values is that solopreneurs do great work that improves the world. Knowing this helps me focus on my niche – solopreneurs – and to create messages that reach people in business to help others.
It helps you choose education and training products, services and providers. Knowing your business values lets you assess and choose which trainers you’ll follow. I’ve tried and rejected a few based on my values. One coach I considered advocates working 7 days a week, and that’s something that’s not consistent with my values of a full and varied life and taking good care of my family and myself.
It helps you stay motivated. When you know why, beyond money, your business is important it helps you stay connected with what really drives you. There are many ways I could make money, but most of them would not allow me to make as big of a positive impact on the world and on other people as what I do now. That’s the big motivator. The desire to earn money will only take you so far, but knowing the underlying reasons why your work is important will get you through the tough times.
It drives your big picture. Even though solopreneur businesses are driven by one person, we still need to plan and have a big picture. Knowing what’s important to you can help guide you to the next step and all of the ones beyond that.
It gives you another way to evaluate potential vendors. I don’t like pushy sales tactics, vagueness or unclear pricing so not only do I not do those things in my business but I also don’t use vendors who do. Choosing a vendor isn’t just a price issue. I want my business to be congruent with my values throughout and choosing the right vendors helps me accomplish that.

What values drive your business? If you don’t already have a list, I invite you to make one now.

Pricing – just say how much will ya?

Michele Christensen on pricing for solopreneurs — Just say the price, please

Most solopreneurs I come in contact with love what they do and want more than anything to help people. They aren’t born salespeople and can feel uncomfortable with talking sales or pricing. I didn’t like sales at all when I first started, but now I know that sales doesn’t have to be high pressure or manipulative and I like it a lot more. I now think of sales and marketing as presenting myself and my services in the best possible way to assist people in deciding if I’m a good fit for them.

In the last few weeks though, I’ve read some articles that suggested tactics I’m uncomfortable with. The theme of these articles is that when talking to a new prospect that you duck any question involving price until you are ready to present the issue. At least, that’s how I describe the techniques in my words. They presented various ducking tactics but none of them simply answered the question “How much do you charge?” Most sales trainers would disagree with me, but if someone asks you that very direct question I think you should answer them with a dollar amount when they ask. The only time I would say something different is if I’m not sure which package or pricing plan would be best for a person and if that’s the case I tell them so.

I know if I asked the direct, simple, clear question of “How much do you charge?” and got a song-and-dance instead of an answer I’d feel all sorts of things and none of them point to signing up with the person. It feels condescending to me to assume I know better than my prospect what they need. I almost always have a price ceiling in mind when I’m considering a purchase and if we can establish in the first 5 minutes that the service exceeds that ceiling then there’s no point in wasting any more time. If someone didn’t answer my pricing question, I’d be concerned that it must be a huge figure or they would have stated it. I also think it gets in the way of a deep conversation where you can be of service regardless of whether the person buys or not. If I’m wondering about pricing and the person ducks my question, I’m going to be thinking about price not what we are actually talking about.

Am I unique in this? How would or do you feel when you ask about pricing and get an evasive answer? Have you used this technique with your prospects?

Using Facebook as your Facebook business page

If you use Facebook for business, you’ve probably heard about the feature they introduced a few months ago that lets you use Facebook as your page. For example, instead of using Facebook as Michele Christensen I can use it as Michele Christensen, Business Strategist. Any comments I make, things I like, content I share, etc all are attributed to my page name not my personal name. At first, I didn’t think much of this feature but now that I’m fully using it I think it is genius. This ability to change how you use Facebook allows you to do some great things.

First, it allows you to separate your business and personal use of Facebook. For some business owners, there’s a lot of overlap between their personal and business use. For me, I the two worlds only have a little bit of intersection. On my personal page, I post the not-so-interesting minutiae that my friends and family are interested in, and just once or twice a year I might post a business item if it would seems relevant. On my business page it’s just the opposite – almost all business with a little bit of personal news tossed in for interest. Being able to do almost all of the same functions as your page instead of your profile lets you pick how much your two Facebook circles overlap.

Second, you can like other business pages as your page now. This is great because I can keep my personal likes – restaurants, vacation spots, causes I’m involved with, etc. on my personal page and my business page can like businesses that I’m interested in. It’s great to be able to focus exclusively on business or personal when I’m looking at my news feed. It’s also a great way to share with your fans the businesses you think warrant a like.

Third, you can comment, like, post and share all under the name of your page which means great exposure for your page just for doing what you would do anyway. If you’ve made an interesting comment, someone can click right over to your page and see your professional presence rather than pictures of your pets and last vacation.

I’m probably more in favor of separating personal vs. business use of Facebook than a lot of people are but I’m sure there’s loads of ways for anyone with a business page to benefit from this new feature. How do you use this feature? Do you think it’s important to separate your personal and business use of Facebook?

Why I love my email newsletter service

Today is the first post of many on services that I recommend for your solopreneur business. I’ll also be introducing a brand new resource that will allow you to get a comprehensive listing of all the products and services I use. Today I’ll tell you about the email newsletter service I use and why I love it. If you want to get on my email newsletter and test the service I use for yourself, use the signup box at the right.

I’m going to start by assuming you already know the value of an email newsletter for your business. If you’re not familiar with how an opt-in email newsletter can benefit you, stay tuned because I’ll be discussing that in future posts. If you want to have a newsletter, than you need a newsletter service. Don’t try to do it from an email provider like Outlook, Gmail or from the email address provided by your hosting account. You’ll save the service fee, but in the long run it will probably cost you money because you’ll have to handle things like subscribe and unsubscribe requests by hand. Since I’m committed to giving you good information for you business I feel compelled to tell you that not using a service makes a poor impression as well.

I use Aweber for my email newsletter service. I’ve been with them for over a year, and I’m very happy with the service. They do well with the basics like stats, reports, subscribe and unsubscribe requests, social media blasts, list segments, web forms, etc but that’s not why I love the service as much as I do. On top of the basics, there are 2 things that make Aweber stellar in my opinion.

First, they have a strong anti-spam stance that is woven throughout the entire customer experience. It’s not that you get one anti-spam message in your introductory materials and then it’s done. They obviously value preventing spam greatly so they do all sorts of things to encourage you not to spam and to make sure you don’t do it accidentally. Numerous times, I’ve been added to a newsletter by someone who assumed because they had my email address it was okay to add me to a newsletter and this has never happened to when the sender used Aweber. When I’ve done live events, I manually enter the names of people who fill out a form stating they want my newsletter and even in that situation the software reminds you to only send to people who want you to.

Second, they have great customer service. Their online information base is great, but when you need a person you call or live chat their Pennsylvania offices during business hours and get a live person right away. They figure out who you need to talk to and get you to them without making you jump through hoops just to talk to a person.

These features have made it easier for me to have a spam-compliant newsletter that goes out regularly which has been a boon to my business. Oh, and yes they have an affiliate program and yes the links here are affiliate links!

This is the first of many resources I plan to share with you. If you can’t wait for the rest of them to be revealed, you can grab my entire rolodex by clicking here! This is a brand new resource and as you can see I haven’t even set up a proper opt in page for it but you can still grab it right away. It is updated for 2011 and contains 32 resources I use and love.

Have you “arrived” in your business?

Have you reached your business destination?

Every once in a while, someone asks me a question that throws me for a loop. In the moment, I’m usually just trying to think of something to say other than “Huh?’ but after thinking about it I usually find that the reason it throws me is that it’s not the right question to ask. A few weeks ago, an acquaintance of mine asked me one of those questions.

I hadn’t seen this person in about 2 years, so he didn’t know what was going on in my business. When I told him about it, his response was “So, is this it? Is this what you’re going to do with your life?” At the moment, I just told him the truth which is that I loved my business and the people I work with and felt I was doing important work. What I later realized is that the reason the question seemed off to me is that it doesn’t line up with the way I see people evolve and change over the course of their life. For many people, particularly the solopreneurs I work with, there’s an ongoing change of focus. We don’t suddenly wake up one day and say “Yes, this is it, what I’m doing forever.” We continually learn and grow, and interests wither as we find new passions. The underlying assumption I heard in his question was that everyone is on a one-way journey to a certain place where they will park their career until retirement, and that you’re either there or not.

The solopreneur journey is often very different from this linear path. We start with a grand idea, and from then on the business undergoes steady or sometimes sudden change. My own business is in probably it’s third focus since forming in January 2009, and I’m still learning and growing. Since you’re the boss, don’t be afraid to change your mission. In fact, expect that your mission will change. Not many solopreneurs stay with the same business they start with, so give yourself permission to grow and evolve over time. If you’re drawn to something new, it’s probably because someone needs that from you.

Leave a comment telling me how your business has changed since you started it. Were you surprised? I was.