Employees want to do a good job. And what the boss often needs to do is get out of the way and let them perform. Of course, when I became a business owner, I fell prey to the kind of thinking that trips up so many entrepreneurs: You have to work endless hours, you have to micromanage every aspect of the business, you have to make every decision. Ack!

I don’t know if my businesses would have survived if I hadn’t come up with what I call Go Theory. (”Go” as in “just go away”.) Go Theory is not about where you go or what you do while you go away from the office. Go Theory is all about what you don’t do:

• Don’t send your employees lots of little reminders by email.
• Don’t keep checking your smart phone.
• Don’t miss the spectacular view or the interesting presentation or the quality time with friends because you were stressing out about what might be going on back at the office.

Instead, enjoy your time away. Because you’ve got great people taking care of the business while you’re gone. If that last sentence just sent a chill up your spine (“But…no one can possibly take care of my business except me!”), read on.

The first element of Go theory, its absolute essence, is hiring great people to work in your business:

• Fire quick and hire slow. Invest the time and money required to make the best choices. I don’t rely on just myself to spot the right person — I make sure that at least two other people whose opinions I respect interview the candidates.
• Hire smart. I hire people who are smarter than me.
• Pick people with a track record for doing their tasks and accomplishing their goals. You don’t want to deal with excuses.

The second element of Go theory involves what you do with those great employees once you have them:

• Give people a great place to work, including real benefits.
• Trust them to handle problems and give them room to succeed or fail.
• Get in the habit of throwing issues back to employees — otherwise, you’ll be chained to your business 24/7.
• Make your business a vibrant and healthy system and you’ll find that employees work better when you’re gone.

The third element of Go theory is at once the easiest — and the hardest:

• Give employees clear directions or goals, and leave them alone to do their jobs. A quick check-in early in the project to make sure they are on track is OK, but then…go away!

The idea is for you to work on your business instead of in your business. This forces you and your staff to create good systems that can run without you. As the CEO, you want to be useless in the day-to-day business activities so you can be proactive and reactive to markets and opportunities. Keep in mind that what puts your business ahead of the competition is not logging lots of hours at the office — it’s creativity. Ask yourself: How can you be creative if you’re spending all your time making sales calls?

Go Theory provides a lot of rewards, including a “real life” for the CEO and a stronger, healthier bottom line for the company. I find that in my absence my business thrives. Projects move forward, problems get solved, and new ideas emerge. All this — just because I learned to get out of the way and work from a beachside cafe two hours a day.

Well, if you have a blog, or are wondering if you need one, you may have these questions:

• What’s the point?

Before you start writing, figure out why you want to have a blog. If you are just trying to jump on the social-media bandwagon, that’s not a good reason to start a blog.

However, if you are trying to share information, build communications with your customers or build buzz, a blog may help you. If this is the case, figure out what you want to accomplish with your blog, and create an action plan, or editorial calendar of pertinent content, to fulfill that purpose. Then, monitor results and make changes as necessary.

• Why aren’t people reading my blog?

Well, there may be several reasons for this.

First, do people know about it?

If not, send out regular e-mail announcements telling people about new entries. Check out www.aweber.com, www.webmarketingmagic.com, www.myemma.com, and others for help with automating this process.

Second, does your blog contain valuable content? Do you help your target audience get answers, information or current news?

If not, it may be time to revise your copy and focus on the benefits you have to offer.

Third, are you optimizing your blog for the search engines?

By including keywords your target audience is searching for online within your blog’s headline and body, you’ll attract a lot more readers. Also, list your blog with www.technorati.com and other sites that search for new blog entries.

• Is your site user friendly?

If you are using a content service, your blog may just be a bunch of sentences running together – making it very difficult to read.

People have a lot to review during the day, and if your competitor’s blog is more reader-friendly, guess who is going to get the site visits?

Try to write short sentences and paragraphs. Help readers get the information they need quickly and easily.

Now, these are just a few quick tips to help make your blog activities more worthwhile. After all, a few simple changes may be the difference between building customer relationships and wasting time and effort on content no one reads.

Do you need help with your public relations and SEO copywriting to boost sales, awareness and credibility? Please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help!

Well, this could be the theme song on many of the Web sites I review these days!

Do You Fall Into This Trap?

As an entrepreneur, you can’t wait to get the word out about your business, and it can be easy to start talking about all of the unique features of your products and services

But in the midst of this excitement and posting your Web site, you may overlook one key thing – What’s in it for the customer?

To avoid this trap, here are a few key things to keep in mind as you launch a new site or review your current site:

• Is your home page all about “We”?

When new visitors arrive at your site, are they greeted with words like, “We have great services,” “We are well known,” “We are a leader in the industry,” Blah, Blah, Blah. If so, please change your focus to talk about the customer. What can you say to let site visitors know that you can solve their problems?

• Are visitors in the right place?

When potential customers visit your site, they want to know they are in the right place, that you have what they need and they can find it quickly and easily.

Take a few minutes to have some outsiders (potential customers, friends, family, associates, etc.) review your site and see if they know “what’s in it for them” immediately. Can they find what they need fast? If not, your site needs editing.

• Is your site reader friendly?

Do you have lots of graphics, videos, art, links, call-out boxes, and more on your home page? While all of this can be informative and entertaining, it can also be distracting.

Try to create short paragraphs that are easy to read, and stick to one basic message to keep things simple. Ask yourself what you want site visitors to do when they come to a specific page.

Then, make it easy for them to do that one thing and follow your planned, call-to-action (register for your newsletter, call for more information, click on a specific link, etc.). This way, you can monitor results and make changes as needed.

A Few Changes Can Mean Big Results

Now, these are just a few simple things you can do to improve your Web site and a simple reminder to focus on your customers’ needs.

After all, as an entrepreneur, it can be very easy to concentrate on the things you want to sell. But try to check your site on a regular basis to confirm you are talking about the benefits you offer.

Have a plan for your site, make it easy for site visitors to get the information they need and monitor your results.

And if this takes too much time and effort, hire a professional, SEO copywriter to help you. It’s well worth the cost, you’ll have a third-party who can keep your messaging on track, and you’ll see a significant change in site traffic – and sales.
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Need more help building buzz and getting new customers to your site? Please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help! Thanks.

“As three women in a male-dominated industry, we took a risk by starting a company together. My partner Rae is a single mom of three children (one severely handicapped) and I have a speech disorder that makes it difficult for me to communicate, statistics say we probably should have kept day jobs.” — Lisa Barone

Starting a business during a recession is a risky thing to do, but also the optimal time for new ideas, better services and plucky folks to connect. Top of mind for this crew is empowering others to take smart risks. “We did it and we want others to know they can do that too.”

Behind The Scenes

Rae Hoffman	Rhea Drysdale	Lisa Barone
Rae Hoffman is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Outspoken Media, Inc. In 1997 Rae started a small website about her son and his medical condition that became one of the first international support groups on the topic. It earned national media coverage and helped further medical research in the field… More about Rae Hoffman	Rhea Drysdale is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Outspoken Media, Inc. Since 2004 Rhea has grown her understanding of on-page optimization, online reputation management and social media with both in-house and agency positions. Rhea loves working with clients… More about Rhea Drysdale	Lisa Barone is Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer of Outspoken Media, Inc. Lisa has been involved in the SEO community since 2006 and is widely known for her honest industry observations, her inability to not say exactly what she’s thinking, and her excessive on-the-clock Twittering… More about Lisa Barone

OutspokenMedia works with clients to develop marketing strategies that encourage them to do great things and to care about their niche communities. The Outspoken blog was developed to prompt action in the community as well as teach. Outspoken presents How Tos to small business owners helping them market their own businesses and get more from online.  The recession has given entrepreneurs an even larger opportunity to go out on their own and succeed. It hasn’t taken it away.

Here is a bit from my interview with Lisa from OutspokenMedia.com…

When did the idea for starting your business come to you?
Having my own business was never something I was aspiring to. I was very much content in the stability of being an employee and receiving a steady paycheck. However, in January I was three months into a new job (a job I had moved from CA to NY to take) and came to a point where I knew in my heart it wasn’t going to work out. So the decision was to stay in a job I wasn’t comfortable in to keep a paycheck or venture out on my own in a bad economy.  It may seem crazy to some but, I chose the latter option.

Luckily, it didn’t take more than a few chats with my then-friends, now business partners, Rae Hoffman and Rhea Drysdale to be confident that we could do something together. So really just like that, we formed Outspoken Media, a new kind of Internet marketing company.  Deciding to start the company was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make. Committing to myself to something that huge was an enormous undertaking for me. But I’m very glad I did it.

What do you do?
My official role at Outspoken is that of Chief Branding Officer, which to me means that I’m responsible for starting conversations. Whether that’s for us or for clients, through the blog or on Twitter, or through any other medium, my job really is to build brands and conversation through communities on the Web.  I help people their evangelists and build bridges.

What’s the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome to start your business?
Learning how to wear so many hats.  Before I’ve always had very specific job descriptions. When the business is your own, you find yourself taking on tasks you never imagined.  There’s a constant learning curve.

What’s the most satisfying thing about running your business?
The freedom to do what I feel is right.  I’m a blogger and a bit mouthy, so working for someone else always meant that I had to temper that. I had to watch what I wrote, watch what I said, pick my battles, etc.  Now I get to blog as me and for me, which I think makes my blogging more genuine and more engaging for readers. It probably doesn’t sound like that big of a change, but to me it’s been night and day and something I’m incredibly grateful for.  I can’t always say what I want to in real life due to my speech difficulties, so having total freedom of my written voice means everything to me.  It’s empowered me.

Has running your business been what you expected it would be? How?
There’s a lot more to it than I ever thought. I knew that it would be long hours and that it’d grueling at times…I just thought at some point that would stop and that I’d have a day to catch my breath. That day hasn’t hit yet. My biggest lesson has been that it just never stops. There’s always something to do, something more than needs tweaking, an email to respond to, a blog post to write, someone to reach out to, etc.  I’ve learned that running your own business really is a 247 job. I love it. It’s been great and incredibly rewarding, but there’s so much more to it than I ever knew.  Every so often a crisis will break out and I’ll turn to one of my partners and say, “someone should really take care of that!”, and then I remember that I’m that person. If I want something done, I’m the person to do it.

How did you fund your business in the beginning?
I think that’s the beauty of the Internet, you can start a business with very low capital.  Because we’re a service-based company, the only initial costs we had were those involved with skinning the Web site. The domain was already bought, we had hosting, etc. From there the “cost” really is time. It’s been working to build the brand, getting our name out, letting people know we exist, and taking on clients.

What is your passion?
Using my voice in a way that helps others.  I love that the blog allows me to share advice, concerns, issues, etc, with people and to have an impact on their day or to touch them in some way. There’s no greater feeling than that.

What makes you get up in the morning?
My business partners and knowing that we’re capable of doing great things for clients, in a style that’s true to us.  It’s nice believing in what you do and the way you do it.

Terrific example of a website that is almost 100% twitter feeds + has great you tube promotion. See their youtube channel.

Hillshire Farm ham and turkey + reusable Gladware

= Green, Money Saving, The-Big-Corporation-Proves-It-Can-Still-Listen-To-Customers

What partnerships could you consider in your business?

Example: B&B could supply guests with brunch vouchers to neighborhood eatery

• Inn keepers are off of cooking duty
• Eatery gets paid in full up front
• Guests can have what they want, when they want for a fixed price included in overall bill

1. Why will people pay you? (money, votes, donations)
2. What does it cost you to sell your item…margins?
3. What protects you from competition, price-feature battles?
4. How will you turn an agnostic audience into loyal customers?

Early on when transactions had no costs, doing anything at a huge scale was very cheap. In order to be successful (a subjective term), you didn’t have to be very big at all. Some efforts don’t look at revenue as the only sign of success, and it’s probably safe to assume they have no real business model.

Identifying tribes and determining the success of working with them is not a new idea; the concept of tribe mentality or acting in a way that benefits the tribe has been around since cavemen. But, the concept of bringing people together, of building tribes, makes the internet is the best friend of people focusing on the third component, differentiating yourself from the competition. Once a network is in place, it is extremely difficult for someone else to disrupt it. I’ll add to this that the network must be active, relevant and provide value. 

The internet, it’s “isms” and even some of our online behaviors are permeating our culture. It is affecting business models offline as well. Local t-shirt and records stores, traditional advertising firms, and political campaign have different business model than they did ten years ago—can you imagine Dukakis, Stockton, Bush Snr, or Dan Quayle, figuring out what tweeting means?

Viral marketing and the growth of cash-free marketing means that people can spread an idea farther and faster than ever before. It also makes it far cheaper for a competitor to enter the market.

Here are three examples of companies leveraging online to create mini movements:

What mini movement is driving your business?

Carrie Fisher has an impressive background as a writer, two of her books having been made into films. After something akin to electric shock therapy, she risks losing much of her memory and past in order to move forward with the rest of her life. To many, this would be a death sentence as our history, that which binds us into routine and dictates much of our decision making, is the thing we find the most comfort in.

Fisher is an example of someone who refuses to be put in a box, who is still out there learning lessons, sharing her findings and being funny — whatever you may think of her or her talent, you just have to appreciate those qualities in a person.

She has a book: $29.00- 13.38

She has a 1-man show: $59.00-49.00

And those lovely cinnamon buns on the cover, priceless.

I was disappointed to see that there wasn’t some Hollywood intern trapped in a hamster wheel blogging for her while she’s on the road, to capture all the love and well wishes, etc. but I suspect she will get to that eventually. All Boomers have to embrace the web at some point.

To Carrie’s new life, she’s summoned her chutzpah and making some coin on skills she still has, memories she might lose and of course, looking to what the future might bring.

Altogether, a rather inspirational message.

Traditionally, companies that “do good” are generally non profits, and when people find out that a traditional small business is also “doing good” they feel like somehow the company must be taking advantage of the community it is serving if it is also turning a profit. I do not believe this to be the case and formed my consulting company based on the premise that small businesses would contribute to a triple bottom line if they knew where to find it.

Creative Capitalism has been around for a while. Formerly known as social entrepreneurism, it is a concept newly labeled by Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and other market leaders and the premise is that “we should attempt to stretch the reach of market forces so that more companies can benefit from doing work that makes more people better off.” The book is available on Amazon (unsure of where the profits go). So far, it’s a pretty foreign concept to most bottom-line discussions. Having spent time reviewing the giving trends of big tycoons in the past (land trusts, libraries, parks), there is something different about the timing of this idea: the generation that is receiving it.  

The 30 and 20-somethings have grown disillusioned with where the 1980s consumption and 1990s holding on behavior have gotten us. Those that have the means to get out and travel, see the disparity in the world, come back and want to do something about it. With technology to reflect back their experiences they are twittering, facebooking, myspacing and texting what they are seeing to one another – and a small group are doing something about it.

Why profile TOMS?

Two reasons: 1) Anyone who has seen true the true spirit of leadership in play knows it is the eagerness to lose oneself in the group for the good of the group. This quality is best exemplified in Blake Mycoskie for the simple reason: that is where the heart of his business began. One for One, from day One. 2) Any size business should learn that a social model (something that takes into account the community in which it survives) thrives 10-fold compared to businesses that have tunnel-vision on bottom line sales. There is something to be said for karma.

About the Company

TOMS Shoes promises to give to children in need a pair of shoes for each pair it sells. The company  has given over 140,000 pairs of shoes and expects to give more than 300,000 pairs this year.

TOMS Shoes launched in Venice, California and sold 10,000 pairs during the first year in business. As a result, Blake returned to Argentina in October of 2006 with family and friends and unveiled the second phase of his business plan: the Shoe Drop Tour. To meet demand, TOMS now offers Shoe Drop Tours throughout diverse regions of Argentina. These are volunteer opportunities where TOMS Shoes supporters hand-deliver shoes to children. Since its beginning, TOMS has given over 140,000 shoes to children in need around the world. 

Here is a bit of my discussion with Blake:

Why shoes?
BLAKE: Walking is the primary mode of transportation in developing countries. Children walk miles just to get food and water, to make their way to school, or to reach medical help. In some communities, children can’t even attend school unless they have proper footwear. And the leading plague in these countries is soil-transmitted parasites. Shoes are such a simple answer to these problems children face every day.

See TOMS educational videos: One Day Without Shoes and Why Ethiopia (warning on the second video for graphic images)

Technology is required in today’s job market. Is TOMS Shoes looking to attract a blended workforce, or does the average age of the workers in the company reflect a standard .com?
BLAKE: For the first few years, our staff reflected the young, evolving company that we were. But as we grow, TOMS is definitely looking to attract a diverse workforce. We’ve become much more aware of our needs, and therefore able to hire individuals with specific skill sets, relevant experience, and worthy knowledge. I am still the CEO and Chief Shoe Giver, and I continue to immerse myself in TOMS because it’s my passion. I have creative ideas and feverish curiosity, and my team is receptive to that. But I definitely have trust in those who are facilitating the every day, drafting direction, and establishing strategies.

Your company is for-profit. What sort of profit sharing model exists for the employees and how did you arrive at the decision to not do a nonprofit?
BLAKE: My earnings from other businesses I had started before TOMS are what kept us afloat in the earlier days- TOMS was not funded by an outside 3rd party. I never had to present a business plan or get approval, I just had trust in myself and the One for One concept. Of course people laughed when I said TOMS would give a pair of shoes away for every pair we sold, but now TOMS is proving One for One as a viable business model. Our customers have been amazing supporters since day 1.

I created TOMS as a for-profit business to ensure a sustainable way of giving. We’re able to give shoes weekly in Ethiopia, and monthly in Argentina. I also wanted to prove that you can build giving into your business model from day one and still be profitable. We get a lot of inquiries from all types of organizations wanting to get involved with TOMS in one way or another. It’s a blessing, really, but we have to be careful in these first critical years of building our brand.

You are an example of an individual whose actions will help define the generation they are in. Your generation is described as both the “me generation” and the “giving generation.” How do you think your generation should be characterized?
BLAKE: This generation is one that thrives off of action. We don’t dream about change, we make it happen. We don’t imagine a way to incorporate giving in to our daily lives- we do it. TOMS has so many young supporters who are passionate about the One for One movement, and who share the story and inspire others every day they wear their TOMS. Seeing them support this business model is proof that this generation is ready and able to create a better tomorrow.

People connect with TOMS beyond just owning another pair of shoes. There’s something more every time you slip on a pair, every time you share the story, every time you suggest a pair of TOMS as a gift because no matter what brought you to purchasing a pair of TOMS, you are making an impact on a child’s life. Will there be saturation of cause-based marketing? Most likely, but TOMS has paved the way for other entrepreneurs to incorporate giving in to their businesses.

The One for One mission is sticking with this generation, and causing a new way of thinking. We grew up with parents who were taking those first small steps, and now we are just charging full speed ahead towards a better tomorrow. We have to. One for One is proving that you can bring closure to an issue by incorporating a conscious decision in to the actions you already take- whether its as a consumer purchasing a product, or a business looking for ways to inspire a better tomorrow. It makes consumerism and philanthropy come together full circle.

Carpe Diem!

Customers often ask me, what are the best offers to use in email marketing programs, or any lead generation program for that matter.  The answer, of course, is dependent on a list of factors- among them: What is the nature of your business? What are you trying to achieve with your email? What are you able to offer?
My answer. Before sending out a marketing campaign consider “Is there something in this email for the recipients to LEARN, GAIN, or ENJOY?”

Here are some examples of each type of offer:

LEARN: If you are a consultant, service provider, or industry expert, sharing your experience and insight can be powerful and relevant to the recipient. Examples: 3 Tips, Best Practice, Inside Scoop, even your perspective of an event or presentation that you attended which your audience may not have access.

GAIN: If recipients don’t feel there is something in it for them, they will not continue to read and open your emails. Commit to the value in each of your email campaigns. Examples: an added benefit to customers when asking them to consider referring your business, a discount for early registration to an event, free shipping or gift-wrapping, early access to a sale or information. This type of offer works great for survey responses too; promise to share information before it’s released to a wider audience.

ENJOY: Like the free gift with purchase at a cosmetics counter, or an adult beverage coupon for checking in to a flight online, sometimes marketing offers are just for fun. If your goal is to change or encourage a behavior then a little something extra for the response may provide an added lift.

Bottom line, don’t lose site of the customer on the receiving end of your email communication. If they respond once and find value in your message they are likely to pass it on and everyone wins.