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I had a conversation with a representative from Infusionsoft.com this week about how to work their system. It’s a very sophisticated email marketing vehicle I just signed up for. Kirk opened the training call by explaining this image –how it takes the business owner from a simple email blast to automated follow-up systems and business growth. Who doesn’t want that?!
“It took 9 years of blood, sweat and tears to create this screen.”
In a heartbeat, I knew exactly what he meant. Although we’re productive and succeeding along the way, it can take years before the world sees clearly the image we have in mind.
I gave a talk last month at the Ridgefield Women’s Forum and shared a story about the persistence it takes to bring a dream to fruition. It’s Lesson #44 in the new edition of my book Soul Proprietor. Take a look:
On December 13, 1997 this egg I was commissioned to create was presented to concert pianist Adlan Cruz at the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport, CT. The event was a fund-raiser for BCHC, an acronym I can no longer identify. I’m sure I heard some buzz after the event, but have long forgotten about it. It’s 13 years and a couple of careers ago.
Then, this morning in my inbox, I received 4 emails from the recipient, Adlan Cruz, who recently found the piece of paper with my name on it and came looking for me. He sent enlarged images of my design from every angle. But it was his message that touched my heart:
My name is Adlan Cruz, a concert pianist now on a World tour visiting 15 countries. In 1997 I offered a concert at the Klein Memorial Auditorium, Bridgeport, CT for a cause. At the end of the concert I was presented with one of your creations, which was a big surprise to me. To this date, that is one of the most memorable gifts I have ever received. I have it in a very special place where my collectibles are displayed ( my first toy piano, collectibles from Holly Land and such) .
He asked if I would call him, which I did. Before I called, I watched some of his clips on youtube to get a better understanding of this gift recipient. I watched some footage of him playing, was duly impressed, then dialed his number.
I asked him what Holly Land was. I thought it might be something like Dolly Parton’s theme park, but realized that was Dollywood, not Dolly Land! Adlan laughed explaining his typo. He had actually received another egg created for him in the Holy (not Holly) Land. I was doubly honored.
Besides sharing this joy with you, I wanted to emphasize two things. It’s never too late to show appreciation. This email correspondence lifted my mood to joy at 6am. And, your wonderful work has ripples rippling right now that you may not even find out for 13 more years.
Two-hundred and fifty women received a postcard mailing from me last week announcing my upcoming summer Remarkable Women’s Network events. It had the image you see here on the face of it taken at my March 15 event held at Boardroom in Stamford, CT. Only women who have attended one of my events received a card. Everyone else will get email blasts starting next week.
Colleague and friend Karen Hodges, who received over-sized postcard, emailed me saying, “You just AMAZE me in how you have your marketing machine so oiled, even using ‘old school’ marketing to catch people’s attention during summer vacation time of year when the focus might be off networking and business building.”
Now, I will take credit for using the ‘old school’ marketing and for catching people when they’re not expecting it, but the well-oiled marketing machine made me laugh. My process looks more like one of those old Rube Goldberg contraptions:
This was reinforced for me at a Mastermind Group session I led on Wednesday night. One member, a professional organizer, embarrassedly admitted that her desk was a disaster area. She said she’d be horrified if her clients could see. Another organizer chimed in, ashamedly, “You should see my files! A total wreck!”
Of course, I brought up the shoemaker, but everyone was laughing too hard to hear me. I say “here’s to keeping up the illusion” and don’t beat yourself up if it’s messy getting it out there, as long as you do get it out there.
Rounding the bend on my morning walk today, with Paul Simon singing ‘Old’ on my iPod, I spotted my neighbor Mrs. Young, who will be 100 on October 11, arms lifted over her head with pruning shears, struggling to cut down a branch weakened from last night’s storm.
I bolted into my house to get my camera, ran back across my lawn and called over to her. “Mrs. Young, may I take your picture? You inspire me so!”
“How’s my hair?” she asked.
I admire Mrs. Young’s great attitude. You can guess what she’s seen and lived through in her 99+ years, and she’s still an optimist. She installed all new windows last season and asked for a 10 year warranty. Surely I can look forward with a positive mental spirit even if the phone isn’t ringing off the hook today.
She handed me the clippers and asked if I might hack through the branch she wanted removed. I have to tell you, I was very happy when it finally gave way to my attempts and fell to the ground. I was able to complete the job my neighbor had industriously begun.
Heather Habelka told me that when she used to play with dolls, she didn’t cast them as family members like mother, father, sister and brother. Nor did she pretend that they were students and she the teacher. When she was growing up, she told me recently, her dolls were customers. “I always knew I wanted to own my own business.”
Heather has been on my radar for about a year now since we met at a networking event. I think it was Ladies Who Launch. I remembered meeting her when I saw her again at another event a month or so later. Over the year I watched and listened, noticed and became inspired.
One colleague hired her for a project after meeting her at my Remarkable Women’s Network event and was very pleased with Heather’s work. I sat in on a roundtable when Heather was speaking and heard her wisdom voiced to the participants. Recently Heather sent me a note letting me know the impact of my groups on her business.
The point is, and I want to make this very clear, marketing is NOT sending out an e-mail blast. Look at the arc of my relationship with Heather as an example of how many hits and drips it’s taken for me to make the phone call to hire Heather. This goes for being hired as well as hiring. There are few silver bullets, so much of the work of entrepreneurship is staying mentally, professionally and emotionally fit for the long run, the marathon of success.
The impetus to pick up the phone, finally, came when I received an offer from Heather in the EWN goody bag at the Grand Networking Event. It was a beautifully presented card with a well-stated message that fit my time frame and pocketbook. Marketing is not a) attending networking events, b) being a great ambassador for what you do, c) sending out mailings, d) acknowledging others and forwarding relationships, but e) all of the above; rinse and repeat.
P.S. At lunch today I sat next to Sherrie Norton, a creative designer and construction manager. I asked her if she knew early on that she had this interest in shaping space. She told me that, as a kid, when she shoveled snow or raked leaves, she always made it into a floor plan. Some lucky people, like Heather and Sherrie, were born to their businesses. And, they still have to market.
My dear friend, Cookie (aka Marisabina Russo) turned the big 6-0 last month. At a gala surprise party organized by her devoted husband Whitney, about that many friends gathered including several Artsy Girls pictured here.
To personally celebrate Cookie, I invited her to come to Kripalu with me, a first time visit for this good friend. We were in the Berkshires for a couple of days on their R&R program, hiking, doing yoga, resting and renewing.
In addition to the wonderful activities this yoga center provides, there are exceptional evening workshops too. While Cookie got her massage one of the evenings we were there, I attended a session entitled Power of Word presented by Danny Arguetty. Understandably, he talked about how much more there is to expression than simply the words that we use. In one exercise he rated emotions on a scale–the highest levels being joy, empowerment, love, appreciation and freedom; the lowest – fear, grief, despair and powerlessness. He pointed out that having the vocabulary helps us access where we are on the scale and allows us to articulate our way up from, say, boredom to hopefulness once we see the continuum of the emotional scale.
I wrote down two things Danny said. One was about how so many of us are around tough topics. He made a gesture with one hand as though lifting something off the floor and said, “Hello, Little Rug.” Then he gestured with the other hand–a brushing kind of motion and said, “Sweep! Sweep!” The point being how often we sweep things under the proverbial rug, only to have them then go down the emotional scale because feelings can’t be ignored. They will have their way!
The other saying I jotted down was a quote from the Swami Kripalu who asked, “Is what you have to say an improvement on silence?” I’ve heard, “think before you speak” but this took it to a whole new level.
Friday morning Cookie and I walked the labyrinth on the grounds of this gorgeous property. Then lunch and departure. We got someone to take a shot of us before we left–two busy entrepreneurs taking two days together to celebrate a life passage.
I took a scenic ride up route 136 yesterday to visit Sticks and Stones Farm, a place that has intrigued me since I heard about it, but never took the time to go see. Years ago I was having coffee with an EWN colleague, a web designer and brand strategist, who told me about her clients who raised moss and for whom she had recently created a web presence. Raised moss? Huh? She described the beauty of the place, the cabins in the woods, truly green living and enough other visuals to plant the seed of memorability in my brain.
That farm’s name came up again over a shared lunch with a bunch of “foodies” last month who talked about a pot luck that happens monthly at this place called Sticks and Stones Farm. That did it. I put it on my to do list: visit Sticks and Stones Farm.
I went online to find out more. What I discovered, much to my surprise and delight, is that Annie Stiefel is the resident Chef and Wellness Coach there. Annie Stiefel hired me years ago to come and teach Ukrainian Easter egg decorating at frequent workshops she created in her home. The scones she served at that event were almost as memorable as the workshops were. We’d kept in touch for over a decade, but eventually lost the connection. I immediately emailed her and asked for a tour.
As we were walking the grounds, Annie told us that Sticks and Stones Farm is the only moss farm in the country that propagates its own moss. In addition, the New York Times refers to Tim Currier who owns the property as the most eccentric niche farmer in the state. Here are two USP’s – unique selling propositions- that capture the imagination and set this business and entrepreneur apart from all others. Having been to a networking event earlier in the day where the self-introductions all sounded like “blah, blah, blah,” it was outstanding and refreshing to hear a truly unique offering.
Here’s Leigh, my driving companion, with some of the flats of moss that are being propagated. Below is the yoga studio that the farm rents out for retreats and classes. I’m hoping to book it for fall for my Invitation to Get Real events.
Thank God Sam Horn wrote the book POP because owning it saved me from having to write down every word she spoke at the conference I attended last week in Waltham, MA. I knew that I would be able to look up the gems she shared and spend time mulling them long after she finished her talk.
One phrase that particularly resonated for me, Sam dubbed the ‘empathy telescope.’ She related a story about a sinking ship where the crew was rescued, but shortly after the sound of barking reminded the now-saved sailors that a dog had been left on-board. Long story short, the world rallied to save this one animal. “Why,” asked so many, “is so much energy being focused on this one dog when there are strays filling pet shelters all over the country?” The answer, according to Sam, is that we are not able to stand in the shoes of thousands, but when the predicament of one is brought to our attention, our ‘empathy telescope’ zooms into action.
How does this apply to you? She immediately went into the self-introduction that everyone dreads–the elevator speech–and how to make it relevant to your prospects. By telescoping in on exactly what you do, your message is more powerfully communicated. I jotted down one of my client’s names to use in my future 30-second commercials. Let me try it out on you; then you can hear it right from Kate’s lips in her longer version.
Prospect: “So, what do you do, Jane?”
Jane: You know how people have dreams or visions of where they want to take their business? Well, what I do is hold that vision, like Kate Eisemann’s for a photography studio outside her home, and coach her to take specific and scary actions towards having her dream, which she did. Within 4 months was in her own dream studio (in the video below) with her work hanging on the walls.
If you don’t believe me, here’s Kate telling that story:
I’m just back from a stimulating conference in Waltham, MA put on by the National Speakers Association-New England Chapter. The opening keynote speaker was David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. His talk emphasized doing things in “real time” rather than pontificating on the ins-and-outs of running a business. Deal with what’s right in front of you and call attention to it.
David played an hysterical youtube video to illustrate his point. A disgruntled passenger was unhappy with the luggage department’s treatment of his instrument, which he’d checked. He dealt with the poor customer service he received in a 2010 – new rules – kind of way. Watch at your convenience and have a tissue ready, you’ll be laughing so hard.
This prompts me to write about an annoying interchange I just had trying to change the hosting of my web domain. Network Solutions, with whom janepollak.com has resided for ages, sent me a renewal form. I began the process of renewing my subscription for what looked like a nominal amount until I got to the checkout page and I noticed a figure in the hundreds of dollars. I immediately wanted out as I know godaddy.com will host you for under $10 a year.
In order to get my domain out of their clutches, Network Solutions kept me (actually, my faithful assistant) busy for hours. Because I’m no longer accessible on janepollak@earthlink.net, they needed about a dozen forms of identification including a copy of my driver’s license, a call on my home telephone line and a long questionnaire to validate that I was indeed the person who signed on years ago. This required enormous dedicated time and attention (i.e. money-making time). Finally, when we’d crossed every “t” and dotted every “i”, the customer service rep asked why I wanted to change services. “Pricing,” I said.
“Oh, if we offered you the same service for $8.50 per year, would that make a difference?”
Of course it would! I immediately signed back on for 3 more years. But why didn’t she tell me that in the first place?
The news here, and I may be late to the party to really get this, is that companies want to hold onto customers. It’s a good time to negotiate, especially if the competition is knocking at your door.
BTW, I asked the customer rep if she’d mind if I blogged about our interchange. “Not at all,” she said. So I did.
Now that the print edition of Soul Proprietor has been published, I am working to update the audio version as well. Yesterday I was so happy to have my daughter Lindsey come to CT to record the foreword she wrote for me. Foreward_Lindsey.mp3.
She’s such a pro! As a consultant to LinkedIn, she regularly gives webinars for them and is used to working with recording equipment. Walt Graham, my go-to sound person, was duly impressed.
We extended our time in the studio a bit, discussing the project with Walt and snapping some candids of the process.
A funny thing happened on the way to Lindsey’s arrival from NYC. In order to entice her to get on MetroNorth for this favor, I offered to treat her to a pedicure with my favorite practitioner. Lindsey was happy with the prospect of being pampered, so I was a tad disappointed when Monica, my pedicurist, texted me to let me know she would not be able to give the treatment as her mother required unexpected care in NJ. She canceled Lindsey’s appointment. Not an hour later Lindsey called to say she had a request. “Would it be okay with you if I don’t get the pedicure today? I really need to get back into the city.”
Sometimes things just work out so well.
After we left Walt’s place, Lindsey and I had time for a relaxing iced coffee at Starbucks near the train station. I hope you’ll take 3 minutes to relax and listen to Lindsey’s reading. If you’d then like a copy of the new edition of Soul Proprietor, click the title to order your copy.
