Tyler Jorgenson

I just noticed that this is post #23 of the 31 Days of Blog Awesomeness.  It’s a bit serendipitous then that this is the topic for the day.  Failure.  This quote has been one of my favorites for a long time.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

See the video here: http://blog.tylerjorgenson.com/2011/01/failure-31-doba-day-23/

Have you ever heard the saying comparing excuses to your backside?  Everybody has them, and they all stink.

Watch this video and tell me if anything sounds familiar.

Just Do It.

If you’re reading this on Facebook or in a feed reader you may need to click through to the original post.

No Excuses – 31 DoBA – Day 22

Since you got a “How to” type post yesterday you get a deep thoughts type post today.

One of the things that I battle with, as I am sure many of us do, is procrastination.  One time I was so lazy I didn’t even procrastinate for 3 whole days.  Most of the time I procrastinate by keeping busy on something else that is usually less important.  I prefer to work on stuff that matters, but sometimes other things are easier.  I read this quote the other day and it made me think about working on stuff that matters right away.

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar

I’ve had an idea for a while that I haven’t been doing much with.  I feel it’s a great idea but I worry that it’s too big of a challenge for me.  I’m resolved to start and get better and better as I go along.

What are you waiting for?  The starting gun already went off.  GO!

Let’s get one thing clear right away.  Facebook profiles are for people and facebook pages are for businesses.  I’ve actually heard of Facebook shutting down profiles that are used for commercial purposes.  If you’re currently using a profile for your business don’t let fear motivate you to change.  Facebook pages come built in with some analytics and have a lot of tools available to them that profiles don’t.  There is a LOT you can do with a page and profiles are very limited.

[steps off soap box]

Now on to our feature presentation: How to Make a Facebook Page

Yes, the awesome intro sound effects are all me baby.

See you tomorrow!

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” – Judy Garland

It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to be ‘like’ somebody else.  A charismatic boss, a successful friend or some other person of significance are great people to emulate.  In the end, though, remember that you are your own person.  You have a unique blend of talents unlike any other person.
Be yourself, just be your best self.

Stuart Draper
Founder, CEO
www.GetFoundFirst.Com
Office: (208) 991-3463

Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/getfoundfirst
Connect with me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/studraper

You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to. You can do good things for yourself and make the world a better place at the same time. – Chris Guillebeau

If you haven’t read about how Chris Guillebeau is changing the world, you need to visit his site, follow him on twitter, become a facebook fan, etc.  He has four basic tenants of his philosophy.

The essence of my philosophy is this:

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

2. If you don’t decide for yourself what you want to get out of life, someone else will probably end up deciding for you.

3. There is usually more than one way to accomplish something.

4. You can do good things for yourself and help other people at the same time.

Most people that I know live their life based on projected values and desires.  For example a son may become a Lawyer because his Father always told him he should.  One thing I see happen quite often is the dating/marriage/baby/home cycle.  A couple dates, then gets married because that’s the next step.  Soon they take the next step and have a baby.  Of course now they need to buy their own home because, well, that’s the next step.  Of course non of these steps is wrong, evil or bad.  They are all great steps IF it’s what the couple wants.

Recently Baker over at Man Vs. Debt packed up the few possessions he and his little family owned and jumped into an RV to travel the United States for a year.  It may not be common and the idea may scare some people but it was what they wanted to do, so they did it.  Baker got his blogging fame started by selling his ‘stuff’ and going on a global expedition.  How many people do you know that can list all of their possessions on a one page excel spreadsheet?

I was in the real estate and finance business for about 8 years.  More than once I advised my potential clients against buying a home.  Buying a home can be a great investment and can be the right thing for somebody looking to put down roots for a while.  Many times though my clients could not answer my questions about how long they plan to be there, if they liked the area for the long term or what type of home they want to raise their family in?

We get so caught up in checking things off the list we sometimes forget to evaluate the list and make sure it’s something we want.

The idea on nonconformity is not the same as being different for the sake of being different.  Sometimes what you want is to have a Mac, other times you do it because you want to be different from the guys with the PC’s.  Do things that you want, and do them the way you want.  Remember Chris’s #3. There is usually more than one way to accomplish something.

What do you want out of life?

Ok, now really. What do YOU want out of life?

Productivity is an elusive goal for many.  Too often we get caught checking off one item on our ‘To Do’ list only to add two more.  It’s hard to keep up with the many demands on our time and attention, especially if you’re an entrepreneur trying to build your own business.  One tool at our disposal now more than ever is online outsourcing.

Tyler’s Rules For Outsourcing

1. Be Specific
2. Establish Milestones
3. Outsource Things Below Your Pay-grade
4. Don’t Outsource Your Name
5. Pay Promptly
6. Think Local

1. Be Specific – When outsourcing, assume nothing.  Write a very detailed summary of the project complete with examples and background.  You will reap what you sow in the specifics.

2. Establish Milestones – You don’t want to get to the end of the project to find out there was a misunderstanding.  Having milestones gives you an opportunity to make sure the project is on track and keeps the contractor focused.

3. Outsource Things Below Your Pay-grade – If you make $50 per hour and can outsource some basic tasks for $4 per hour why wouldn’t you?  Do not, however, outsource things that are high level $100 tasks unless they require skills you don’t have.  For example, I am not a graphic designer so I’ll pay for a logo or ad design since I can not do it myself.

4. Don’t Outsource Your Name – Not everybody agrees with me on this.  An author that hired a ghostwriter is an example of somebody outsourcing their name.  I’ve written every post on this blog and although I will have guest bloggers they will post in their name.  I outsource blog writing for blogs that are not associated to my name or personal brand, and so should you.

5. Pay Promptly – If you hire somebody to help you with a project pay them when they’ve done their job.  You will earn their trust and respect and are more likely to get continually favorable results.

6. Think Local – Although this post focuses mostly on overseas outsourcing or crowd sourcing I have often had success by finding designers, virtual assistants, etc locally.  Ask your friends and social networks who would be good for a project.  I did this recently and found out that a few of my friends were graphic artists and I didn’t even know.

Suggested places for outsourcing (I’ve used each of these at least once)

Logos & Graphic Design

www.99designs.com – Multiple designers create content and you select the winner.
www.logocare.com – Similar to 99designs except they use in-house designers instead of an open market.

Content and Websites

www.Elance.com – Very easy to use and has an escrow system to protect your funds.
www.freelancer.com – I’ve used this site to find people to post craigslist ads as well as video editing.

Virtual Assistants

www.RedButler.com – Simple and effective fulfillment of personal requests like booking tickets or basic research.  Use coupon code 56DF for 15% off your first month.
www.Elance.com – I’ve used them for a VA when I needed some help completing a project.

There are a lot more companies that can help with this kind of stuff.  Who have you used and how did you feel about the experience?

This is day 16 of the 31 Days of Blog Awesomeness and Volume 4 of the How To Set Up A Website series.  Today I’m going to share some of my favorite sources for nice WordPress themes.  The list includes free themes as well as paid themes.

What should you consider when picking a wordpress theme?  Everything in a theme is customizable so look more for the structure than the colors.  Themes that make it easy to change options like colors, widgets, column locations, etc make customizing your site much easier.

1. Smashing Magazine Top 100 – They created an excellent list of themes that are all free.
2. Theme Forrest – They have 1,000’s of themes starting at $1.
3. WooThemes – Another great site, less themes than themeforrest but very easy to use.

Now that you have a slick theme installed on your website you’re all set to start marketing.  In the remaining days of 31 DoBA we’ll cover marketing on Facebook and Google Adwords as well as using blogs to generate traffic.

How To Set Up A Website – Volume 1

Disclaimer – the links to themeforrest and woothemes are affiliate links.

Most people that read this blog know that I am currently in the Executive MBA program at USC.  In addition to the excellent professors, good curriculum and amazing campus I get great pleasure from associating with so many brilliant and talented people that comprise my class.  The class has about 70 people in it and we are going through the entire 21 month program together.

The last thing that we did today in class was complete a brief 14 question multiple choice test that was designed to reveal the test takers learning style (3 question sample available here).  The three possible styles were People Learner, Information Learner and Action Learner.  I ended up with points in each category but was very much a People/Action learner.  This makes sense to me and is what I would have guessed before the quiz.  Other people were a bit more surprised with their results.

All of that lead up brings me to a conversation with one of my classmates that I consider a good friend.  I was telling him about some of the projects I was working on and he kept pushing me for a firm date of launch.  He didn’t like my excuses about how there were external factors so he pushed for a date again.  Turns out he was very much and Action learner.  He and I often say this quote to each other, ‘Done is better than perfect’ and it is so true.

Is there something you’ve been talking or thinking about doing for a while now?  Do it.

I am cheating a bit today since I fell behind. I posted this video back in January of 2009. It’s one of my all time favorite commercials.  Life is a lot easier when you have a great attitude. Don’t let other people ruin your day.

Day 12 of the 31 Days of Blog Awesomeness covered the idea of imaginary barriers that often stop entrepreneurs from attaining their goals.  Today is about how there is very little difference between obstacles and opportunity.

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. Niccolo Machiavelli

Most people think of obstacles as the barriers that prevent them from having access to the opportunities that could make them successful.  If they are pitying themselves enough they’ll even feel like they are the only one with the obstacles in their path and that others have opportunities galore.  A true entrepreneur recognizes that every opportunity comes with obstacles and that is exactly what drives them to succeed.

Obstacle: Something that impedes, stands in the way of, or holds up progress
Opportunity: A chance for advancement, progress or profit; a favorable circumstance or occasion

How can Machiavelli claim that these two are similar when they appear diametrically opposed?  An obstacle is usually present for everybody.  One of the barriers I hear the most is that many businesses and ideas take a great time investment.  Remember that everybody gets 24 hours in a day.  The successful entrepreneur knows that she can harness the power of those hours to accomplish her goals.  She also recognizes that many others will stop at the painted lines and let the opportunity slip.

Opportunity favors the bold.  Obstacles stop the slothful.

This is me on ABC’s Wipeout Season 1.  I’m in the red shirt.  A great example of how obstacles are also opportunities.  The winner of this competition got $50,000.

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” Henry Ford

Have you ever driven down a country road and gone over a cattle guard?  A cattle guard keeps cattle that may have gotten out of the ranch from taking a stroll down the road.  They are built into the road as a row of uneven metal slots so that cattle can not walk over them.  Installing a cattle guard is not cheap or easy but ranchers have found more frugal alternative.  They simply paint the lines on the road to mimic the lines of a real cattle guard.  For some reason, I’m sure there is a scientific answer, this keeps the cattle back.

In business we often stop when we see an obstacle or a ‘barrier to entry’ only what if the obstacle we are seeing is not real but a painted on impostor?  Any business has risks and real barriers.  The danger is in self imposing extra barriers and then allowing them to stop us.  I have a book called “this business has legs”
about the man that started with nothing and created the $100 Million Thighmaster craze in two years.  He didn’t start with a ton of cash or an amazing mentor.  He saw an idea and he pushed through the barriers.

There is a big difference between ceasing to imagine barriers and not seeing real ones.  Some businesses don’t deserve your energy or have a level of risk that is greater than the potential reward.  But, all to often, we stop working on a project or a business idea because we make up an obstacle.  Some examples of imaginary barriers are:

• “Somebody else already does that.”  So what?!  Can you do it better?  Could you do it cheaper?
• “I don’t know how to do that.” So what?!  Somebody does.  Find them.
• “It costs too much to get started.”  Really?!  The Global market has made a lot of things cheaper.
• “I don’t have time.” – Serious?!  What’s the Bachelors name again?  You’re just being efficient or prioritizing.

What other imaginary barriers can you think of?

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Henry Ford

31 DoBA stands for The 31 Days of Blog Awesomness and is a project I am currently running on my blog.  View all The 31 DoBA here.

A quick note. Posting day after day is a lot harder than I thought.  I don’t want to put up a post just to put up a post and I want to keep the information useful.  Your feedback helps me do this so please leave a comment and let me know what you’ve learned and what you’d like to see in the remaining 20 days.

Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, LinkedIn, Yelp and the list goes on, and on, and on.  Social websites have become a huge part of our lives.  Most people that chose to engage with others through in this fashion tend to find one form that they like and make that their primary channel.  Those that tweet are often less active on facebook.  Many professionals focus their time on LinkedIn and think that twitter is for the silly people.

If you’re running a small business you may struggle with social media for a few reasons.  Where do you focus your time and energy?  What site is the right fit for your company?  Does more fans or followers mean more money?   This post is about the last question.

Quality Vs. Quantity

If you own a company or manage a brand you should probably have a Facebook Fan Page (I’ll cover the difference between a Fan Page and a Profile in a later post).  Once you’ve set up a page it’s normal to become preoccupied with watching the number of ‘fans’ you have.  My friends down at Social Media Examiner have over 27,000 fans.  I have less than 300.  By themselves neither of these numbers mean anything.  There have been a lot of companies talking about the ‘value of a fan’ on facebook.  I think this is a huge misunderstanding of the purpose of the fan page.  The purpose is not to collect it is to connect.  Any business should be happy to have 100 engaged fans who interact, share and participate rather than 10,000 fans who don’t follow the page or promote the brand.

The same thing goes for Twitter.  So often people focus on increasing the number of followers when they should be focusing on engaging the followers they have.  Social media is not about being big.  Social media is about engaging the few.  Social media makes business more personal.

Bad Example – Recently I was having issues with one of my vendors (name withheld) and could not get through to them on the phone.  They have a twitter account so I sent them a few messages there and never ever received a response.  If you are not going to engage your customers on Twitter it is better to not have an account.

Good Example – A while back I needed a part for my faucet and went to Home Depot to see if I could find the part.  I was test driving Four Square a the time so I posted that I was at Home Depot and could not find the part I was looking for.  I was surprised that a short time later I had a message from Home Depot via Twitter offering to help.  I also had a friend that works at Home Depot offer to help.

Chose which social media channels you want to use to actively engage your customers and then focus on the connections and the numbers will happen.

There’s an important principle I want to share with you, some call it the rocking chair test.  I had forgotten where it was I first heard this but luckily the internet has a much better memory than me.  I’ve learned it both as ‘Future Pacing’ in NLP and ‘The Rocking Chair Test‘ in Anthony Robbins’ NAC.  Robbins has a knack for taking stuff that is a bit science-y and making it easier to understand an apply in real life.

The test is used whenever you are at a cross roads in your life.  It could be any sort of decision from taking a vacation, venturing into a new business, quitting your job or making a new connection.  This is what you do:

Close your eyes.  Imagine yourself, 80 years old and retired, sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch of your home.  In this future state reflect back on your life.  Now imagine if you did NOT take the step you are considering.  Experience the pain you feel, if any?  Now imagine that you DID make the decision you’re considering and were successful.  Experience the pleasure you feel in having made the decision and having been successful.

If you felt pain when you thought back on not moving forward with a decision then it may be something you should do.  If you did not feel pain then you should not worry about the decision too much and you may be better served focusing your time and energy on other things.

Why this matters?  Too many times we stress and worry about decisions when they usually crucial.  If they don’t pass the rocking chair test they don’t deserve your stress.  If they DO pass the rocking chair test that does not give you an excuse to worry.  Instead you now know you should focus on and you don’t have to think about the ‘should I’ part of the equation any longer.

Doing this test is one of the reasons I’m at USC right now and helped in my decision to transition out of real estate.

If you’re following the 31 DoBA closely you’ll realize that I’m posting day 9 on the 10th day of the month. I fell a little behind since I was spending time with my family instead of posting day 8. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up today.

One of the requests that came in when I asked what people would like me to post about was this:

Ashley Says: Work-Life Balance…how do you mix work and family?

Balancing work and family is a problem as old as time.  For many, it isn’t just balancing work and family.  For example in addition to work and family I am currently in an Executive MBA program at USC and am the Scoutmaster for the Boy Scout troop at church.

I was talking with a friend yesterday about success in business and he related a story that was troubling.  He told me of a time he was privileged to be in a room with about a dozen highly successful individuals.  Eager to learn he asked them about their journey to success and was surprised to hear them talk about ‘sacrifice’.  Not a sacrifice of time, but of time with family.  They joked about each having been divorced multiple times.  Luckily we could both think of examples of highly successful individuals that were also very family oriented.

I read once about how Steven R. Covey, author of  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People^® and who also does speaking events, manages work and family time.  Covey was highly sought out as a motivational speaker and allotted a certain number of days per year to this.  If he received a request beyond the set amount of time he would pose it to the whole family.  If one member of the family felt he should be home instead he would turn down the event, and it’s hefty paycheck.

I don’t know that the story is true but it certainly teaches a great lesson.  Here are some of my top tips for finding balance.

1. No Work for Works sake.  (No WfW! as the RenMen say at :52 of the video at this post.)  If you are self employed, or paid in any way other than hourly, this is a big one.  Some weeks I work well above 40 hours, like right now when I am up late most every night trying to finish a project.  But just because somebody decided that their employees should work from 8am to 5pm every day doesn’t mean that you have to sit at a computer, or the like, 40 hours per week.  Remember, busy is not the same as productive.

2.  Live in the now!  This is a quote from the epic Wayne’s World movie and I quote it all the time.  Do you check your email when you could be focused on family?  Do you take a call on your cell when you’re at your kids soccer game, even though you know that it could wait?  These are perfect examples.  When you are at work, BE at work.  When you are at home, BE at home.

3. Connect! Take the time to connect to each of your loved ones individually.  I have 4 kids so this can take a lot of time but is always worthwhile.  Spend a little time, every day, strengthening the important relationships in your life.

What tips do you have for balancing work and family (and all the other stuff)?