I’m Not Generic, Are You?

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I am an individual and I’m sure you are too.

I appreciate when a company takes the time to get to know their customer base and caters, constructs and advertises in a way that resonates.  I don’t like when a company takes generic demographic markers, clicks a few generic and broad checkboxes in a social media ad campaign and considers that a customized strategy.

I appreciate businesses that use autoresponders that are customized just enough to sound like the voice of the brand, while imparting the intended message.  I don’t like when businesses use the generic template response that came with the autoresponder they are using.  I’m all for productivity and efficiency, but at least make me feel like you care a little bit.

I appreciate when social media content managers change a message posted on several networks (even by only a few words), to reflect the standards or audience of that network.  I don’t like seeing @ mentions and RT (retweets) on Facebook business pages or Instagram specific hashtags like #igdaily on Twitter posts.  I must admit that I have let a few slip through the cracks on my own feeds.

I think it adds a little something extra when I see a brand making an effort to craft the content and messaging in their marketing efforts.  At the end of the day, we/they are all selling something.  It may be a product, a service or ourselves.  It takes a lot of work to create marketing messages, content, etc that is not generic and made for a broad audience.  I understand and appreciate the efforts of those that do, it also makes me more likely to buy. 🙂

Mind Your Own Business: Unsolicited Advice

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This post is a vent.  Well, sort of because I am actually in a good mood, but I wanted to write about something that grinds my gears – unsolicited advice.  Before I was an entrepreneur full-time, I hated when people would give me unsolicited advice about my life.  I especially hated receiving it from people that did not know me very well, or at all.  I bit my tongue a lot, because after politely listening, I always wanted to ask; what qualifications they had that warranted me actually listening and implementing this advice.  As a business owner, I have encountered even more unsolicited advice…and I usually have that same question floating in my head.

My answer to that question is a snap judgment of “nothing.”  They are in no way qualified to give me the advice they are giving.  This is a snap judgment based only on the information about themselves that they have presented to me.  I find that in most cases, unsolicited advice comes from people that do not seem to have a firm grasp of the advice they are giving.  For example, a non-business owner giving advice on how to run a small business when they’ve never done so, or theirs failed miserably.  A non-marketing person giving advice on how I should be marketing.  A non-creative telling me what services I really should be offering.  The biggest gripe for me is that a) I didn’t ask, I was just having a friendly conversation; and b) you don’t know me, my business, my objectives and goals well enough to make an accurate assessment of what I should do.

That really grinds my gears!  I guess because for what I do, I have to gather information about the project before I can do the work; I feel the same should apply to advice that is doled out, but only if asked.  Even when someone is venting to me, I try very hard not to give my opinion and advice unsolicited.  Sometimes someone just wants to vent.  If they ask, then I tell.  If someone contacts me and wants to pick my brain, I tell, but I let them know that it is based off of my own experiences and may not be applicable to them.

I wish more people would try to do the same.  If you like to give people advice without them asking, please stop.  If you hate receiving unsolicited advice, tell me about it in the comments below.  Let’s chat…I am soliciting your comments. 🙂

Keeping Burn Out at Bay

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Whether you are an entrepreneur or working within the traditional job market, burn out is a dangerous state to slide into.  I had a friend recently ask me what do I do when I feel myself approaching that edge, the cusp of feeling burned out.  I had a laundry list of things that I told him, and I thought I would share several:

Take a Break

Usually, when I’m starting to feel too tightly wound and on edge, it’s because I am insanely busy.  I feel that I cannot take a break because I have too much that needs to be done, but I know I need it.  The only way to force myself to take a break, is to schedule it. It may be a 1 hour break or 1 day, but I have to pencil it in.  When I put it on my calendar, I magically find a way to work around it because I treat it like any other appointment.  If I need a day or two, I schedule it at the end and/or beginning of a week so that it becomes a 3-4 day weekend.

Laugh

Laughter is great medicine and good for the soul.  As silly as it may sound, I will randomly start laughing.  At first it’s a bit forced, but after a while it becomes real as I realize how silly I must look. I even get a kick out of thinking how I would look and what the reaction would be if I did the same thing at a former job, or at a restaurant, or the grocery store…you get the picture.  If I cannot succeed at making myself laugh, I head over to good ‘ole YouTube and watch a video from one of my channel subscriptions. There are a ton of comedic channels and I’m subscribed to a few for this purpose.

Dance Like No One is Watching

I love music and I love to dance. I’m not a very good singer and I’m a terrible dancer (but I have rhythm).  I listen to music while I work, and sometimes I get up out of my seat and dance like crazy. The dance usually migrates throughout the house and occasionally I pick up a set of dumb bells for an exercise boost. The only person watching, is not actually a person, but my dog.  I think he enjoys these sporadic moments although I am sure he is convinced that I am nuts.  After all, on any given work day I am laughing like a crazy person by myself and and dancing aerobics-style all around the house.  I would think I was nuts too.

Exercise

I took up running a few years ago and while I am not the fastest or best runner; I find it a great way to take a break and clear my mind.  I run outdoors (which my chiropractor hates), because the treadmill bores me.  I like to see scenery passing by plus, I am not quite coordinated enough to stay square on the treadmill.  Running also does not take a lot of time from my workday.  I have distances mapped from my front door and back. I run, come back, check my email and then hop in the shower.  Sometimes the shower is delayed if there is something pressing I need to attend to.  Now that it has gotten a bit too cold for me to run, I have been doing some weight training with some dancing mixed in between sets at home.

There are a few more things that I told him, but these four are the main ones in my arsenal. What should be in my arsenal is to slow down in general, but I’m too much of a busy body and I have too many goals, ideas and plans to execute to do that!  What are some of the ways you stave off burn out?

Instant Gratification or Delayed Gratification? Can I Have Both?

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As a kid, I believed that there was a predestined and set path to life when it came to adulthood.  I was supposed to go to college, get a degree and then get a job.  Working life meant working your fingers to the bone in some way unhappily, griping and complaining, and being tired until you retired.  Then, you could move to Florida and relax on the beach when it wasn’t hurricane season.  This was of course, a child’s viewpoint and summary of what I saw around me.  Most adults seemed to complain a lot about work.  Retirement looked kind of fun, but the physical appearance of retiree’s did not.

This model is a form of delayed gratification at least from the adults that I saw around me.  Everyone was suffering and sacrificing in the present so that they could reap the rewards in the future.  The problem is that the future for many, may not have been in the best of health.  Entrepreneurship, to me employs some form of delayed gratification.  It takes a lot of work to become successful and for most it does not happen overnight.  When success is reached, however, it is extremely gratifying.

I think for most, our instinct is to want instant gratification.  When things are not going well, we often get discouraged and may want to quit.  It does not help that our customers, clients, bosses, etc all want it now – instant gratification.  We live in a world and society where instant gratification is often picked as the winner over delayed gratification.  I would love to see my business and client list skyrocket today, but I know it’s something that I have to work towards.  To get what I really want, I have to delay that gratification.

From a monetary perspective, there are things that I could do now that would bring instant gratification in the form of money.  The downside is that to do those things, I would have to be willing to not sleep for a while, take on tasks that I hate doing, and offer services that I have no real interest in.  If money could truly buy me happiness, I would do it!  What I really want is to find some balance in between instant gratification and delayed gratification.

I want to work hard now towards my dream, but start living my dream before I am old and wrinkled.  I also want to be considered a spry chicken by the time I reach old age.  Seriously, both of my grandmothers are very active and my great-grandmother is 106 and even goes to the gym!  Check her out in this video here.  During retirement, I want to re-invent myself and do something else instead of sitting around doing nothing.  I want to live in the present and enjoy it now.  It sounds a bit impossible; to want instant and delayed gratification at the same time, but I think I can find a way to do it.

I already have long-life genes on my side and a few years back I adopted a healthy lifestyle that has changed my quality of life now.  I have business goals and plans in place to reach those goals.  I also take time out to meditate, reflect and enjoy the life I have now.  I think that I am well on my way to having (my version) of it all.  J

Motivation Monday:: Looking for Inspiration to Jumpstart Creativity

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I woke up this morning feeling tired even though I had a full night’s rest and as the morning progressed, I could not shake the sluggish, unmotivated lag I was feeling.  I had a visit scheduled this morning at the chiropractor and it turned out I am not the only one feeling this way today.  The chiropractor said he woke up tired although he had a restful night’s sleep and the office manager, felt as though she too were dragging.  We all surmised that it had to be related to all of the days we had stuck inside because of the snow/ice storm in Atlanta last week.

It made me feel better to know that I was not the only one feeling this way today.  Monday’s are notoriously the most hated day of the week.  It is the day you typically jump back into the hustle and bustle of work, school and life in general.  I have seen the memes that read, “If you hate/dread Mondays, it’s because you hate/dread your job,” or something similar to that affect.  I sometimes hate Mondays, not because I hate my job, but because I just do not feel like working.  Today is one of those days.  Thankfully, today is a bit of a slow day.  My email is not full of unanswered emails and my project workload is not particularly heavy.  So, I could slack off a little if I wanted.  The problem is that although I feel unmotivated to work, I want to feel motivated to work today.

So off I went to the wonderful world wide web in search of something to help jumpstart my creative juices and motivate me to work.  First stop:  Twitter.  There, I stumbled upon @FCSpotlight’s timeline and this article on Fast Company, “5 Ways We Neglect Our Own Creativity – And How to Bring it Back.”  Dialing back on distractions, telling your inner critic to shut up, and facing fear head on are some of the tips that were given.  Although it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, it did jumpstart a few ideas for a project that is on my bucket list.  I recommend reading the article if you need a few creativity inducing tips.

I figured since I was stumbling, I should visit StumbleUpon next.  It was only fitting, right?  In the graphic design section, I found “10 Awesome Infographics for Graphic Designers.”  Some of these really made me laugh.  Laughter is good for the soul and I actually felt a little more motivated to get back to work.  Plus, I looked at the clock and realized it was almost 10:30 am and I had not really done any work yet.

I know it probably does not seem like this morning’s deviation and search online for a creative jumpstart was very fruitful, but surprisingly it was.  The first article I found on Fast Company gave me a few ideas/tips that I was not already doing.  It also gave me a bit of motivation and an idea for another project I have been contemplating.  The stumbling on StumbleUpon gave me a good laugh and afterwards, I felt ready to work.  It kind of reminds me of the statement about taking time out to smell the roses.  Maybe that laugh and break from what felt like a mundane and drab start was a sniff of roses.

Check out the referenced article on Fast Company for some helpful tips and if you are a designer with a sense of humor, you might enjoy a few of the infographics referenced above.