Working Around Short Comings

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Do you have short comings that make things difficult as a small business owner?  A disability to work around?  I have a little of both.  I have a disability, that I won’t disclose today 🙂 and a few perceived short comings that I have to work around.  I am an introvert, I have way more right brain functionality than left (not a numbers person), I am a control freak, I have ADD and sometimes have a tendency to procrastinate.

In spite of it all, I refuse to let my short comings deter me from accomplishing my dreams.  It just means that I may have to get there on a different route than others take or in a different way.  What’s important is that I am finding ways to work around my short comings and finding the path that is right for me.

I would love to engage in some dialogue with you about perceived short comings that you may have and how you are working around them.  Scheduling, setting a routine, making to-do lists, setting reminders and calendar due dates helps me a lot on the ADD and procrastination front.  I wrote previously about dealing with my introverted-ness and business here.  What are some ways you work around your short comings?  Let’s talk in the comments below!

Fixing Jetpack’s Publicize Issues

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I have been using Publicize within WordPress’s Jetpack to post new blog posts to my social media networks for a couple of months now.  At first, it was great!  I was even able to configure things to use my new custom shortlink when it posted on the networks.  Somewhere along the way, things went awry.  First, I noticed that on Google+ it was not posting the featured image, but my header graphic instead.  Next, LinkedIn disconnected from the service and I received an error message every time I tried to reconnect the service.  Last, Facebook disconnected and when I reconnected the service, nothing would post even though it looked connected.

I finally got everything straightened out,  but I thought it might be helpful to post my fixes to these problems in case someone else encountered them.

 

Featured Image Not Posting

I found that some other users were reporting this as a problem on both Google+ and on Facebook.  The problem resided in the meta tags and the use of the open graph format that Facebook pioneered.  I won’t get too technical, because I’m not very good at explaining technical things…I just understand them…sort of.  For some, part of the problem was a conflict in the way their SEO plugin handled those meta tags.

I use All in One SEO pack for SEO on my site and there is a “social meta” add-on available.  Using the add-on, I was able to over ride the Jetpack Publicize settings with those I set within All in One SEO pack.  It also allowed me to set what image I wanted to show when a post is shared from my site.  This solved my image problem.

 

LinkedIn Re-connection

From the Publicize support pages, I figured out that I needed to have revoked the access on the LinkedIn side of things prior to trying to reconnect the service.  Once I revoked the access through LinkedIn, I was able to reconnect from my site.

Here are the steps to find application settings in LinkedIn:

  1. Log into LinkedIn and click on “Privacy & Settings”
  2. Click on the “Groups, Companies & Applications” tab.
  3. Click on “View Your Applications.”
  4. Click the checkbox next to WordPress.com and the “Remove” button.

Facebook Not Posting Anymore

The problem with Facebook not posting was similar to my re-connection problem with LinkedIn.  I needed to have revoked the application’s access prior to reconnecting the service.

Here is what I did:

  1. I disconnected Facebook from Publicize (sharing in settings) in WordPress.
  2. Went to App Settings on Facebook and removed WordPress.com
  3. Returned back to my site’s backend and reconnected Facebook.

If you are having similar issues with this plugin, I can’t guarantee that what I did will work for you, but it might save you a little time, if these are a fix!

 

 

Being an Introverted Freelancer

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I am an introvert, a freelancer and an entrepreneur.  However, I did not learn that I was an introvert until a couple of years ago.  My mother is an introvert and my father is an extravert.  Because I have the personality of my father, I have always been branded as an extrovert and my introverted ways often confuse people.  I make instant friends in one-on-one and small group situations almost everywhere I go and I am often told that I am funny and fun to be around.  However, people are confused and sometimes offended, when after meeting me I decline requests to get together frequently and socialize on a regular basis.  When I explain that I am an introvert and what that means, most people either do not believe me or do not understand introversion and think something must be wrong.  Most people think of introverts as shy people that are unable to socialize in any way.  While this may be true for some, for most it is that it takes a lot of energy to turn “on” and stay on for an extended amount of time.  Because of my personality and how I am when I turn “on,” people do not believe that I am an introvert.

As a freelancer, being an introvert is both a blessing and a curse.  The freelance lifestyle fits me as an introvert because I can work in the solitude of my home or some other solitary place without the distractions that come from being in an office environment.  I do not miss not having coworkers, water cooler chat and company activities either.  In most cases, any face-to-face business meetings that I have as a freelancer are only with one person or a small group, which for an introvert is very manageable.  However, as an introvert it means that I am unable to do a lot of face-to-face meetings on a frequent basis.  It takes a lot out of me and I need time to recharge in between them.

When I first started thinking about taking my freelance business full-time, I thought I needed to start networking to get the ball rolling and I joined a networking group.  The group was great!  However, it was a nightmare for me because of my introversion.  My time spent in the networking group is what eventually led me to figure out that I was not actually an extrovert, but an introvert with an extrovert’s personality.  In other words, I have my extroverted father’s personality and my mother’s introversion.  I felt a bit lost because I knew I needed to find a way to bring in business, but networking groups and events just were not for me.

The solution for me has been technology.  Instead of networking face-to-face, I do so digitally through social media and email.  As my client list grows, so do the referrals, which has helped immensely in terms of how much networking I need to do.  I also changed the format of my business to be more digitally based.  I use my website to take inquiries for services, email to correspond, an online project management platform to manage large projects, a cloud based invoicing system to bill and collect payments and online signatures for contracts.  Doing things in this way helps me interact, communicate and work with clients in a way that works well for me as an introvert.  It also removes a lot of pressure to have to turn “on” as much and allows me to focus more on the work that needs to be done.

I do still occasionally have face-to-face meetings and it is sometimes necessary to pick up the phone and call a client, but I do not have to do so very often and I can schedule them.  Before I learned that I was an introvert, I often wondered why I felt so tired and drained after interacting with people.  I also felt bad to dodge phone calls and decline get together requests.  Being told constantly that I had to attend networking events was also very frustrating.  Learning that I was an introvert, what that means for me as a freelancer and how to work around it has been a great thing for me.  I ran across this article on the Huffington Post this past summer and I was able to check off almost all 23 items.  If you think you might be an introvert or you want to gain a little insight into introverts, read this article:  23 Signs You’re Secretly an Introvert

Long Hashtag Gripe: #iOnlyHave140characters

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I have a hashtag gripe.  While I love that brands are embracing social media and making custom hashtags for us to follow and engage with them, why must some of them be so long?  I only have 140 characters!  I was watching TV a few nights ago and saw a KFC commercial that illustrates this point.  I was admiring their use of branding throughout the entire commercial, to include a custom hashtag on the chicken bucket that was in the background.  At the end of the commercial, they used the custom hashtag to ask #HowDoYouKFC?  All I could think about (because I don’t eat KFC) was, why is the hashtag so long?  You can’t even use it in your sentence structure to help cut down on the number of characters.

I felt it would have been better to ask that question in their marketing materials (online, offline, media, etc) and have people respond with #iKFC or something else short and/or that could be used as part of a sentence.  The less characters a hashtag takes away from a tweet, the better.  The responses would allow for more freedom and creativity.  “#iKFC at my super bowl party…” might be a response for the hashtag example.

KFC is not the only example I have seen of a brand using what I consider to be a super long and cumbersome hashtag.  I think sometimes in an effort to be creative and on trend, brands sometimes forget about the actual consumer.  They want us to engage with them, they want to grab our attention, but in the case of these long and cumbersome hashtags, they are making it difficult for us to actually execute this.  For me personally, if it is difficult, I will lose interest and not do it.  Make it easy and I will say, “sure, why not?” #NoMoreSuperLongCustomBrandHashtagsIn2014

When the Boss Gets Sick: Part 2

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Yesterday I talked about how I use auto responders and auto reply emails to notify clients and potential clients that I am out of the office.  This is a great way to notify people that I am out, but not so great if a client has an emergency that they need taken care of.  This is where a back-up plan comes into play.  I have two back-ups that are still in theory/idea form, because I have not needed to utilize them.  One is a virtual assistant and the other is a relationship with other freelancers that do the same thing I do.

For the most part, freelancers get along with each other and some in similar fields work together and help each other out when needed.  Some send overflow work to each other and others step in when someone is sick or unable to facilitate their client’s needs.  While we are technically competitors, in my own my mind, we are not.  In my field in particular, I feel that each designer has a particular design aesthetic that shows in their portfolio and body of work.  Design is often subjective.  What appeals and looks great to someone, may look dreadful to someone else.  There is a reason why my client’s choose me and a reason why others choose someone else.  For that reason, I do not see my fellow freelance graphic designers as direct competition.  Plus, I also believe that what is for me, is for me and what is for them, is for them.

I respect them and their work and when I work with other freelancers on their client’s projects, I am careful to try not to appear like a separate entity if I have direct contact with the end client.  Recently, I played a back-up role for a freelancer (really, she is an agency) that needed to take a leave of absence for a new bundle of joy on a couple of projects.  She had a team of back-ups that stepped in to keep her business running smoothly, clients happy and work flowing while she was out.  It was kind of awe-inspiring for me to see how the relationships she had developed and fostered turned into something that was kind of beautiful.  All of us lending a hand to help someone like ourselves, a small business owner that needed to take time off.  I hope that if I had a similar need, the relationships I have developed would do the same.

My other back-up idea is more for communication and admin purposes: a virtual assistant.  All of my client files are stored in “the cloud.”  My theory is that if a client had an emergency and needed to have a file sent, something looked up, information, etc., that could not wait until I was back at work, a virtual assistant could help to facilitate those needs.  My theory is that they could use one of the (many) email addresses I have set up and I could include this address as a point of contact for emergencies in the auto responder email.  Because my files are in the cloud, I could give them access to look up information or send files to clients.

Thankfully, I have not had to put any of these theoretical plans into action, but it does make me feel good to know that there is a plan in case I need it.

Do you have any plans in place for running your business when you cannot physically do so?