MoxieWorks

Tap Into Your Creative Power with a Handwritten To Do List

A few days ago I posted a photo of my To Do list on Facebook and a good friend and colleague of mine couldn't believe that I do it on paper. By hand. In this day and age of electronic organization tools, I guess it does seem a bit old fashioned.

As I posted earlier, I have tried every kind of to do tool possible, and after 20 years have found that a hand written list is the very best to actually getting things done. I even offered mine as a download.

I thought though I should share a bit about the philosophy from a creative viewpoint - after all that is how I ultimately see my entire life, as a creative. (Must be the graphic design degree, years of designing collateral, creative work, etc.)

First: Creative Hands - Using your hands allows you to think differently then typing on a keyboard or inputing with your thumbs on your Android (iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, etc). You are able to connect to a part of your brain that is hardwired for movement, thinking, and creative thought.

A good friend of mine is a teacher and woodworker and has written extensively about using your hands - and how this is becoming a lost art to our children. The ideas derive from Sloyd, a Finnish system of handicraft-based education. He teaches the smallest children to use their hands (and very sharp tools) to make toys, boxes, etc. It is his work with adults though that I think is so fascinating - their reintroduction to using their hands is often a breakthrough in their thinking and creative process.

Those ideas, that you are connecting through your hands to your right brain allow my list to be more reflective of my work then a linear online list can ever be.

Second: Crossing It Off - there is nothing more satisfying then actually crossing an item off your list. It feels great. It feels as if you actually accomplished something. My husband laughs at me when I "finish" the laundry - he says there is no finishing because we always have more - and he is right. We always have more of everything, but writing down the tasks associated with projects allows us to see some light at the end of the tunnel and crossing it off is like arriving at a point on the destination.

Third: Limiting Possibilities - Usually, as a creative person, I am boundless to the possibilities of any project, idea, or concept. The reality is that we need to get stuff done! We can't live in the never ending land of ideas. The handwritten to do list, with a set number of lines says, "Jacqueline, this is all you could possibly do today." I might not even get all of that done, but it puts some reality to the day allowing me to focus.

Here is a great post on the David Allen (of GTD Fame) blog from a reader: This was a revelation. It was the first time I felt that I could control my work world. Up to that point, my work, and my interests had been controlling me." This is HUGE! It shows how we need to set boundaries, find control, and allow us the ability to manage our time.

It might be old fashioned, but it works. Try it for a week and let me know how your written to do list makes a difference in your busy life! You can use any piece of paper, any pen, any system - but try it and see the difference it makes in your life.

Marketing Plan: First Step - Goals

As we work through this step by step marketing plan you will be able to do this all on one sheet - unless, like me, you write big. Seriously, step away from the computer and use a piece of paper and a pen. Your thinking changes when you write by hand instead of typing away on the computer.

Draw a line down and across the middle of the page on both sides. You now have your Eight Step Plan - see I told you this would be easy.

In the first box write "Goals". This is where you want to write what your goals are for your marketing efforts for this year. Not for your entire business. Not for sometime. But what you want to accomplish with your marketing efforts for this year.

This could be: increase traffic by 10% on  my site, develop a referral program for new business, enter a new market segment, launch a new product, increase overall business by 8%, make enough to hire a new employee. Whatever your goals are - they are perfect. Write them down. Don't make them crazy - this isn't an Oprah inspired vision board. These are realistic tangible goals that you can accomplish this year.

That's it. You have completed step one. What are some of your goals? What would you like to accomplish with your marketing efforts for this year?

(See, they even write down their goals at DAVOS, ok they are bit over the top, but they write them down! Now get yours on paper!)

Photo Credit: World Economic Forum

Small Business Marketing Plan Steps

How on earth can you do it all? I am sure you are thinking that for your small business. First of all you have the every day work that has to be done, then there are the taxes, payroll, orders, etc. It is overwhelming just to get that all accomplished. I hear you!

Then you know that you need to be marketing or advertising, but you aren't sure what will work. One person swears by her local paper, another is putting all their eggs in the Facebook basket, and another likes the tried and true Yellow Pages. Where does that leave you?

You don't have an infinite budget to spend and you certainly don't have enough time. Over the next three weeks I will share some easy ways to make a plan, budget for it, and stick to it. You can follow along or just find the pieces that are important to you. Maybe you just want to add a new component to your advertising mix, I'll cover that. Or maybe you are ready to hire a consultant, I'll cover that too.

So, get yourself an old fashioned pen and paper and come back tomorrow for the first step to building your small business marketing plan.

And if you want to skip all that - email me [ jacqueline at moxieworks.net ] and we can talk about your specific marketing questions. Office is open!

Photo Credit: MNicoleM

No Magic Wand

 I may have blown it, but I don't think so. I was asked by a group of businesses to create a brainstorming session to re-imagine a monthly event that they have. I worked on the concept, developed a strategy, and presented an opportunity for them to dream about what their event could be.

Well, that isn't want they had really wanted. They really wanted me to come in and fix it.

It's funny how many people want some magic wand to come fix their business, get them more customers, manage their employees, redesign their layout, etc. 

But the truth is that there is no magic wand.

It is all about hard work.

Now, they could have paid me to fix their event, but that isn't what they really needed (even though they not so secretly shared that with me during the very awkward brainstorming session). What they needed to do was go back to the drawing board as a group and decide what this monthly event meant to them, figure out collectively and individually what they needed to do, and then create a work plan that they could manage.

And that is what happened. I got the call yesterday that they are going to try to kick-start this event themselves, share what they are doing with their neighbors, and see if they can -themselves- bring life back to the event.

I am immensely proud of them for doing the hard work - and they will be too.

Photo Credit: J*me

Note: Seth Godin just wrote about this and I think he is so right. "Standing for something means giving up a lot of other things, and opening yourself to criticism." Read the post, I love where he is coming from.

5 Steps to Getting Paid

I recently had a friend (past client and now friend) who is launching her solo copy writing business and emailed me asking how to handle getting paid. She was specifically asking about working with small and independent businesses - wondering how to handle the question of incentives for paying or deposits.

First, it isn't about getting paid. It is about doing good work. If I am only focused on the money and then stressing out that I am not getting paid on time I will not do good work. So, for myself, I work on the premise that I am going to provide the best possible work - and I am going to trust that I am going to get paid.

Feel out your new clients about their cash flow issues. Ask them up front if they have the money to pay you to do the work that they are hiring you for. Ask them to explain where they are getting the funding for their new start up. If you hear that they are funding this through their credit cards that is a red flag. If they were recently laid off and they are using the only savings they have that is also a red flag. If, though, they have jobs, venture capital, or have done a business plan and gotten a traditional loan then you can feel more confident that they will be able to pay you.

Talk about payments up front. Many new business owners are uncomfortable talking about money (I don't love it), but if you bring it up front and center that you need to be paid on X date or work will not be able to be completed, finished, etc. then they are going to feel an impetus to pay you. Talk about it - if you do not talk about they won't bring it up. Money isn't fun to talk to anyone about, but if it is part of your easy conversation about doing work then you will help everyone feel better about it.

Give your clients lots of options on how to pay you. They can pay by check, they can pay you through PayPal, they can pay you through a direct deposit. It really shouldn't matter to you how you get paid so give them lots of options. Don't sweat a small fee from PayPal - getting paid is what matters.

Finally, don't continue to do work for clients who don't pay you. Period. I have been burned twice in all of the years that I have been providing marketing services and both of those were a big deal at the time, but didn't break me completely. I never have tons of work held up in invoices and I don't continue to work for clients who don't pay - so there is never very much money tied up. It happens and then you move on.

Lessons to be learned: Talk about money, be clear about your invoicing, give them lots of options to pay you and don't get too hung up on the money. Just focus on doing good work - it all works out in the end.

Photo Credit: DavidDMuir