It could be as small as writing a blog post.

Or as grand as writing the Great American Novel.

You believe you have what it takes.

To develop an amazing ad campaign.

To start a new business.

To learn how to jump really big horses over even bigger fences.

Yet, you don’t do it.

You never even start.

It’s those damned voices in your head, isn’t it?

Those voices mess with me all the time.  They’ve been there almost all my life.

Maybe you have voices, too.  I’d be surprised if you didn’t.

For example:  In one of my posts at the beginning of the new year, I mentioned that I am enrolled in the Writing Studio at Stanford University.  My ultimate dream is to write fiction – stories, books, screenplays.

I’ve actually wanted to do this all my life.  But those voices held me back.

What makes you think you have enough imagination to write interesting stories?

Writing is hard.  Very hard.  You’d have to have to started writing when you were four years old if you were ever going to be a real writer.

There are so many other people depending on you – you’ll be abandoning them, and your work, if you try to spend time writing.

Don’t forget, you have that client strategy to outline, the dog to walk, the laundry to do.

And on and on.

Here’s the big news: Those voices are never going away.  Never.

But now, I have a different perspective on exactly what these voices are trying to do.

For nearly fifty years, I perceived the voices as being the devil on my shoulder, entities trying to make me feel bad about myself, give me anxiety, and stop me from doing anything worthwhile.  I spent a great deal of energy fighting them tooth and nail, arguing with them for hours on end about how awful they were.

Suddenly, last summer, I had an epiphany.

These voices aren’t trying to sabotage me.  In their own, twisted way, they’re trying to protect me.

None of us wants to be hurt or abandoned or to feel like a failure.  Therefore, the voices act as a cranial “executive board,” saying things to us to prevent us from harm.

You want to write?  You really need an MFA to get anything published.

You want to open a cupcake shop?  Yes, you make cupcakes to die for.  But all of the business knowledge that goes with it is impossible to learn.

You want to train your employees by creating a new program and handbook?  Do you know how much time that takes?  You don’t have that much time.  And what makes you think you can make your employees be as good a salesperson as you are?

[Insert your own voices here.]

Here’s how I now handle my executive board:

Every morning, when I walk the dog (we do a lot of walking, with everything I have in my head to pore through), I have a meeting with the executive board inside my head.  I picture the boardroom and address individual board members by name.

“Wanda Worry, I think you’re projecting a little too far into the future by obsessing about getting published, when I only have seven chapters of my book written.  What I want you to do is turn that worry into focus, to help me get that next scene written in my three-hour writing session today.”

“Polly Panic, you have no need to get your undies in a bunch over the fact that I have two client conference calls this afternoon.  You know me – have I ever been late?  No.  I have the day all planned.”

“Ingrid Intellect, you know full well that I’m pretty smart, and what I don’t know I learn pretty damned quick.  People think it’s amazing, the number of personal and professional challenges I’ve stood up to, so I know I’ve got the right stuff.  You’re either with me, or I’m going to have to fire you.”

Laugh if you will, but for me, it works. I close each morning’s session by giving them a pep talk, aimed at turning them from doubters into muses.  I then walk out the door and lock it behind me.

In the beginning, it used to take 30 minutes to have this daily talk inside my head.  Now, it takes less than five.

I think the voices are beginning to listen.

What would happen to your dreams if, instead of thinking of the voices as evil beings, you perceived them instead as being whacky relatives who love you and are really just trying to protect you?

Can you stand up to them?  They’re not doing it on purpose, after all.  They just don’t know any better.

Think about it.  Have daily board meetings with them.  Explain how it’s gonna be from here on out.

I’m willing to be that if you do, it won’t be long before you’re training some kick-ass employees, opening that cupcake shop, or flying over hedges astride the greatest horse the world ever saw.

Woot!

You can read all about it on the Books and Videos page.

If you’d like the softcover version, it will only cost you $15.95.

But you can also get it on Amazon for 99 cents.

You just have to have a Kindle, iPad, or iPhone.

The e-book version is my gift to you – sort of.

Why 99 cents? Well, I wanted to give it away for free.  But Amazon requires a minimum of 99 cents to sell any e-book for the Kindle.  And I want to make it fair across the board, no matter what e-book reader you own.

Give it a whirl.  I think once you’ve finished reading it, you’re going to want the softcover version (hopefully, multiple copies) for your staff and colleagues.

Check it all out (including download of sample chapters) on the Books and Video page.

Happy reading!

Right?

Many of us have good intentions toward making the new year the best one yet.

We make resolutions.  Create goals.

And that’s a good thing.

I’m a big proponent of “tiny little bits,” and have offered lots of advice about how to divide and conquer your way to achievement.

But as I get older, I’ve found that doing one exercise at the beginning of the year helps me all year long.  It’s little device that keeps me on track, and helps me sleep at night.

It’s my personal acronym for success.

Here’s how it looks for 2011: WEALTH

Work on fiction writing
Exercise
Awareness
Love
Tenacity in marketing career
Healthy eating

1)  Work on fiction writing. Joy rains down on me when I can spend time writing stories.  Last year, I was accepted into the Stanford Writer’s Studio and have been at work on a novel.  This is my commitment to a future, permanent phase of my life, and I’m putting in the time now to get me where I eventually want to be.  That means sitting my butt in the chair every single day to work on the book.

2)  Exercise. Pretty self-explanatory.  Walking the dog twice a day (perfect time for meditation) and a minimum of 30 minutes a day on some kind of exercise that will keep me as fit as possible for the years to come.

3)  Awareness. Taking cues from the Dali Lama, being more and more aware of the things that surround me and touch my life.  Before taking a bite of my breakfast in the morning, meditating for a moment on all it took to get it on my table – right down to the planting of the seed that ends up as the strawberry in my bowl.

4)  Love. For family, friends, and colleagues.

5)  Tenacity in marketing career. Caring for clients, students, and blog readers in ways that will help them experience success, and will place me as the “go-to” advisor through books, presentations, and workshops.

6)  Healthy eating. Less refined, more whole foods.  (Why, oh why, can’t chocolate be part of the food pyramid?)

Each morning, while walking the dog, I review my acronym to see if I will cover each of my intentions on that day.  This way, I can start out feeling that my day (and life) will be balanced.

Each evening, I review the acronym in my mind and weigh it against what I accomplished.

• Did I work on my fiction writing, even if it was scribbling for 15 minutes while waiting for the dentist?
• Did I get some exercise in?
• Did I take one moment during the day and work on my awareness of the present moment?
• Did I spread some genuine love around?  Drop an email to an old friend?  Check in on the neighbor who just lost her husband?
• Did I touch my marketing career in a way that not only helps me, but helps others?
• Did I refrain from eating too many chocolate chip cookies?

If I can say to myself that yes, I did something in each category that day that made a difference, I can tell the rest of the world to go to hell and can sleep well at night.

Try this exercise yourself. What acronym can you come up with, and what would the letters stand for?  I’d love to see what you come up with.  Put your acronym in the comments below with a brief explanation, and you could win a FREE copy of my new book (out today!), Unzipped: A Portable Guide to the Anatomy of the Female Customer.

Here’s to a fantastic 2011.

Being infatuated with it is not.

Loving your business demands commitment, focus, and the willingness to “work on the relationship” in a way that strengthens your company and enhances the experience of your customer.

Infatuation is defined as a foolish, extravagant, feeling that doesn’t always require sound judgement.  You put your business on a pedestal.  You believe it’s the brightest, most beautiful thing in the world – so much so, that you almost dare people to “compare” your business with the competition.

And that is where the danger lies.

Nine times out of ten, the things you believe about your business AND the competition are skewed.  Seriously skewed.

You think your customer service couldn’t be better.  You love the displays in your retail store.  You think the competition’s employees are not nearly as nice or as well trained as yours.  You believe you have the absolute, best-of-the-bunch, world-class business in your category.

Then why is the competition beating the pants off of you?

It’s time for you to take a serious look at your PEF – Personal Experience Factor.

1)  Mystery shop the competition. Go out on your own and spend some quality time at each of your major competitors’ locations.  Don’t just walk in and out – hang around, window shop, and get a sense of atmosphere.  Look at inventory, and how it’s displayed.  Check out the lighting.  See how many employees greet you and ask if you need help.  Try to absorb as much about the business as you can.  When you go back out to your car, write down notes (or record them into a voice recorder) immediately.  You don’t want to lose a thing.

2)  Send a troop of mystery shoppers out on a mission. Either recruit customers who you know can be objective, or hire a company that specializes in mystery shopping.  Develop a comprehensive questionnaire (there are many examples on the Internet) and send out the troops to visit the same locations that you did.

Then – here’s the hard part – sit down and compare their findings with yours.  You’re probably in for a shock.  In all my years in the marketing industry, only ONE company has had a healthy sense of self and knew what it had to do to compete with other businesses.  Make a set of good, solid notes, being sure to highlight those finding that greatly differ from yours.

3)  Finally, go back and shop the competition one more time. This time, look at it through the eyes of a customer.  Review your notes before going inside.  Look for the good things, from the perspective of trying to learn from this business.  After you leave, see if you can jot down a few things that your staff could do to improve the customer’s experience.

Be in love with your business, don’t be infatuated by it.  Infatuation means you have a big blind spot, one that could prevent anyone from falling in love with your company.

Since I’m immersed in the world of advertising, my brain pretty much ignores every commercial that airs while I’m puttering around the kitchen.  But this one grabs my attention every time:

The Pure Fitness chain has advertised on all of the local TV channels for years, yet this is the first time I’ve not only noticed one of their commercials, I look forward to watching it again and again.

Why?  Two reasons:

1.  Authenticity. While the ad was created by a respected video company, it has a spontaneous, You Tube-like texture to it.  It shows groups of people exercising in ways that are different from the traditional stereotype of how a gym is usually portrayed, and shows those people smiling, laughing, and (gasp!) having fun.

2.  Mirror Neurons. These little guys have one of the most delightful jobs in the brain.  When you view an act that you find attractive or appealing, the mirror neurons send a signal to your brain, telling you to mimic, or “mirror,” the action you are viewing.  By watching the members at Pure Fitness having a genuinely great time while moving and getting fit, your brain says, “Hey!  That looks like fun!  Let’s do it, too!”

Pure Fitness uses this footage for their TV commercial, but maybe you don’t advertise on television.  How could you do something similar?

Videotape people using your product, or have customer send in their own examples.  Then, place them on your website, just like Strider Sports did to show their unique bikes for beginners.

Videotape the happenings at special events, charity events that you sponsor, etc., then create a video montage showing your involvement in the community.  Put it on your website, and include it in presentations you give at Rotary.

Try to think of other ways you can grab the attention of your customer’s mirror neurons.  We talk a lot about “show, don’t tell.”  How can you show folks what you’re really all about?

A new report commissioned by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland identifies a shift in thinking about social media and what kind of business opportunities are available.

E-Marketer provides an excellent chart, showing what marketers expected social media to do for their business, and the modified results of what actually happened.

Surprise, surprise – businesses find that social media has been very effective in staying in touch with current customers, and has strengthened employee relationships internally.

Acquiring new customers within their target demographic?  Not so much.

The bonus comes for small business owners, who recognized the “loyalty factor” of social media very early on, and are gaining the most from staying in touch with current customers through dialogue and word-of-mouth.

This is an excellent sign that social media for business is gaining traction.  It also means that many new apps will develop in the coming years – keep your eye on the horizon.

Women love working for companies like Bank of America, Discovery Communications, and General Mills.  It’s not just the atmosphere and flex-time that women find appealing.  It’s also that the female employees of this company are paid the same salaries as male employees, for the same job.

A new study was released this week, announcing that the gender wage gap has narrowed by two cents in the last seven years.  It’s big news everywhere that women now earn 81 cents to every man’s dollar.

But that is at the management level.

Look at jobs at other levels in the workforce, and you discover that women only earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, even when education and experience levels are the same.

And back to management jobs.  If a woman has no children, she actually makes 83 cents on the dollar, compared to 81 cents for mothers.

If you own your own business or are responsible for the hiring of employees, I encourage you to take a long, hard look at your payment practices.

Modify your policy to ensure gender wage parity, then use it as a marketing tool to recruit top-notch talent.  You’ll not only have more candidates than you know what to do with, you’ll end up with a workforce that spreads the love to customers, making you bigger profits.

We’ve been at this equal pay game for nearly 50 years – isn’t it time to even the playing field?

While I could envision mothers bargaining with their kids over what they could and could not afford, I also pictured these same moms feeling slightly relieved to have a comprehensive list at their fingertips to make shopping easier.

Just about any business can do something similar:

• The garden center that offers lists of tools for beginning gardeners, best types of flowers for shaded patios, or step-by-step instructions on planting a shrub or tree.




• The home improvement store that features a list of everything you need (tools and parts) to fix that leaky toilet.




• The restaurant that showcases a “chef’s secret” takeaway recipe card in a holder on the table.




• The wine store with a beautiful wooden literature rack near the register that offers flyers on building your first wine collection, or how to figure out the quantity of wine you’ll need for a party.




• The bank that provides a checklist of the basic financial and personal documents or copies you should place in your safe deposit box.




• The sporting goods store that offers flyers on the equipment you need for cycling, camping or hiking.

The list for potential marketing opportunities is endless.

I wonder why more businesses don’t do this.

What business are YOU in?  What kind of lists could you offer customers to make their purchasing process easier (and maybe even get them to buy more than they originally came into your store for)?.

The company wanted help in creating more compelling content for their website, with the goal of converting more visitors into customers. At the time of our conference call, web stats showed that while visitors were steadily on the rise and that most people were following the content all the way through to the sign-up page, they bailed out about halfway through the sign-up process.

The CEO was flummoxed and frankly, so was I.  The company even offered a two-month free trial.

As we sat there talking, I kept flipping back and forth between the homepage and the sign-up page.

CEO: “I don’t get it.  Our service costs less than $35 a year, yet the process comes to a screeching halt when visitors have to sign up.  What’s the hang up?”

MM: “Well, your service is still a fairly new business model and perhaps with all that you’re promising, it seems too good to be true. I see that you guys offer a free trial.”

CEO: “We do… you can see it on the sign-up page. We give two months for free.”

MM: “That’s great – so why aren’t you advertising this on your homepage… heck, on every page of the website? Surely there are those folks who are a bit more impulsive and will want to check it out right away.”

CEO: “You’re right – we’ll get on that, first thing. Where do you think we should put the info about the $4.95 handling fee?”

Handling fee?  HANDLING FEE?!

In a world where individuals are barraged with advertising and special offers everyday, consumers are highly sensitized to hidden fees and obligations. The customer’s first reaction to a “free trial” with a $4.95 handling fee – especially when it’s buried in the middle of the sign-up process – is going to involve the click of a mouse away from your site (probably preceded by a phrase like, “Uh, screw that!”).

Hyped advertising or offers with strings attached, either intentional or unintentional, will do more harm than good.  In the case of this company, I recommended either offering a “two month trial for $4.95” or, better yet, removing the handling fee entirely, depending on what their marketing budget could handle.

Make sure that free is really free,  or don’t do it at all.

Because, usually, the copy doesn’t answer the basic question: “Which means?” And it never drills down far enough to touch the heart of the customer.

Allow me to illustrate.

One of my clients is New Balance San Antonio, a highly successful chain of shoe stores in San Antonio.  Even when the economy tanked in 2008, owner Rob Kaufman still grew his business by double digits.

How?

By never cutting back on advertising, even when things were bad (a very important factor), and (even more importantly), by delivering a message that is relevant to the customer.

New Balance San Antonio can talk all day long about their 88 points of fit and 40 different shoe models that are created to fit the needs of every foot, but the business won’t sell a single pair of shoes until it can translate its competitive edge into language that means something to the customer.

Example: NBSA wanted to air a radio ad that addressed how “overpronation” of the foot can lead to pain in the body, emphasizing the power of New Balance shoes to correct the problem.

For nearly every phrase I wrote in the ad, I had to remind myself to listen to the customer’s voice in my head, asking “Which means?”

Even the simplest fitness regimens can cause knee pain.

Which means?

You may be wearing a shoe that doesn’t fit the shape of your foot.

Which means?

You may suffer from overpronation.

Which means?

Your foot is rolling inward more than it should.

Which means?

Your knees are vulnerable to injury.

Which means?

You’ll get hurt and you won’t get to enjoy the pleasure of being active.

Which means?

You need shoes that fit, and New Balance has the shoe for you.

The final 60-second radio script looked like this:

Sometimes, life just isn’t fair.  Why should working so hard to get healthy hurt so much?  Well, it shouldn’t! Hi, this is Rob Kaufman from New Balance San Antonio.  Walking, jogging, running – even the simplest fitness regimens can cause pain.  Why?  Because you’re probably wearing a shoe that wasn’t made for your foot.

You may be suffering from overpronation, which is just a fancy way of saying that each time you take a step, your foot rolls in more than it should.  That forces your big toe to handle most of the work needed to push off the ground for your next step.  And THAT means your shins, ankles, and knees are vulnerable to injury.  Let New Balance San Antonio make the hurt go away, with a pair of motion control or stability fitness shoes.  Crafted according to 88 points of designated fit, and with more than 40 models to choose from, you’ll find the shoe that will make getting healthy feel great!

Roll in to New Balance San Antonio today and make your hurt go away. Visit us at the Strand at I-10 and Huebner, at The Forum at I-35 and Loop 1604, or our newest store at Quarry Village.

Remember: when your feet feel good, your whole body feels good!

You can listen to the final product here: New Balance San Antonio – “Overpronation”

Granted, this ad won’t win any creative copywriting awards, but that’s not the goal – persuading the customer and growing your business is.

The next time you’re writing copy for an ad, a brochure, or a website, keep the “Which means?” question in your head at all times.  Answer the customer’s question, and keep answering it till you’ve translated your competitive edge into a language that will have customers knocking on your door.