This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Purging

Among my circle of business friends, I’ve seen a lot of purging lately. Well actually, it is an ongoing thing but there seem to be ‘pockets’ of times when someone starts to realize some of their projects no longer fit their goal. It usually happens when someone ’sees the light’ as to their direction and role within the business. When they start letting go it somehow inspires others to also start their own cleansing routine.

I have to say it is quite interesting and actually somewhat inspiring to see people find their voice and the courage to let go. It’s not easy.

In my quest to own my own business, I’ve started down several roads. One of them was an at home travel agent. It was a total bomb and worse of all, I spent over a year and a good chunk of money to make it work. Was it a bad business? No. It was the wrong time to enter the business plus I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. Even so, letting go is really, really hard even if it is a dud.

Maybe that’s why in this business, I have been very cautious about churning out new web sites and new products. Part of it is because I am kinda slow but that I’ve found oddly to work out to my benefit. It means less purging and less jumping down different rabbit holes which can drain you.

What if you find yourself in a situation where you do have too many things going on and need to rid the business of excess baggage? There are many ways to close a project, but if you decide that selling is a good way, you might want to look into these avenues.

• eBay Websites and Business for sale
• BuySellWebsite.com
• Flippa
• Digital Point Marketplace
• Webmaster’s Marketplace

Don’t forget to check into the business forums you normally frequent too and scope out your own network of people.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Being a Lifetime Learner

Growing up, I’ve always thought learning is all about going to school, getting a certification or a degree. Still, I loved learning new things, how to program, how to build web pages. In my mind it wasn’t a real education that could be translated to be anything useful – like something I could actually earn a living from. It was only a few years ago that I saw the folly of that thinking.

My thoughts for this week’s meme is pretty simple. Learning doesn’t have to equate to degrees on the wall to be useful. We learn stuff every single day that we can utilize in our jobs, our businesses and make life better for ourselves and our family. We are so blessed to live in this high tech era because now, we can learn all kinds of stuff from our peers online. All you need is the desire and drive. If we stop learning we also stop growing but that’s not the worse thing, we start shrinking and that’s not good.

I’ll leave you with a little Chinese proverb to chew on…

Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back

P/S: If you’d like to learn about Internet tech stuff, drop by my blog often and get signed up to my newsletter or visit my Youtube Channel.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Following Your Gut

As small business owners, we’ve been doubted a lot. Some of us received is when we quit our jobs to start our own business, some of us received it along the way when we made some big investments or created a new product. I think it’s normal for those who aren’t in business to dish out the most doubt. It can be very toxic to our ideas and overall mentality. But what do you do when you just know in your gut if an idea is really worth while but everyone says no?

Avoid discussing it – when someone is always negative and you can’t avoid them, sometimes the best way is just to not bring it up at all.

Find those who do understand – it is much better to talk to those who are or were in the same boat and often they have good ideas and advise for you too. Makes the journey less painful.

Focus on the end result

Research, research, research – if you have a gut feeling but don’t have any evidence to substantiate the feeling that may not be so good. But if you can point to some evidence or get feedback from people who really are your target, that this is something people want, you’ll feel better. Not to mention, be a little more confident.

Be prepared for it to fail – some gut feelings are right on target but a lot of them aren’t. You need to prepare yourself for the possibility of failure and miscalculation. Everybody fails – even big companies like Google have some not-so-successful projects they have to cut off. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it and nothing to feel ashamed about. Yet, we can often be our harshest critic so prepare your own heart and mind. Be ready to pick up the pieces and move on.

Just go already! – That’s the whole idea behind a gut feeling right? That you just know it. The longer you wait, the more you’ll talk yourself out of it. Also, someone might come along and actually implement your idea. You’ll definitely feel worse about it then. If you tried it and it worked then great, if you tried it and didn’t work now you know what not to do.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Homepreneur Health

Summer time makes it so super hard for me to stay on top of my workout schedule. This is because during school days, I have about an hour to get myself psyched up before I get started with work and the day is still early.

Unfortunately, during the summer time, I also sleep in with the kids so the workout schedule is completely off kilter. Yeah it is such a challenge to get motivated. I’ve tried to schedule evening workouts too but that completely fell flat and never once did I get the chance. I guess there’s a lot more going on during the evening. Catching up with the family, cooking, getting the home work done, making sure kids are washed and in bed. Mornings still work out best for me.

But besides working out, what we put in or not put in, I’ve learned is also super important. No matter what, I try not to skip breakfast. It is really amazing how big a difference just a small bowl of cereal, a serving of protein like yogurt or stick cheese and a fruit can do to fuel you up. If I have my breakfast, I think clearer, work faster, am able to focus more and get a lot more done by noon, and I am not hungry all the time. If I don’t, I’m unorganized, lack energy, just outright distracted and feel like I have to forage for food all the time which of course disrupts the task at hand.

Back to exercise, I am kinda glad that the kids will be back in school in over a week. There is one other thing I want to try though. I’ve heard that standing uses more calories than sitting and so, when I re-arrange my office next, I am looking into creating a standing work space or waist-high work station so that I can stand for short periods or pull up a stool for longer periods.

Stool – sound uncomfortable right? Yes but maybe that might help me unplug and keep me from staying on the computer for unnecessarily long periods of time.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About a Favorite Blogger

How do you go about naming favorites when you don’t really have any? Besides, there are some really awesome bloggers out there I wouldn’t be able to fit in everyone. So this week, let’s talk about how we can all be someone else’s favorite blogger instead.

It is my belief that to be a  favorite blogger, you should forget about appearing on anyone’s public list. Huh!? Personally, I find these A-list or top lists kinda annoying because I truly believe we all have potential for some kind of greatness. So you may not be a great blogger but you could be a great coach – you know what I mean?

To me, it is simple. Serve and wow your readers. The people who really matter and who could ultimately turn into the best client/customer/fan/evangelist. Work hard for them, not for other bloggers. I’m pretty sure you’ll make it or already are on someone’s favorites list even though it may not be shouted out at the top of the virtual hill.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Creating a Wow Experience

There are probably a gazillion things we could all do to create a WOW experience for your customers. Customer support almost always plays a major role though not always. This week I’d only like to share and reflect on one WOW experience I encountered just 2 weeks ago. Here’s what happened.

The company had to do some shuffling and moving around of their member’s only area. It required a temporary shut down – over the weekend to ensure the changes go as smoothly as possible. As a ‘gift’ for this small inconvenience, the company offered a short term coupon to purchase other products they have at a discounted price. The amount wasn’t that big but in my mind, that did not matter at all.

It immediately made me say WOW. Why? Because to be honest, the down time would not have mattered that much to me – and probably a lot of other people considering it took place over the weekend. Would it have inconvenienced some? Sure but probably not the majority. Also, the company didn’t have to. We know that technical maintenance does require temporary down times once in a blue moon. Customers understand stuff like that and expect that. So they didn’t have to put themselves out there. But they did.

That small experience had a big impact on me and likely other customers too. Plus, they likely picked up extra sales when they wouldn’t have if the stuck with status quo. Oh and one last point – wowing your customers can be little gestures like these. It doesn’t have to be a major go-all-out-for-it campaign, nor does it have to be complicated.

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Motivating Others

I totally admire those people who always seem to know the right things to say to motivate others. It’s a gift. Me, I get tongue tied or offer up some really cheesy words that made me wish I’d never said anything. So… this week instead of sparking ideas from me, I’d like to share what others have done that really motivate me.

• Tweeting or publicly sharing their goals and successes big or small, but don’t do it in a in-my-face manner. There’s nothing like a little healthy envy to get me going.
• Getting a private coupon – just because. It motivates me to treat my customers better.
• Receiving a bouquet of flowers from a client – just because. It motivates me to be sweet to my own assistants and staff.
• People who check in on me and are genuinely concerned how I’m doing motivate me. They kinda give me a gentle kick in the butt, like holding me accountable.

What have others done for you that motivates you?

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Making ‘Real Life’ Connections With People You Know Online

Those of you who know me especially after my infamous Social networking as a hermit post know I am not a social butterfly. Believe it or not, I am very shy and get cold feet when meeting people. Yet, at the same time, I enjoy other peoples’ company. It’s weird isn’t it? That’s probably because deep down inside humans are social creatures and need that to sustain us.

Once every few months, I have a strong urge/desire to connect with people face to face. Particularly the people whom I work with online. I’ve never once turned an opportunity down to do so. It really helps to solidify your relationship. I have no wise words here, only one tidbit to share.

You can, should and have to reach out. Nobody ever comes to you if you don’t seek them out first.

I have a private forum for people like me who left everything they have in their native land to seek a new and better life abroad – doesn’t matter which country. Once, a woman complained to me and said I am lucky because I have this support group and she has none. What she doesn’t know is that, for years I led a very lonely existence. My ’support group’ did not come about overnight and those relationships didn’t blossom in a day either. It took me years to build that community and those in the community began organizing meetups with each other which further increased their bond and appreciation of the community.

If we had all sat around and sulked like she did, we’d never enrich our lives and give others the opportunity to enrich ours.

It’s been months since my last meetup with my online friends. I know that if I want to enjoy that experience again, I have to initiate it, the same way I initiated our last meetup.