Your own Happiness is your Responsibility. Not anyone else’s. If you are Unhappy, it lies within you to fix it.

People don’t make you Happy. You are reacting to the stiuation. The only 3 things we can control in life are:

1. Your actions.
2. Your responses to situations and your experiences.
3. Your thoughts, beliefs, or attitude.

By the way, you can’t fix people. Or change them. Period.

You have to be comfortable with yourself – and love yourself.

Manage Expectations. When I suggest lower your expectations, I’m not saying lower your standards. I’m saying be a little realistic about what will happen or how it will go. For example, if you go to an event that you paid $75 for, don’t have an expectation that the food, drink, crowd and other details will be fabulous. Often that isn’t the case. But if you just expected to meet a few people, have a nice conversation with someone, and relax through the experience, your expectations are set at a more realistic level. Hence, you will be less disappointed. Less often your hopes will be shattered.

I lack Patience. If I had patience, I would likely be happier. I wouldn’t be grumpy in traffic. I think Patience makes waiting for “The One” easier. It makes the wait for the perfect job (whatever that is) easier.

Last thought:  you have to have some kind of map or plan or goal – or you will just float along. Happiness and Fun take some planning. It doesn’t usually happen by itself.  Enjoy the Journey.

Ricki introduced me to another VA that edited my book. I met Susan from Ace Concierge online. I am getting busier so I am trying to figure out how to delegate better. I need to learn how to utilize my VA better to free up my time, so I can spend more time writing (blogs, articles, book #3); doing podcasts; speaking; consulting; and talking with prospects and clients.

I asked Susan if she had a tele-seminar about How to Use a VA. She didn’t but gave me thoughts. Then I Googled it. This is what I found:

1. WebWorkerDaily has an article about How to Use a VA.
2. Here’s a list of 101 tasks that a VA can do for you.
3. And here’s 30 creative ways to use a VA.
4. The typical MLM article: How to use Virtual Staff to make passive income. I actually have hired a freelancer to write non-technical copy, so anything is possible.

For me, the key is probably control. Susan wrote to me, “It is not easy to delegate what we have always done; to trust another to do it, or to believe someone can complete a project/task as well as we can. Developing a comfort level and knowing that someone can truly and effectively help you manage your business is a learned skill.”

I think it’s my mindset that I can get it done myself faster before I even explain it once. But that’s a falsehood. If I explain it correctly once, the VA can do it over and over. Also, it always takes longer to do something than I think it can (or worse schedule it to). (Like this blog post).

“Solo-preneurs cannot do it all themselves. It is impossible. Something will always suffer for this type of mentality. We all try, but miss the mark,” Susan points out.

I think she is right on the mark with this: “Once you lay the foundation, discuss accountability, responsibility, expectations and deadlines, it comes together. Some tasks may take a little more creativity with training while others, not so much, but in the end, if you think about all you stand to gain with outsourcing, it is a win-win. Just think if you delegated only 4 hrs per week-that is 16 hrs per month to work on income generating activities or have a little more me time.”

Thoughts? [I am going to spend this week thinking about what I can outsource].

Let’s face it, social media is about conversation. It is about spreading a message, an idea or a story. But at its foundation it is marketing, because what is marketing but spreading an idea, a story or a message.

Unfortunately, most people are spreading manure and pumping up their own egos. How many were not very good at traditional marketing? Ego doesn’t work well in marketing because it isn’t about YOU, it’s about THEM. The Client. The Customer. The Ratepayer. The Prospect.

Marketing is about getting attention. That’s why people talk about eyeballs and the number of followers or some other metric. It is about Engagement and Listeners. Jeffrey Gitomer asks, “Would you rather have a loyal wife or a satisfied one?”

The same with your followers. Sure, 10K people following you strokes your ego, but if no one is listening or responding or re-tweeting or commenting, what’s the point?

There is a story about 1000 customers being profitable. And 2000 customers makes you lots of profit.

There’s also the mental limit of about 250 – that’s about all the people we can effectively remember and engage with. People with a network of more than 5,000 will tell you it’s possible but I’m going to stick with you can have a Rolodex of thousands, but can only maintain a relationship with about 250.

That brings us around to sales: in sales, it’s about the relationship. They have to like you and trust you to buy from you in most cases.

We forget in this digital age that pre-Internet, PR, marketing, advertising and branding were not always done under one roof. There are still many firms that just handle publicity. Still others only handle branding; while others just do advertising. It’s all under the Marketing umbrella, but they are different arms of that octopus.

Remember too, that in traditional advertising, there was a media buy component and a creative piece. The creative piece was the charge to come up with the campaign – whether it was the story board for the commercial (TV or radio) or the billboard and newsprint ads. The firm created the story that would resonate with your target audience. (Unless it was just a cool ad to win an ADDY, which also happened. A lot.)

The firm would do the media buy for a commission to get your ad on the radio – on the right radio station that hit your demographics; or on the right TV channel, on the targeted TV show, aimed at a targeted demographic. Or the same with a newspaper or magazine ad: who is the target demographic and what do they read.

We seemed to have forgotten all that in the online marketing world. We don’t story board or check where the demographic is or target like a sharpshooter. Instead, we aim for numbers and noise and throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. If you are going to spend the time, the effort and the money, do it right. The Internet has a long memory.

On RAD’s Radar has a bunch of the insights and quotes from the sessions I attended at GROWCO.

Now I will sum up the conference in 4 points.

Number 1: I would have to say that in order to really grow your business you need to tell a story. That’s first and foremost. And not a story that is Me, Me, Me. Over the ages storytelling is how history was passed down. You know your own family history from listening to your parents and grandparents tell you stories. If you want people to talk about your company and refer business to you, you need to be able to tell a clear, concise story about what you do that benefits the person who is listening. (It takes time to create this message).

Whether you are networking, giving a presentation, answering a customer complaint, or on a sales appointment, remember that people care about themselves, not you. What message do you want them to take away? (It can only be one message).

Your Brand is the Emotional memory that a person has for either your company or logo or product. I usually describe it as 1K of memory storage of everything they know or have heard about your company. But there has to be an emotional string there somewhere for them to care one way or another. Apathy is the absence of emotion. [FYI, the Coke/Pepsi Challenge with brain imaging]

“You are building a relationship not a sale,” says Norm Brodsky. Raving Fans, Repeat Customers, and Referrals all come from relationships. You need to care about your customer more than making a sale. Period.

It all starts with the Hiring. You can’t teach Friendly. Hire Slow, Fire Fast. If the candidate isn’t smiling and trying to win the position, don’t bother hiring them. Corporate Culture is about hiring friendly, trustworthy people that care about the same things that you care about. [See the story of Zappos.com or any article by Norm Brodsky]

The Elevator Pitch guys were fantastic. On topic. Great info. Engaging and interactive.

Norm Brodsky is a lively speaker with great stories – just read his column on INC. On topic? Not so much. When I’m in a session titled How to Close a Deal, please actually talk about that, not about tangents and Corporate Culture. Was it interesting to hear about Corporate Culture as a way to retain customers, stop relying on a salesperson, and growth? Yes. But that wasn’t the topic.

Paul Spiegelman was on topic with How I Work. Balance is an important topic to entrepreneurs.

As I tweeted this morning, I wonder why sports figures are keynotes. Listening to them regale their glory days is not my idea of worthwhile. George Foreman did drop some gems, like “Just keep getting up” and “Sell, sell, sell” and “Just get out there and do it.” And the audience loved him. Me? I’m a meat and potatoes guy.

I have put on events – ISP Expo, BarCampTampaBay (twice) and have helped other events find speakers, put together panels, and create content. Not many event planners understand that it isn’t so much the $495 for the 3 days but the time away from RGA (revenue generating activities) that keeps people away from conferences. The $495 becomes over $1000 with hotel, airfare, etc. The 3 days means I need to take away quite a few gems. Concrete ideas that can be implemented in my business. Yet that’s not the way it’s usually done. Event planners worry about the vendors who actually pay to have the event take place. Will they be happy. Take a lesson from your speakers: If your customers (attendees) are happy, so will the rest of the stakeholders.

Jim McCann of 1-800-Flowers spoke about himself for an hour — with commercials from his company over the years. Maybe he skimmed Presentation Zen to just catch the words play video. I spoke with INC’s online editor about the speakers. What would have been better? McCann and an editor in white sofas on stage. The monitors filled with the video close-up of McCann. The editor interviews him allowing 10 minutes for the history, then the next 45 minutes to explain how a promotion with AT&T or Martha or CBS Outdoor could be done by a small shop in Iowa. Where does the rubber meet the road? As Julia points out, my favorite word has been GRANULAR, which maybe is too intangible. What I want is something tangible to walk away with.

I didn’t hear all of Amy Simmons speech because my client said it was the same talk she gave yesterday and during the 5 minutes I listened had nothing to so with Making Raving Fans.

I was disappointed with the number of people who left Gail Goodman’s session this morning, especially the women. How many other female CEO’s pulled off an IPO in 2007? What woman entrepreneur wouldn’t want to hear that example speak? (And yet I get some flack that there aren’t enough women speakers).

As a speaker you are incurring costs and time to give a talk, but What’s in it for the Audience? They are giving up as much as you. Don’t you want to WOW them? Jim Rohn used to say that he wanted to perfect his craft every year. he didn’t want someone to say, “You should have seen Jim speak back then.” He wanted to hear, “I heard Jim speak before, but you should hear him now.”

BTW, sandwiches for lunch? Not a good idea. And granola bars or some form of protein for breakfast please. Yet, INC I greatly appreciate the water, soda, coffee all day!

So you read the book, get a blog, start filming some video, writing some content. Now what?

The average blogger doesn’t make peanuts off Google Adwords, so that isn’t going to be your monetization strategy. Ads? Well, when you get to 25,000 page views per day, you can talk to sponsors about ads and CPM. So what does that leave?

One thing is affiliate product links.You can sell other people’s products on your blog or website to make some affiliate dollars.  [NOTE: Under new FTC rules, you have to identify that you are an affiliate now. ]  Some people do very well with this. Many do not.

The other is selling your own product or services. Ah! But you don’t have any. Right.

Also, do you have corporate structure set up? Do you understand the tex implications of being self-employed – even as an affiliate because you do have to claim that income. (The company paying you is claiming it pays you).

If you have your own product, how do you produce and ship it? What about accepting credit cards? Do you have Business Liability insurance? Does your Home Owners Association allow you to run a commercial business out of your house? Are their zoning laws or other county or state regulations that you need a permit or certificate for? How will you collect and pay sales taxes?

One of the reasons businesses fail is because more than half of running a business has nothing to do with the “FUN” part. There’s admin, bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, insurance, HR, accounts payable, accounts receivable, etc. When you had that W-2, there were other departments that handled all that. You just did your job. Now you are that company – every department – and it will eat up your day.

You know what else I forgot? Sales. You are now the Chief Sales Officer of Brand You. That’s probably not what you thought you would be doing when you got started.

Things to think about for certain.

Two resources: E-Myth by Michael Gerber and SCORE.org, a group of retired execs that help small businesses.

Do you want to be a Freelancer or an Entrepreneur? Big difference. A freelancer is, in the words of E-Myth, a Technician. He trades hours for money and has traded in his W-2 to have a job in his own business. An Entrepreneur is going to move beyond being a Technician, outsource work, manage projects and people, and some day convert that leverage for a beach location.

What freelancers forget is that as a W-2, other departments/employees handle customer service, IT, HR, sales, accounts receivable, admin tasks, payroll, etc. As a freelancer, YOU will be handling ALL of that stuff. It means you will spend about 35-45% of your time doing anything BUT those tasks you love. That becomes a bummer.

Straddling the W-2 means that you have a full-time job but you are taking in some freelance work until you can get enough of a base of work to leave your W-2.

How can you market your services? Many ways: blogging, slideshare.net, freelance sites (guru.com, ifreelance, elance.com, odesk), speaking, webinars, and other ways. Get started and see what happens.

One last hint: set up an LLC or S-Corp so that your payments go to a corporate entity and you get some tax benefits. A few other resources: your CPA (you have one right?), a financial planner, corporate lawyer, Board of Advisors, SCORE, and a Mentor). Good luck!

1. Wise leaders understand that emotions are contagious.
2. Discuss relevant matters openly and appropriately.
3. Keep your people connected – Face-to-Face not all electronic.
4. Reduce physical and electronic clutter.
5. Offer skill development, coaching support and training for your people.

Overall, just manage by walking around and connecting with your employees. Be authentic and transparent if you can.

As a former CFO of a billion dollar organization a positive ROI was necessary to get my support. To get my support a project had to have the following criteria:

1. Within the scope of our existing priorities;
2. A solid business plan;
3. A plan for a annual retroactive review to assure that the project is meeting the objectives.
4. A champion that I could hold accountable for the project.
5. A well vetted, risk adjusted ROI, that was based on reasonable and supportable assumptions.

In times like this, it is even more important to do thorough ROIs on all projects. By thorough, I mean the inclusion of a risk factor and well vetted facts and assumptions. With funds being limited, it is important that they be spent on those projects which provide the best return. [Editor: And advance overall goals and values of the organization].

As it relates to CapEx or OpEx, the decision to use either should be part of the ROI. If the project has a very positive ROI and the company has the funding to support the project, than the project should move forward.

Making decisions based on sound business practices is the key to long term success. An ROI analysis is a very sound business practice. As a result I was always willing to support projects that met the above criteria.

Another answer came from Chip Nickolett:

Not only are organizations being forced to do more with less, timelines for projects have been shortened to have a more immediate and measurable business impact. Expenditures that don’t make an immediate impact (i.e., within 12 months) will be tough to get approved, unless it is essential and in-line with the strategic plan for that business. ROI and TCO are more important than ever in this economy since they focus on both CapEx and OpEx, and have a direct impact on profitability.

[Editor: That's sound business advice].

In the same issue of Entrepreneur, 198 items for your guerrilla marketing arsenal [here].