So what do you want to know?

I do a lot of work for the elder care industry.  So I am well networked with a lot of local facilities, hospitals, etc. Cuyahoga Community College, aka Tri-C has an “Encore” program for seniors. It is a program designed to help seniors stay active, get involved, and as I am finding out be more social.

So when Lori asked me if I would be interested in participating in the Encore program and giving a class on Social Media, I was both honored, and surprised. Not that I should be, I know that the Senior segment is actually on the rise in social media, but there was a part of me that was surprised that a “class” would actually be well attended. But to my delight, my class was booked before I even saw the class schedule!

So here is my first position where I am actually working directly with “Seniors”, of course, I work with my mother, who is proud to flash her senior citizen card even when it’s not necessary. But this is my first time working directly with seniors, and I must say it is a lot of fun! The best part is because I don’t know where they are in the process of learning Social Media, I just ask them at the end of each class, what do you want to learn next? Sometimes I get an answer like “We don’t know enough to know what to want to know.” But more often I get someone or a few people that have a specific question or need.

Then all I have to do is work on a class for the next week.

But besides using this tactic in my class, I have started to use this in the rest of my business and so far I have seen great results! When I am selling a new solution and the proposal doesn’t seem to be going the way I expect, I just ask them, “what do you want to see?” “what do you want to learn?” what problem do you want me to solve?” Putting the control of the conversation back in the customers hands give them a feeling of control. I let them drive the program and it ends up being a win win, they get what they want, and because I know what they want I can create a plan that works. Happy customer make a happy business.

So next time you are at a loss for what to do, what to say, or where to take something, just ask “So what do you want to know?”

Natalie

http://www.morrismc.com

They’re not talking about me… ok maybe they are

So I read a book a while ago called the e-Myth, originally I thought it has something to do with e-mail, or e-newsletter, or something electronic, but it didn’t. It’s about entrepreneurs, and the myth as to how they are “born”. Like any book, especially a self help type of book, whether business or personal, when you first start reading you say “Oh, no that’s not me” and for a long time you try to convince yourself you aren’t as messed up as they make you… I mean they make the other person, out to be.

But after reading (or in my case listening to books on tape as I drive all over the Cleveland area) you start to realize that “Yeah, they really are talking about me.” I think I normally admit to being the person in the book once they start talking about how to solve the problem. “So there’s hope?” OK I can relate if there is hope involved.

Well the e-Myth talks about how most “Entrepreneurs” are not really trying to be “Entrepreneurs” they just don’t want to work for someone else, so they give it a go on their own. Most “Entrepreneurs” don’t have business degrees, they aren’t accountants, they don’t have marketing expertise, they can hardly keep their homes in order no less run a business. Then on top of it they have to manage the people they have hired to help keep things going; although they have no managerial training, they have no process to follow, they have no expertise is dealing with people. That’s not to mention the fact that they are the one who know “how to do everything”. So if they hired people to help them, they probably need the entrepreneur’s help more than the entrepreneur needs their help. If there is a problem, you are the one that fixes it. If an customer is upset you are the one who deals with them and makes things better. If the books aren’t right, you stay up all night trying to figure them out.

Sound familiar? If so, Congratulations! You are probably an Entrepreneur!

So the E-Myth doesn’t really solve any of the problems, but it does shed a lot of light on what they, how to identify them, and the next steps you need to take to fix the problems. Now when I feel like I have a hundred heads and I wonder if having multiple personalities might not be a bad thing, I think of this book and realise that on my own level I do have multiple personalities and I need to be sure they are all being properly taken care of.

Definitely a recommended read for those Entrepreneurs at their breaking point, of just a bit frazzled.

Natalie

www.morrismc.com

A stitch in time

With all the chaos that comes with running a business and always being the person who has all the answers sometimes I lose track of making my life easier. Much of what I do is not difficult work, it doesn’t take any real high skill level, pretty much anyone could do it. So the question is why am I doing it? Well as much as I hate to admit it the reason is me. Not only am I a bit of a control freak, and I don’t like giving up any control, but more importantly, I am the only one who “knows” what needs to be done. Like I said, it’s not rocket science, but at the same time, I can’t expect someone to do something if they don’t even know what they should be doing.

however, and I am sure if you are a “person in charge” you have had the same problem, it takes much more time to write out a procedure, develop a process, and train someone to do it properly than it would be to just do it yourself. So instead of taking the time to write it all out, you just hand it off to someone, they mess it up, and you make the decision you are the only one who can do it, because everyone else messes it up. Right? Anyone else out there with the same experience? I am sure most of you are raising your hand.

The alternative is to write it out, spend the time, make the effort and get it done, only to realize that there are a hundred exceptions that make your whole process useless. And you are back to doing it yourself… But if you write a process for each situation that does not fit the original process, over time you will have gathered enough information that it will actually be helpful to you.

So the question is how do you decided it will be worth your time, and when it won’t?

Here are a few questions I ask myself

• How often am I doing this activity?
• Do I like or dislike doing this activity?
• If I sat down with someone could I teach them how to do it in less than twice the time it takes me to do the activity?
• How many variables are there that will cause the procedure to change?

If it’s an activity I only do once in a while, I don’t mind doing it, and it would take me 5 times as long to teach someone as it would take me to do it, and even after I tought them there would be so many variables that I would just need to teach them all over again, than no, it’s not worth my time. However if I do the same task often, I don’t like doing it, I could teach someone fairly easily and the variables are minor, then it’s totally worth my time to get it off my desk.

If I am still not sure if it’s worth my time I try to be rational:

[{(number of times I do the task in a month) x 12} x (the amount of time it takes me to complete the task) ] x (my billing rate) = Cost to stay the same

{(the amount of time it takes me to write the process) + (the amount of time it will take me to train someone to follow the process) + (the amount of time it will take me to write a process for the likely variables)} x (my billing rate) = Cost to change

Usually once I look at the numbers it is very clear what I need to do.

So take a minute or two to look at your daily or weekly tasks and see what makes sense for you to be doing or not to be doing.

Good luck,

Natalie

www.morrismc.com

www.myteamsocialmedia.com

Making the most of your time

So a friend asked me if I could watch her kids this morning, which I am more than happy to do because they are darling children. However it cut into my “work” morning by about an hour. I didn’t have anything really that needed to get done, but I didn’t want to miss anything important either. So as the kids were getting ready, I pulled out my smart phone, checked my calendar and my e-mail. Posted an update on my Linked In and Twitter and had more than enough quality time to spend with the kids before I ran them up to camp.

When I got back to the office, I wasn’t surprized by any un-expected e-mails and I had already planned what I was going to write about for my blog.

The trick is using your mobile device to allow you to do things you normally would have to decline. If I couldn’t check my e-mail and reply to an urgent request I may have declined spending time with my little friends. If I had not been able to do some “work related” tasks while I was waiting for them to get ready, I may have declined the opportunity to help a friend. If I had been locked into my computer, or if I had to worry about lugging my laptop, I may have just said “sorry, no”. However because I was able to check my e-mail, do a few work related tasks, and didn’t have to take anything other than my phone with me, I was happy to say “yes, I’d love to!”

The moral of the story, although you have to be careful not to let your mobile device take control of your life, if used properly it can give you the freedom to do those special things that really make a difference in your quality of life.

You can choose what people say about you: “She was always working” or “She was always there for me”.

Take charge!
Natalie
www.morrismc.com
www.myteamsocialmedia.com

Using Social Media to Promote a Non-Profit Event

Although you can use this method to promote any event, non-profits have the benefit of making people feel good about promoting them. If you are an accountant and want people to come to your accounting seminar this might not work to well for you. However save the lions, polar bears, starving children, or even the local stay has a tendency of pulling on heart strings.

 So what to do to promote your event?

1. Who’s your audience?
   • Families? Parents? Boomers? Genx? GenY? Are you looking for corporate sponsors? Big money?
2. Where are you going to find them?
   •  Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter?
3. What are your objectives
   • Attendance? Donations? Sponsorship? Education?
4. How can you engage them? 
   • What else are they interested in? Are they local? What other groups are they part of? What other groups would promote you?
5. How can you use your existing resources?
   • Add a Facebook Fan Page link to e-mail signatures? Send out an e-blast with your group’s link? Try a viral e-mail to friends and family? Put a post-it in mailings?
6. Determine campaign champion
   • Who can do this? Who has the time? Who has the know-how?

Now your plan is close to being functional. Bring out a calendar and chart everything you plan on doing for the plan. Do it all right now. If you put it off to do later, it just won’t get done. What tweets are you sending? Who is responsible for updating the events? When will the e-mail blast go out? Determine the exact tools and tactics you are going to use. Determine the exact wording each post/update/tweet will have. The more you do right now, the more likely your campaign is to succeed if you put it off it will either not happen or you will put so much ramp-up time into it each day that it won’t be worth the effort.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing for this whole process to work is to ask people to help you and to give them a good reason why they should.

So here it goes! Please help the Cleveland Animal Protective League! They rescue thousands of animals every year and place them in loving homes. They work with the community to promote animal health even in the feral populations. Through April the Cleveland APL is collecting Doggy Dollars and Kitty Cash to help save the cats and dogs of Cleveland.  http://www.firstgiving.com/nataliemorris

Natalie Morris

www.morrismc.com

www.myteamsocialmedia.com

Not just another insurance guy

So I go to a lot of networking events, and I meet a lot of people. The truth of the matter is most people go to networking events to do one of two things.

1. Catch up with people they already know
2. Meet people who want to buy their products.

Of course there are different types of networking events, some are designed for passing referrals, others are educational, others are purely networking. I try to balance mine out.

When I first started going to networking events my goal was to sell my services, however I really hate selling, so I decided to be lazy and just go to meet new people. Once I started meeting all these new people and since I didn’t have an agenda I was able to really get to know them. I started listening to their needs and found that I had all sorts of connections that I could make.

Of course that’s what everyone says! I know that I have heard that 100 times, there are even those people who will set up an appointment with you to “get to know you better” only to have you trapped in a Panera’s to listen to their sales pitch!

Even though I am suspicious of this “trick” I completely believe in getting to know people better. So I am willing to take the chance.

So here’s my story. In my Grow NEO networking group one of the insurance agents asked if we could get together to “get to know each other”. I must admit the flags went up, but we were meeting on my side of town and only for an hour so I figured it was worth a try.

Well I was pleasantly surprised! Jeremy Soditch is an insurance agent for New York Life who really does understand the meaning of customer service. He was completely interested in what I had to say and didn’t push his services on me at all. We spent the vast majority of our time together discussing how he can use Social Media to help his clients.

The tag line on the bottom of his e-mail says “I am passionately committed to protecting families, and increasing the standard of living and the quality of life for my clients” and I can honestly say I believe him. So if you are in need of a great insurance agent who really does care, I would recommend Jeremy J. Soditch an agent for New York Life jsoditch@ft.newyorklife.com.

Natalie Morris
Morris MC, Ltd
nmorris@morrismc.com
www.morrismc.com
www.myteamsocialmedia.com

Looking For A Change?

Every few years I find myself itching for a change. Each change ends up enhancing my life and making me happier, however often the courage required to make that change takes me weeks, months, or even years to build up! It sometimes requires that I do a lot of research, some times I need to talk to everyone I know to get their opinion, sometimes it’s just lengthy conversations with myself. Sometimes its obvious that the benefits will out weigh the risks, but sometimes it’s not.

But no matter what, I know that “I need a change”.

Let’s focus on Jobs. So often we find ourselves going from opportunity to opportunity, without ever really being in control of our destiny. Yes you may be great at selling insurance but is that where you want to be in 30 years? Yes, you may be making great money at your job, but do you really want to spend 80% of your time traveling? Yes, you may have great benefits and a stable income but do you really want to be behind the scenes forever?

• Do you like your industry?
• Do you like your company?
• Do you like your job?
• Do you like who you work with for/with?
• Do you like who you are?
• Do you like who you are becoming?

If you don’t know, consider joining our Career Launch Spring Workshop Series.

Fast Focus Career’s spring workshop is a three-session workshop series that helps people identify well-suited careers tailored to their strengths and interests.

The Career Launch Workshop Series runs Feb.27, March 6 and March 13. It is designed to help professionals go from underemployed to super-employed. You will dig deeper to explore and uncover different possibilities and new job fields matched to YOU.

By matching skills, interests and passions to a person’s job, one can dramatically: Accelerate career advancement, derive real joy from work, work effectively within organizations, increase sales, service, technology performance, find a meaningful career.

I will be speaking at the last seminar on using Social Media to enhance your career goals.

http://events.linkedin.com/Career-Launch-Spring-Workshop/pub/222030

Starts:	Saturday February 27, 2010, 09:00AM
Ends:	Saturday March 13, 2010, 09:00AM
Event Type:	Training/Seminar
Location:	Corporate College East 4400 Richmond Rd Warrensville Heights, OH 44122 US
Price:	http://www.fastfocuscareers.com
Website:	http://www.mimivanderhaven.com/boutique/307
Industry:	professional training
Keywords:	employment, careers, workshop, advancement, jobs
Intended For:	Professionals
Organization:	Fast Focus Careers

Hope to see you there!

Natalie

http://www.morrismc.com
http://www.myteamsocialmedia.com

Making a list and checking it twice

Ever wonder how Santa visited all those children in only one night? It’s because he made a list and stuck to it! 

Often I get into conversations where I find my self explaining to people how easy it is to manage their time. All you need is a list and a little commitment and you will be able to get anything done. The conversation goes back and forth between their argument that they don’t have enough “time” and my argument that with a list you “make” the time.

Unfortunately I have to admit that there are times that I do the same thing! My snag is my customers’ needs always come first. If they need an article written, and update made, or they just have a question then I drop what I am doing and work with them…. even though their problem was not on my list. I find myself checking my e-mail every 15 minutes to be sure I’m not missing anything. Then the next thing I know the day has gone by, I have been working frantically all the time, and nothing on my list is done.

I usually pull myself back in-line when I have 10 things that NEED to get done NOW and seriously I don’t have the time. But I put it in my list, and I stick to only completing those items and nothing else, and it always amazes me how quickly, and easily things get done! Now don’t get me wrong, my action item list is probably 40-60 items long at any given day. However many of those items are not critical, or urgent so they can be done at a later date. The items that are critical and urgent are the ones that get put on my #1 list. This list then sits right next to me on my desk and every time I look over it’s there.

The same thing works for Social Media. If you need to get started here’s what you need to do:

1. Create a 30 day Social Media Plan– now this isn’t necessarily something you will get done in one month, if you update your social media 3 times a week it will take you 2 and a half months, but at least you will always know what the next step is. Each “day” should be a manageable amount of time. I recommend 10-40 minutes for people starting out.
2. Create a Social Media Calendar– When are you committing to doing each step? Remember it’s only 10 minutes, you can do it.
3. Find someone who will “follow up” with you regularly so that you feel accountable. Missing one day, or being a little late is acceptable, not doing anything for a month… well that’s whey your buddy will give you a hard time.

Go ahead and make the time to write your plan. Make the time to put it in your calendar. Be accountable. And most importantly have fun!

Natalie Morris,

http://www.mysocialmediateam.com
http://www.morrismc.com

So You Fell Off the Social Media Wagon

Don’t feel bad we all fall off the Social Media wagon once in a while. I missed last week entirely and this entry is 4 days late for this week. Things come up and we get distracted. The phone rings and we take the call instead of writing our blog, or for me I do a client’s Social Media before my own. Or sometimes it’s more serious, we had a death in the family which caused everything to go haywire, but we prioritized and of course visiting relatives took priority over writing a blog 🙂

So the big question is what do you do about it? Just like any resolution, if you don’t jump right back on you are going to get left behind in the dust!

Blogs are conversations, journals, tell people what you are thinking and offer them your insight. I am thinking that even though I missed my blog, and was late for this one, I still made the time to do it now. So you can too! Don’t get discouraged, don’t give up!

Maybe you need to rethink the time you are trying to put into it. If you are trying to do too much too soon then step back. Maybe all you need to do is add one connection a week to your LinkedIn account. Maybe all you need to do is spend 15 minutes a week getting familiar with Facebook.

Do you need more than that? Do you need more than you are able to do? Don’t feel bad, a lot of people do. That’s why I’m in business as well as thousands of other ghost writers. If you are having car problems you take your vehicle to the shop, you take your dog to the vet, you take your taxes to the accountant. So why are you trying to do your Social Media alone?

Need help? Please contact me,

Natalie

nmorris@morrismc.com
Cell: 440.552.0131
www.myteamsocialmedia.com
www.morrismc.com

Tis the Season for Resolutions!

Now the holidays are over, and reality is setting in again. If you are anything like me today feels a little fuzzy and another cup of coffee may be in the near future. However through that “back to morning” fog I am excited! A New Year has begun and it’s time for change!!

I have discovered over the past few years that some people like change and some people don’t. And strangely I have discovered – or maybe re-discovered – that I do like change! There is a certain comfort in knowing exactly what your future holds, however as many of us have seen over the past year even the most stable of futures can easily be toppled if the economy, health, or other circumstances choose another route for us.

If we accept change as a good thing, then those circumstances won’t throw us for quite as much of a loop and we can recover and more than likely be better off. Whatever my future holds I am looking forward to it!

Now that doesn’t mean not to bother with a plan! Resolve to change your life, resolve to make more of your like, resolve to enjoy the things that you should be enjoying. Friends, family, health, and personal growth are so often forgotten and or at the least put on the back burner so that we can burn the candle at both of the the proverbial ends.

Each of us has many faces that we wear, write down all of our “faces” and decide which is most important to you. Once you get your identities straight decide what you want to accomplish with each one this year. Be as specific but as reasonable as possible.

Here are a few of mine:

• Individual – as a person I resolve to be healthy this year, I will continue my journey with Weight Watchers and loose 2 lbs a month for the next 4 months to reach my goal.
• Wife – as a partner in our relationship I resolve to ensure that my husband and I are always on the same page and that both of our voices are heard and understood.
• Business Partner – I resolve to communicate with my clients, past, present, and future, on a monthly basis to ensure an open line of communication.
• Ski Instructor – as a ski instructor I resolve to provide my students and fellow instructors with as much time as I can spare.
• Networker – as a member of many different networking organizations I resolve to make at least one introduction a week and I will strive to make 1 a day (so if you are looking for someone or something please let me know 🙂 ).

I have a quite a few other faces that I wear and that are important to me but that is just a quick set of examples. If you set goals, especially one’s that you can reach you are much more likely to reach them.

If you Fail to Plan – You Plan to Fail

Next week we will discuss setting Social Media Goals.

Have a wonderful week recovering from the holidays!!

Natalie Morris

www.morrismc.com