desk – $350 from a flea market.  Don’t you love the industrial / farm chic-ness of this?  The bottom is made of metal pipes.

deer antlers – $50 for 3 sets. Flea market.  I love, love, love these and was going to spray paint them white but decided that we liked them au natural.

So this is the first post from my new office.  Well, what should have been my new office until the New Jerseyite’s job went virtual and now it’s OUR new office.  I didn’t handle the news terribly maturely.  In fact, I was terrified of us working in our new office and how that would affect our relationship.  Would our working time suddenly count as ‘quality time’ together and would we take off and do separate things the minute we were done working?  Did he know that I can be a stress ball all day long some days and that’s why I work so well remotely from other human life? Did he know that during my breaks I sometimes watch ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians”?

Then I found tons of articles about couples that work together.  Here’s one that  summarizes six major areas of potential trouble for couples who work together: (1) strife caused by restricted job mobility; (2) excessive demands on each spouse’s time and energy; (3) inability to separate professional and personal problems; (4) role conflicts; (5) spouse competitiveness; and (6) bringing home work-related problems.  You can tell this article was written when tech wasn’t such a big business since ‘bringing home work related problems’ has already been something we struggle with considering both of our lives are pretty much all online.   This isn’t a couples problem, it’s an everyone problem.

On the other end of the spectrum here’s a more modern one that says that especially in the tech world “coworking” with your significant other can be a good thing if you can learn to retain your own personal life and friends. This made me feel slightly better since it didn’t end with a vision of us killing each other in my mind.

I brought all of this up in a 2 hour marathon talk about the subject and the New Jerseyite said “you wake up at 6:30 to work and take a gym break at 9:30 when I start working.  Your schedule is so different than mine so we won’t really be working together all that often”.

A few days later I found this article about a couple who works together (and has) for 20 years and has some great advice on the topic.  For example, ‘don’t separate your work and life’, which obviously flies in the face of most advice but makes a lot of sense.  Her wholistic view of career fits nicely with people in the tech world.  I start to feel even better about our new office.

File cabinet – $60 – This used to be in a bank!  Flea Market.  I also got these old advertisements from another flea market for something like $1 each.  I’m going for kind of an old school Mad Men on a Farm sort of look.

So we’re going to have to figure this out, learn to work together, and if we have a tough day there’s always my favorite addition to our new office:

Confession:  I love hearing about people’s morning routines, particularly artist and writer morning routines but basically I just love hearing how people spend their morning.  It’s such an intimate and creative time so I think what you do with it says a lot about you.

The Unclutterer organizes his morning routine around drinking coffee.  Architect Robert Venturi says he takes notes in the middle of the night so his morning routine is to organize those notes.  Here’s a whole site about morning routines.

When I stumbled on Sarah Wilson’s article about morning routine I decided to share some morning routine love over here.

In the morning I get up around 6:45 and lay in bed for at least 10 minutes looking out the window and waking up.  Then I make coffee and pick out my coffee cup (I have a ridiculously huge collection and they are each different).  I’ll choose an old one from Santa Fe if I’m feeling writer-y or a 60′s mod style if I’m feeling really productive.  I feel like it sets the mood for the whole day.

Then I get back into bed and read a few music, art, movie, or fashion blogs to get my creative mind going.(A few mornings ago I found this page with the best first sentences from novels that I’ve been reading all week)  After that I move onto internet / advertising blogs to see who’s got a new site or a new product or what people are talking about.  I usually tell the New Jerseyite about cool stories or funny things during all this while filling up my cup with a steady stream of fresh coffee.

Then I answer any pressing emails, open up my work docs for the day and head to the gym.  After that, it’s all email, calls, and fun projects.

If you are one of those that’s rushing around in the morning here are 6 ways to shave time off your morning activities so you can squeeze in the paper or a short writing time.   I love the one about setting your clothes out in advance – my mom always did that when I was young and now I do it before I have to go to early morning meetings (turns out outfit coordination isn’t at its peak at 6AM when you usually get up at 7).

What morning routine piece could you never live without?

“Maybe this is a stupid idea”

I’ve been meeting a lot of new business owners lately.  Through groups, some that I’ve helped to start, some online, they seem to be everywhere.  When I sit down with them they are stressed out, worried, excited.  Some have business cards already, some have a client, some have just an idea.  I am not always sure what they want to talk about but invariably they will say “maybe this is a really stupid idea”.

I usually respond that the “stupid idea” feeling doesn’t go away.  Ever.  I have been opening my own businesses for years and some days I still think it’s a stupid idea.  In other words, get used to that feeling but know that it comes up less frequently over time.  Also, the “stupid idea” feeling can’t do anything to tangibly hurt your actual business.

Profitability is another thing.

There are so many reports on how most businesses fail within the first year that before you even begin you’re probably aware of the high probability that you’ll fail.  Neat.  Here’s one that gives the top 10 reasons that cause a business to fail, and the interesting thing about this list is that 6 of these reasons have to do with profitability and funds.

In my own observations this is a bit of a disconnect.  When a lot of new business owners start out they are thinking “I need a new logo, a new site, new marketing,” when they should be thinking “how can I make rent?”  That’s it.  Just “how am I going to pay my bills by doing what I know how to do?”

Jason Fried of 37 Signals talks about revenue streams that are a byproduct of his business.  For example, some of his software products came into existence because his team needed a better way to organize themselves.  Once something worked for them they sold it to other people.  When profitability is a top priority you might be surprised what you can think of to help make rent.  Early on I actually tried my hand at being a stylist for a while when business was slow because a few people asked me about doing it.  I stopped because there are an ungodly amount of fashion blogs out there to keep current and if you are one of those superhumans that can keep up with them all then you deserve a medal.  It honestly almost gave me a heart attack seeing my fashion blog reader at 5000 articles EVERY DAY.   Potentially a stupid idea but I made rent.

Anyway, there is no rule that you can’t support your business by inventing new revenue streams.  When I mentioned to a friend with a chocolate store that perhaps she could write some ebooks on pairing chocolate with food and sell them online or be paid to speak at foodie gatherings she said she hadn’t thought of it because she only saw herself as 2 things.  A shop owner and a chocolate maker.  Yet being creative about pairing your skills with the needs of the community you happen to be in can be the difference between profitable and ordering another round of design changes to your website.

This works for big business too, not just consultant types.  Bigger businesses might have a harder time seeing their profitable skills because they are so used to doing things in a certain way but with online and social media there is usually some treasure trove of information or skill that comes out of our discovery meetings that leave them saying “people would be interested in this?”

To which I say “people are interested in articles about dressing up their ferrets - yes, people are interested”.

A few months ago the New Jerseyite and I turned to each other and agreed on something without any argument: our apartment was way too small.   I had felt that it was too small the moment I moved in because I couldn’t fit most of my books in a place where I could SEE them all.  I actually sat on a stool in the kitchen and cried about it (not my finest moment).   So now, we are smack in the middle of moving to an apartment that is not only big enough for all of my books and enormous coffee cup collection but it also has a great big room for us to make into an office.

I’ve been working location independently for a long time now and I’ve talked about how silly it is that we have to go to an office at some certain time to get anything done… yet I’m still so ridiculously excited for this workspace.  I actually got all amped up yesterday about a file cabinet I bought from a flea market that used to be in a bank in the 60′s.  “Imagine all the papers I can put in here……”

I ended up getting a desk that’s a giant long table since I have no need for a formal desk-with-drawers kind of space and am turning the whole thing into kind of an industrial / farm look.  I bought 3 sets of deer horns that I’m going to spray paint white from a flea market.  The guy who sold them to me was an uber hunter Wisconsinite and he could not for the life of him figure out what I wanted with the horns.

“I have bigger ones” he told me.

“I don’t need bigger ones, I need them to be the same size” I told him and proceeded to explain to him my whole office idea in great detail.  To which he said “well most people would want the bigger horns”.

I’ll post the pictures as soon as its all set up.

photo by Nigel Peake

I have been harping on the “creativity in the workplace” thing for a while now.  Sort of because it would really help me if got popular (I once completed a chemistry exam in high school with all illustration answers.  Got a D) but also because it’s becoming more and more necessary to come up with creative solutions to marketing.  The template is out there and it’s Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. until everyone has one and being creative suddenly means the difference between people caring about your brand or not.

Newsweek came out with an article this week that claims that creativity scores are at an all time low.  What that means, is that kids aren’t able to improvise well.  They seriously can’t think of a new, fun feature or way to use their toys and all of this is a big problem when  ” A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future.” (Newsweek).

Creative isn’t just “thick rimmed glasses, paintbrush in hand and T-shirts you can’t understand” either if that’s what you’re thinking.  I’m talking about creative process and problem solving which can be a great by-product of the paintbrush-in-hand thing but can also be applied by marketers, developers, and just about anyone else.

So you might know that I’ve been working with realtors a lot  and it seems like the creativity problem is affecting their industry as well.  How should they put themselves online when what they have to talk about (house stuff) is pretty run of the mill?  Check out what this realtor from Portland came up with:

Pretty creative solution right?

Here’s what Volkswagen came up with a while back for a quick subway exit:

My thought is that the meeting for the subway slide had a ton of ideas on different ways to build stairs.  Stairs made of interesting items, stairs of different widths or depths but the creative solution comes from someone being able to look at the stairway and think “slide”.

If you are the type that can look at stairs and think “slide” remember to put it into your resume and cover letter and to go ahead and shout it out at the meeting.  Yes you’ll be laughed at but with a shortage of creative thinking it’s your office they’ll be lining up at.

And if you’re not one of those kinds of thinkers?  Make yourself one by doing exercises like:

Take a walk and figure out a new way to light the streets, put up a sign, or do differently the things you are walking by.

Purposely coming up with the most ridiculous, out there, solution to a work assignment you’re given.  I think part of the “non creative” problem is not the shortage of ideas, it’s that we shut them down instantaneously as a “dumb idea” and they never even reach the front of our minds.

When you watch a TV commercial that makes you roll your eyes, think of  your own marketing idea for them instead of changing the channel.

Watch the news and solve the problems with something creative – seriously, the BP problem is maybe going to be solved by the guy that shouted “robots!”.

I was in Mineral Point this Saturday showing some relatives around Wisconsin and I always try to show people that Wisconsin is more than a big beer and cheese factory (not easy when our state is, in fact, kind of a beer and cheese factory).  The difference between Mineral Point and many art centered areas is that it’s more than galleries.  All of the artists live there and you can also go through and see many of their studios and workshops.

When we walked into Bruce Howdle’s gallery he shouted “Oh!  Newbies!” and started showing us his work.  His sculptures were huge – some 9 feet by 32 feet or even larger and he started touring us through workshops, studios, and even his backyard where he had a huge telephone booth that he claimed fell from the sky.  In his basement studio was an absolutely insane amount of gadgets, antique nails, door handles, wires, and we toured it all.  There were moments when I was thinking to myself “I’m in someone’s basement looking at things most people would throw away. 

His art, was all made of clay and it was all really messy.  There were swoops and fingerprints and mistakes everywhere and while we were in his studio standing over a huge mural of a moose destined for a log home in Utah he started talking about his process. It was incredibly interesting how well his philosophy could relate to bloggers and anyone interested in personal branding.  Bruce pointed at one of his pots that he had made.  It was covered in messy looking drawings of fish and he said “Artists can’t compete with production anymore.  We HAVE to be original.  You can go to Home Depot and pick up a planter pot like this for $20.  You will only buy one that an artist makes because it has a piece of the artist in it.  We are selling our souls on there”.  It occurred to me that Bruce was talking about what the internets have been calling Personal Branding.  Bloggers too, must have a bit of their soul in their writing otherwise there are textbooks, newspapers, and people to give us how-to’s in massive numbers.  Those messy swoops were a lot more than an afterthought decoration.  it was THE reason that pot was made and the only reason to buy it.  What artists have known for some time is that creativity and originality is the only way that an individual can compete on any level with the mass production of everything these days.  Even in the blogging world, there are content mills paying writers $5 an article (or less) because content is so widely available.  What earns the top bloggers more money for their work is absolutely their “messy swoops”.

The other thing that Bruce talked about while we were at his studio was imperfection and I’ve been thinking about his statement ever since.  While I was wondering aloud at how long a mural like his would take to make the artist said:

“1 day or so”

“1 day?”

“yes, mostly.  I don’t want to labor over it.  If it’s perfect, the viewer looks at my technique and my labor.  Instead, I want them to see the energy I created this with and the concept of the art.  There is labor in these artworks, but that’s not what I want you to focus on.  I want to connect in the fingerprints and in the roughness.”

This has been sticking with me because I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about online marketing and blogging and transparency and what it is that people want from their brands and their favorite bloggers.  I would argue that blogs are the arena with the most soul at this time, just ask any daily blogger about the blood sweat and tears they are putting in,  but what about online communities and sites?  What about advertisers and brands?  Perhaps with thousands of sites popping up every day the way to compete is to add more of our imperfections and soul to them.

On an interesting flip side, I think some brands LABOR over putting soul or compassion into their campaign until it’s too polished, too perfect, and not particularly genuine which isn’t working either.  Putting real creativity, quirks, etc. into anything is hard, but not impossible and something both bloggers and brands need to strive for to be relevant.

Icarus by Carmen Haase

A few weeks ago I attended a happy hour for young professionals.  It was the usual array of business owners, marketing people, and tech folks and I was having some great conversations until one lady asked me what I do.

“Social Media strategy” I answered to which she said “oh.  I KNOW how to update Twitter.”  This happens a lot, and it’s ok, but it does bring up a really good point about social media expertise and who businesses should be hiring to complete it. To me, there’s a really distinct group of things that clients should be doing themselves and things they should or at least could hire someone to do which means there is also a distinct group of things that agencies and marketers should be refining their expertise in.

Don’t Become An Expert In

Updating Feeds:  Because honestly?  We should empower our clients to do this.  With the exception of large brands that use their agencies to do all of the marketing functions, most mid size companies have an in house marketer that can do this sort of thing.  When you get into a retainer for tweeting or updating a Facebook account for someone you’re inevitably going to get fired.  Why?  Because the company is going to hire someone that’s going to say “WHAT?!?  We’re paying someone outside this company to tweet for us?  That’s ridiculous!”  And it is ridiculous.  Don’t specialize in the use of technologies that it would behoove a brand to learn themselves. I have taught many clients how to tweet, helped create a calendar to update a Facebook page, and still kept the client because there is a need for people who can help with these:

What’s next?  Should we be using this technology?  Is this really helping our brand?  What kinds of case studies are out there for this?  What has worked for you before?

If you can be an expert that provides answers to these questions, it will be much easier for the brand to facilitate it’s own channels.  Once those channels are running more smoothly, they will feel great because they are Tweeting and writing and updating successfully.  You will feel great because you have helped teach a skill to your client and can work on the next strategy for them.

Along the same lines,

Creating Business Cards: Most small businesses can design their own and they need them so regularly that it won’t make sense for them to hire a designer every time they need new ones.  There is a need for designers and creatives who can:

Create the look and feel of a brand, create mood boards to help brands know where they should be going, decide what feeling the customer should have around the experience with their brand.

When you think about what type of expertise you need or want to give, think about 10 months from now.  Will that area still be integral to your clients?  Will you have to completely rebrand in order to tell people what you do?  From the client side, is this something that makes real sense to get someone else to do or would it be better to just learn it yourself?

photo from The Small Object

I have been talking with a lot of bloggers lately that are interested in working with brands but aren’t so sure about how to go about it. Since I come from the other side and help brands find partners online (bloggers, communities, events, etc) I have some good tips for you when you are ready to actually ask a someone to work with you. Here they come:
1) Make a list of people you’d want to work with. This can and should be your dream list. Even people who you don’t think will give you the time of day. It’s just an email and no one is going to say “you’ll never believe what this blogger did….. she e-mailed me!”
2) Make sure and include “what’s in it for the brand”. There is always someone at the marketing meeting for these brands who’s going to want to know how many followers you have, how many times you post a week, how long you’ve been at it, where it’s been reposted, etc.  You can head this off (and look really good) if you just include a page of stats.  Even if they are low, just send them.  It’s also not just about traffic – but you’ll have to sell it a little bit.  For example, if you write for a very specific audience or if you have some unique portion of your blog you have something to offer that others may not.  Make sure and include these things in the email.
3) Explain exactly what you want but give options. Some brands haven’t ever done anything but place ads so they aren’t going to come up with anything outside the box.  If you want them to buy you a camera so you can do a photo series sponsored by them you need to outline it in detail.  Also, you could give a range of options from sponsoring a post (little money) to sponsoring a giveaway (product) to helping you create a video (content).
4) Make sure you ask the right person. If there’s a contact on the site don’t pitch your whole idea to that person. They may be an intern or someone else who couldn’t possibly decide for a brand if it’s ok to work with you.  Find out on the first contact who is in charge of partnerships and talk with them.  (bonus – do NOT pitch a sales rep.  They make commission and won’t likely want to talk to you further once they realize you want to trade).
5) Don’t ask 1 brand at a time. Don’t email the world either but sometimes brands take a really, really long time to make decisions and you don’t want to wait 4 months and hear that they just don’t want to work with your community or blog right now and then have to start all over. Ask 4 or 5 at a time.

Good luck!

(This is part of a series for Realtors)

I’ve been talking with a lot of Realtors lately which is odd since I’m in no way looking to buy a house or anything… they just sort of suddenly were there in my circle of people.  I met a realtor at a networking event and the next thing I knew I was at a young professional realtor event.   The first thing I noticed about them is that real estate folks, as a group, are DRAMATICALLY better looking than most groups as a whole.  There wasn’t a pair of crocs anywhere which if you live in the Midwest you’ll understand is totally abnormal (it’s how I find my gate at the airport if I’m in New York or something…. just find the bench filled with crocs).

The other thing I noticed about them is that they know a lot about the need for personal branding…. but not so much about how to do it.  I was asking a small group of them if they are currently using social channels when one guy piped up that he “knew all about Facebook thank you very much”.   So I started looking at what’s out there for realtors on social media.  An article from realtors.org says that you should place Facebook ads.  It suggests that you update your status super often to stay top of mind and to create a Ning group for free (it’s now a paid model).   Sooooo maybe what’s out there for realtors isn’t overly current (did you know that a fourth of Facebook traffic comes in via mobile phone and that doesn’t display ads?)

I also know that realtors are busy and they can’t just sit in front of the computer all day updating and writing blog posts and what have you.  They need to sell houses.  So here’s what I’d do if I were a realtor.

Become relevant (Or Become Less Annoying): The trick with social media and long lead time purchases is staying top of mind without annoying the hell out of people.  For example, you only have to change the oil in your car once in a while.  If you followed your local oil change twitter feed and were constantly bombarded by oil change info you’d stop following them.  The same goes for house purchasing.  No one wants constant tips from you about housing when they aren’t thinking about buying a house at that second.  Think of something else you can provide and make it as specific as possible.

I have to add this in by the way and it does relate to this article I promise.  NO ONE in this group had seen “Million Dollar Listing” by Bravo.  Million Dollar Listing is a reality show about these realtors in LA that are super rich, spoiled, drama queen realtors.   It’s completely riveting.  The show isn’t required watching but the branding is.  These kids are branded as top of the line realtors that are quirky and take their jobs overly seriously.  The quirks get them noticed.  The “take their job too seriously” thing makes them seem like great realtors.

Becoming relevant might be showing a quirk or two.  Here’s what I mean:  Don’t say “I’m an expert on this city and know everything”.  Instead, show your personality by saying “here’s my top five places to get an amazing burger in Miami” and “here’s my video of the most beautiful street in Denver”.  These say that you know the city without clobbering you over the head with it and also gives your audience an idea of what type of houses you’re selling. Maybe you know all the great hiking trails in the area, or the best dog parks.

Don’t Network Where You Are A Complete Outsider: So you have to be online meeting people right?  Make sure you don’t show up talking about housing prices (unless you’re on ActiveRain) when everyone else is talking about traveling.  This is why it’s helpful to have your other interests front and center as part of your branding.  If you’re “that realtor that’s really into the burger scene” you can easily show up on the foodie communities and have something to talk about.  Get it?

Homework This Week:  What’s your niche, city based interest that you can promote in your social channels?

So, I’m sitting in my favorite coffeeshop and it’s one of those days when I’m trying to get something done and I’m totally distracted by two women sitting next to me having an honest to god conversation about how many grocery stores they shop at.  I’m not trying to be judgemental but in a moment of smugness I give them a look.  Which one of them catches.
“I’m sorry,  we’re in your office aren’t we?”  Instantly, I feel bad,  it’s a coffeeshop!  I don’t own this place, it’s not my office, and they can talk as loud as they want about the merits of different grocery stores all day if they want.  I feel like some kind of hobbit protecting my rock from other, more relaxed, people. 
“ummm…. yeah…. sort of….. but it’s ok.”  They look very apologetic.  I go back to my computer and hope they stop looking at me.
It’s weird to me that people are now very aware that any given place could be someone’s office.  That it’s mainstream enough for casual coffee drinkers to mix with a location independent’s conference calls and that they try to be semi respectful of each other.  Some places are impossible to work (Starbucks, I love you but you have way too much going on in there) and others are just filled with location indie’s (Barrique’s thank you for embracing us) and everyone has their own limit for how much outside noise they like / can take.
Are there any etiquette rules you observe or have come up with for common spaces and working?
Mine are:
Phone calls – Don’t do them in a common space.  Go in your car or go outside.  Your clients don’t want to hear barista background noise, coffee grinding, people talking, etc.  There are plenty of people who are going to see this as really unprofessional.  Even short calls that are being done for business should not be held in a common space.
Tables – Don’t hog up a huge table if the place is packed.  If you are working in a place that has natural busy times, offer to share your table if it gets full.  On the flip side, don’t be afraid to ask another person who is working to scoot over if they are hogging a whole table.
Plugs - share them.  If you can’t plug in you can’t really work.  If you see someone looking for a plug offer them a half hour or so.
Don’t Get Territorial - Seriously, I have seen people almost get into it over a chair or table that they “usually work in”.  Don’t be ‘that guy’.  No one likes ‘that guy’.
Talking - Some people want to talk to everyone and some people just want to work.  Try to be sensitive to what it seems like a person is doing.  I’ve had to leave a place before because “I have a really tight deadline” didn’t stop a chatterbox.  Other days, I have plenty of time to chat and I think it’s generally pretty obvious but it’s kind of like airplanes.  Every once in a while you get someone who really wants to talk.   It’s ok to move seats.