The Essential P's of Business

by Karen D. Swim

"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul, if either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.”--Kahlil Gibran

Do you watch any of the cooking shows? Cooking shows make everyone feel as though they can be a gourmet chef. Great cooks unveil the secrets by revealing the ingredients and instructions for putting them together. I especially enjoy recipes with no more than 5 ingredients. This week, I'll be sharing my recipe for business success and just like my favorite cooking recipes there are only 5 ingredients.

I call my recipe the The 5 Essential P's of Business. Each day I'll discuss a different ingredient. Like any great recipe there are other touches that you can add to make it your own.

The first ingredient is Passion. The dictionary defines passion as a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything. Communications Coach, Speaker and Author, Carmine Gallo believes that passion is what makes a great communicator. In a 2005, Business Week article, he wrote that the hallmarks of a passionate communicator are "a willingness to share that driving sense of mission -- and a burning faith that others will embrace too."

Passion is the fuel that motivates you to act. It is the enthusiasm driven by an absolute belief in your business value that will enable you to communicate with others. Without passion you will not only lack the motivation needed to sustain you long term, but will have difficulty convincing others to buy from you.

Does passion ever wane? Yes it does! The bright flame of passion can be snuffed out by overwork, stress, administrative issues or plain old life issues. When you find that business has become a chore, it may be time for a break.

Take some time to recharge your batteries and reconnect with your core passion. Critically examine your business and the day to day operations. Are you spending time on tasks and activities you do not enjoy? Have you become overwhelmed with administrative issues? Has the business gone in a direction that doesn't align with your vision?

I've been there. Every day became a chore. I procrastinated on projects until the last moment. I was working endless hours and began to wonder, "Is this it?" I took a weekend off to clear my head. I took a hard look at my business and decided to make changes. I eliminated "energy vampires" (people that suck you dry) and focused on my high value, ideal clients. I lightened my load and increased my income. The changes helped me get my business groove back and I was once again able to effectively market myself.

I learned the hard way that without passion, it's just work!

Are you passionate about what you're doing? How do you keep passion burning? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Fame is Fickle

by Karen D. Swim

They're coming, they're coming! Lady in Orange, Lady in Orange, can I have your autograph? Over here, will you sign my program? You were so good, I loved when you...

It was the back entrance of a small theatre in Hollywood, California, across the street from the famed Pantages. I had just finished my first stage performance as The Lady In Orange one of 5 leads in "For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Wasn't Enuf."

Celebrities had turned out for the performance and snapped my photo in the dressing room. People were clamoring for my autograph and I was heady with the experience.

The reviews were good and a planned two performances extended to a year long gig. Yet here I sit today without an Emmy or autograph seeker in sight.

My brush with small time fame taught me the danger of falling for the hype. How easy it is to believe only the good reviews and to soak up the attention lavished upon you by strangers. Luckily, my faith, friends and family kept me grounded. They reminded me to act because I enjoyed the art form and to ignore the illusions that came with the territory.

Today, our culture seems obsessed with fame. We elevate our public figures to cult status even as we pursue our own 15 minutes in the spotlight.

I have watched with a mixture of amusement and horror as bloggers, authors and business leaders have gained a following that rivals Oprah. I celebrate their success but wonder if "followers" are doing them a disservice. Are we allowing them room to fail, to make a mistake? Have we pressured them to always have the answer? Have we ceded them too much influence over our opinions and choices?

"Well if he said it, it must be true," exclaimed a follower of the current "It Man" in the blogosphere. Have we become so lazy that we no longer critically examine things for ourselves? Do we blindly trust the famous simply because of their high visibility?

Are we capable of forming an opinion contrary to the herd?

The herd mentality scares me. I am all for learning from others and supporting their success. My hope is that we do not yield our own critical reasoning to the herd. In doing so we risk becoming a vanilla blend of sameness. What do you think? Have we gone too far?

Photo credit: Matt Gilluley, Flickr

Technorati Tags: fame,cult status,business,business leaders

Embrace the Fear and Leap

by Karen D. Swim

In my morning email was my daily post from Peter Shankman which encouraged us all to "do something today that scares us." Peter is a skydiver and I can think of few things scarier than leaping from a plane. His words resounded in my head as I considered how to embrace the fear today.

Fear when allowed to reign supreme can prevent you from breaking through to the next level. Fear can manifest in what Ellen Wilson calls the predator known as "editor." It's that little voice that says, "You can't do, say, be that!" Fear can also be sneaky and will masquerade as the voice of reason attempting to dissuade you from your purpose with logic, "if you write off topic, you won't create stickiness," or "no one else is doing that, are you sure it's a good idea?"

The enemy of fear is action. You crush fear by acknowledging it and moving forward anyway. With voices in your head and butterflies in your stomach, you jump (not tiptoe or take a tiny step) into the abyss of the unknown. You may miss your target, you may fail but you will always learn from taking action.

What scares me? This scares me! How Not to Write has even come up with a formula called The Suckage Quotient which aptly describes the daily battle to write in spite of "totally sucking at it." Yet, so many of us do it anyway, sucking be darned! Every press release, article, blog post and assignment convince me I have no business calling myself a "writer."

However, every press release, article, blog post and assignment have fueled my desire to learn more, write more and grow. Ah, the sweet things I would have missed if I had listened to fear.

Today, I've taken another jump and I'm sure I'll survive the fall. What about you? What scares you? Is there an idea that's rattling around longing to break free? Will you take a dive today in spite of fear?

Photo Credit: Igor Jeremic, Flickr

Finding Your Rhythm, Determining Your Height

By Karen D. Swim

I was not much of a daredevil as a kid but I loved to swing. I would place my hands at just the right height and slowly move backwards as I prepared to take flight. I can remember the effort and determination it took to propel myself higher. Once you had momentum, the effort was not as hard. To remain high you simply had to keep moving at the right rhythm and force.

As I soared higher, my belly would clinch in fear but the joy of soaring through the air was too good to pass up even if I was scared of falling. I felt the most comfortable when I swung back and forth in a straight line. If the swing began to swerve a little to one side, it made me nervous and I would slow down to align myself.

Business has many parallels to swinging. When you first begin, you have to push a little harder to get to your desired altitude. When you've reached a goal (and there will be many) you may need to slow down a bit and check your alignment. Have you gone off course? Are you swinging to the left or right? Are you in danger of falling?

The higher you go the scarier it can be but you learn to push past the fear so that you can soar higher. And you can always go higher. Your height is as infinite as the sky and only limited by how much you can thrust forward. You control your motion.

You can also go higher, faster with a little help. As a child, my mom or an older cousin would push me until I soared higher than I would have dared alone. The initial result was thrilling but if they pushed too hard, I would be annoyed and make them stop. I would then quickly slow my speed until I was once again comfortable. However, I would inevitably climb higher on my own because their push had shown me I could reach that height.

You may find that you have become comfortable swinging at a certain height. You're coasting along enjoying the view, secure in your position. Alternatively, maybe you want to soar higher but you can't pump hard enough to get to the next level. You need a push. A push can come in the form of inspiration from someone we admire, or a word of encouragement from a coach or mentor. And yes, sometimes a push really is a hard push that jolts us from our comfortable height and forces us to find our balance while swinging.

I am at a time in my own life when I feel that nudge to go just a little higher. My belly clinches with a mixture of fear but excitement too wondering, "How high can I go?" I hope that you will stay with me as I propel myself backward, thrust my legs out and prepare to go just a little higher. How about you? Do you need a push or are you soaring at the right altitude?

Karen

Photo credit: Higher and Higher - mathteacher on Flickr

Click Here?

“Click here to update your email.” I never would have guessed that this simple little phrase would one day have me dancing with joy.

Last week I changed internet service providers. This also meant that some of my email addresses had to be updated. I expected it to be an annoyance but some companies managed to make it down right impossible.

There were those blessed few companies that made it simple with a nice little hyperlink in the communication allowing you to simply update your email address. Ah, how I have come to value the one click, one-step link. Others, provided an unsubscribe option but no update option forcing you to go to the website, recall your login and then change your information. This was an extra step that proved costly in time. It’s fine when you’re updating one company, but try doing it for 15 or 20.

Ah, but even that extra step was not as bad as the companies that simply provided no way for you to update your email address. One even taunted me with allowing me to edit everything else except my email address.

I learned a lesson that I had not intended to learn. If you are going to take the time to communicate with your customers, make it easy for them to stay in touch with you. When doing business online, we spend a great deal of time crafting messages and strategies to drive traffic, why not spend an equal amount of time keeping those same customers?

You got me to sign up for a newsletter, why not make sure I can continue to receive it? Must I unsubscribe and then go back to your site, hunt down the link and subscribe all over again?