Staying Relevant For The Zombie Apocalypse

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

nice-night-to-shoot-zombies

Most people who know me are unlikely to put my name in the same sentence with zombies, especially in the context of designing book covers. My style tends to embrace architecture, nature, Art Deco and sometimes a splash of unabashed whimsy. Yet when a colleague recently asked me if I could come up with something for his Romeo and Juliet riff in which the star-crossed lovers team up against the ghoulish undead, I heard myself say, “Sure! Why not?” Not only was it a chance to expand my mental margins (and get paid for it) but also to explore the correlation to today’s businesses needing to stay relevant in a mercurial marketplace.

In a nutshell, no matter how well a particular approach to your services and products has served you in the past, nothing courts obsolescence faster than the belief that the status quo will continue to work in the future.

Take restaurants, for instance. When customers began paying more attention to what they were eating, savvy restaurateurs recognized the need to tweak their menus to reflect nutritional information, calorie-count, heart-healthy choices, gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, low sodium, no trans-fat, etc. Longstanding cooking techniques such as fried, breaded, battered and glazed began giving way way to grilled, roasted, broiled and steamed. Depending on the cuisine, there has also been a downsizing of plate and portion size to trick the mind into feeling “full.”

Another example is the landscape design business. Southern California homes that once boasted lush green lawns have now turned to a combination of drought-resistant plants and ground cover, artificial turf, and bark, brick and decorative rock – lawn alternatives which 21st century landscapers have had to step up and accommodate in order to stay viable.

Own a brick-and-mortar shop? Many have already transitioned to an online or hybrid presence in response to their customers’ desire to have 24/7 access, not have to deal with holiday crowds and parking lots, and addressing the escalating fears that being out in public places such as urban malls isn’t nearly as safe these days as it used to be.

Even publishers of books, magazines and newspapers are making the shift to electronic platforms in concert to the way today’s readers like to read. Given the fact that 30 percent of trade paperback and hardcover books end up in landfills, the evolution of ebooks and self-publishing reflects not only a “green” environmental solution but also a way for authors to exercise more control over their intellectual property, accrue higher royalties and get their books on the market much faster than via traditional channels.

With these examples in mind, what has your own business done to reinvent itself in the past year? The past five years? The past decade?

The following are some considerations which should be at the top of your To Do list:

  1. Study your competition’s unique selling points. What can you do to (1) emulate their successful platform and (2) differentiate yourself in attracting the same clientele?
  2. Explore new ways to keep your existing clients and customers happy. Engage them in the process by letting them know their opinions count. At the end of the day it’s much easier and less expensive to retain loyal fans than it is to pursue new ones.
  3. Become a lifelong learner. Educate yourself (and your employees) on industry trends by attending seminars/webinars, reading new business books and trade publications, tuning in to podcasts, and expanding your social media network.
  4. Update your business image. Whether it’s a creative retooling of your website, a redesign of your corporate brand, an expansion of your existing services and products, or doing seasonal window displays to catch the attention of passersby, it’s the Bright Shiny Object Syndrome that makes people curious to discover something new.
  5. Invest in new technology that will allow you to manage your time and delivery systems more efficiently. You may also want to invest in the expertise of a marketing coach to guide you in maximizing your resources, identifying ways to diversify, and reach potential consumer groups you might not have thought of.

It also goes without saying that survival is ultimately contingent on the mindset to take risks, to try things you’ve never done, and to stay absolutely and positively fearless. Your business adversaries may not be zombies but they will indeed eat you alive if you’re not prepared to stay one step ahead of them.

 

 

Tuning Out the Naysayers

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

headphones

History has given us no shortage of dreamers whose friends and foes were probably quick to say, “I told you so!” whenever one’s defiance of convention resulted in fizzles, flops and failures.

  • The eighth time was the charm for R. H. Macy after his first seven businesses went belly-up.
  • As a youth, F. W. Woolworth wasn’t allowed to wait on dry goods customers at his first job because his boss said he didn’t have any sense.
  • Fledgling author Dr. Seuss was rejected by 27 publishers before someone finally decided to give his stories a chance. Jack London tops that rejection count with 600 “no’s” before he got his first “yes.”
  • Henry Ford went broke five times before launching a car company that finally found success.
  • Elvis Presley was fired after his debut performance and advised to go back to driving a truck.
  • Long before he gave the world The Happiest Place on Earth, Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor who told him he lacked imagination and good ideas.
  • The Wright Brothers went through years of failed prototypes until they came up with a model that literally got off the ground.
  • Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime and yet kept at it because – well, he really liked to paint.

The lesson here is that if any of the visionaries on this list had caved to the pressures of the bliss-blowers and shelved their dreams in deference to a well-lit, safe and predictable path of ordinariness, what a loss it would have been to the generations that followed.

So it is as well with aspiring sole proprietors. If you have the aptitude for your chosen field – coupled with the patience and ambition to learn how to make your ideas work in a commercial context – the world is truly an oyster of your own making.

Just make sure your shell has enough layers of insulation to drown out the noise of everyone pounding on it and saying you should be making something else.

 

Excerpted from Office for One: The Sole Proprietor’s Survival Guide (available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle)

I’ll Be In My Virtual House If Anyone Is Looking For Me

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

Tiny Space Artist Loft

When you’re working in a job that you’re not keen about – and working for a boss you think is a doofus – there’s nothing glacially slower than the hands of an office clock. Will it never be lunchtime? Will it never be time for a break? Will it never, ever be time to go home?

Back in my 20s and 30s, the one thing that sustained me during the interminable days of boredom was the fact I always had something exciting to look forward to after work and on weekends; specifically, rehearsals and performances in community theater productions. Even when I was doing something mindless like filing correspondence, processing travel claims, or organizing the supply room, the best way to “get out of myself” without physically leaving was to mentally review my lines, think about favorite shows I had done, and plan menus for upcoming cast parties. To the casual onlooker, I looked completely content doing the most mundane tasks – the secret being that the contentment derived from thoughts which had nothing to do with work. A critical component of this mindset, of course, was also embracing the view that none of these jobs defined who I was as an individual; they were simply the means to an end of keeping bills paid. Nor did I ever stray from the belief that one day I’d be working for myself and not watching a clock at all.

When that wish came true and I became a full-time writer, I discovered something interesting about myself. Although I’m sure I always suspected I’d work harder as a sole proprietor and put in far more time than I ever did as someone else’s employee, maintaining a balance between home and work is a particular challenge when they’re both under the same roof; i.e., the temptation to answer a phone even if it’s “after hours;” the tendency to talk about work ad nauseum at the dining room table; the “just one more email” before bedtime. Although I’m much better at dialing back and keeping to a workday schedule than I was when I started, I’m also the first to admit I usually eat lunch at my desk and forget to take breaks unless my Chief Canine Officer reminds me she wants a walk.

We don’t think of stress as an impediment to creativity, yet stress can creep into the psyche if we don’t purposely plan for activities to alleviate it. Yes, that’s right – plan. While it may sound silly to block out increments of time throughout your home office day – and even put reminders on your daily calendar – it’s much too easy to let that down-time routinely slip away. For me, the stress-busting takes the form of two activities that have absolutely nothing to do with writing or consulting. The first is playing my upright grand piano for 20-30 minutes – usually Broadway show tunes that put me in a singing mood. The second is my architectural design software which allows me to dabble in original floor plans, color schemes, furniture layouts, etc. It’s amazing what wallpapering a virtual room, swapping out fireplaces, “planting” trees and flowers (and, of course, imagining the families that might live there) can do to reframe my thinking and make me feel as if I’ve just returned from a mini-vacation.

I also make it a point not to put any computer or telephone icons in my virtual houses…just in case anyone figures out how to interrupt me for something that can easily wait until I come back.

Here’s my line-up of stellar guest bloggers this month:

Information Technology Considerations for Your Business Plan – by Rich Silva

Protect Your Creation – Intellectual Property Tips – by Cathryn Warburton

How To Stop Your Business From Starving – by Robert Coorey

It’s True! Mentoring Pays! – by Susan Bender Phelps

Need some extra help taking stress out of your life? I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Annika Sorensen, author of My De-Stress Diary – 52 Effective Tips for Less Stress and More Peace of Mind. I liked her book so much that I actually keep a copy of it permanently on my desktop. Here’s the link to her feature interview: https://fromtheauthors.wordpress.com/category/dr-annika-sorensen/

The Business of Being Creative

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

Painter

Several years ago at a party someone asked me what type of business I was in. “I’m a writer,” I replied. “No, I meant for a real job,” she said. Despite the fact I’ve been a full-time wordsmith for some time and earn a good income from it, her response wasn’t an uncommon one. When you have a career that pays you to have fun, it somehow flies in the face of conventional wisdom – and parental nay saying- that you’re just not treating the concept of “work” seriously enough.

Unfortunately, I’ve encountered a number of aspiring writers, artists and musicians that are apologists for their own talent, boxing themselves into the category of hobbyists on the argument that they haven’t been discovered yet. To support themselves until that day arrives, the salary they draw from being employed by someone else often becomes the excuse to avoid thinking about how they’re going to be their own boss.

This is a self-defeating mindset on several levels, the most important being that if you’re not treating your creative endeavors as both a brand and a business right now and spending the time and money to be successful, no one else will invest in your dream, either.

Even if your passion is currently in the part-time/evening/weekend stage:

  • Do you have a well defined marketing plan?
  • Do you have a presence on social media?
  • Do you hold regular staff meetings with yourself?
  • Do you set weekly goals?
  • Are you willing to cut poorly performing divisions (i.e., low-paying markets)
  • Do you research what your competition is doing?
  • Do you really know who your audience is?
  • Are you staying abreast of current trends and technology?
  • Do you constantly look for ways to repurpose/reinvent/recycle past projects into exciting new ones?
  • Do you reward yourself when your one-person team does well?

Creative types are also the least likely to pay attention to what they have to pay in taxes or what types of business expenses are allowable as deductions.

Herein are six tips to lessen the pain of tax season (and possibly avoid an audit):

  1. Even if you haven’t made the transition to a full-time creative (and your relatives still refer to this quest as your “little hobby”), it’s critical to treat your craft like the professional enterprise it is. If you don’t have one already, there should be a designated “home office” space in which you can perform, uninterrupted, the principal tasks relevant to your biz. If this space is used exclusively and regularly for that purpose, you may be able to claim a tax deduction for costs associated with its maintenance (including utilities and repairs). Note: If your art/music/writing really is a hobby, the deductions you claim can’t exceed the total amount you have earned.
  2. When you work for someone else, a lot of deductions come out of your paycheck before you ever see it – the largest of these typically being state and federal income tax. If you’re a freelancer, the responsibility to estimate these amounts is up to you. For every check you receive, set aside approximately 25 percent of it so you won’t be caught short when annual taxes are due. If you’re bringing in large sums of freelance money on a regular basis – as opposed to occasional dribs and drabs – you’ll need to make estimated tax payments every quarter.
  3. Familiarize yourself with what’s a legitimate business expense and what’s not. If, for instance, you’re writing a biography about Beethoven, you’re likely to show up on a tax auditor’s radar if you went out and bought yourself a grand piano for $100,000 to just sit in your living room and inspire you. On the other hand, a $2 pair of earplugs so you can immerse yourself in Ludwig’s world of silence would qualify as a research tool. Other deductible expenses include resource materials (books, periodicals, tapes), office equipment and supplies, business insurance and licenses, membership fees, conferences and subscriptions, telecommunications, photocopying and postage, and marketing. Travel, meals and entertainment may also be deductible if there’s a verifiable correlation to your business.
  4. Keep detailed records and receipts for everything you plan to claim as a business-related expense. And no, we don’t recommend throwing everything into a shoebox. Set up an Excel file or purchase an accounting software program to judiciously log every money transaction that comes in or goes out. Create a back-up file and store it somewhere other than where you keep the original.
  5. Don’t toss your rejection letters. Yes, yes, we know they’re painful reminders that someone didn’t like your work and you’d just as soon rid yourself of the evidence. When you’re just starting out, however, this paper (or email) trail of correspondence serves as proof that you have actually been trying to hone your craft. Otherwise, that pricey new computer you’re claiming as a business expense could raise suspicions that you’re only using it for games and watching cat videos on YouTube. Keep in mind that you have to be earning something from this creative endeavor and that it has to be more than what you’re trying to claim on deductions.
  6. Hire a professional who is well versed in the tax laws and filing requirements specific to freelancers home-based small businesses. Even if you’re as savvy with numbers as you are with words, tax preparation can be stressful. (And really now, shouldn’t you be putting your brain to better use thinking of a plot for your next book or the subject of your next painting?) If you do try to go it alone, second-guessing what’s allowable, what isn’t and which form to fill out could get you in trouble. FAQs can be found on your country’s tax authority website along with a help line to speak with an expert.

*****

Here’s the line-up of this month’s guest bloggers:

Can Introverts Excel at Publicity? – by Marcia Yudkin

Level the Playing Field Using Sponsored Content – by Roger Wu

The Anatomy of a Killer Facebook Ad – by Jasmine Batra

 

 

 

Don’t Touch That Couch!

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

couch

You’ve probably heard the expression “creatures of habit.”  As psychologists explain it, human beings are unique, complex and known to incorporate a wide breadth of rituals into their daily routines. These rituals – whether silly or serious – not only enable them to imbue their lives with a tidy sense of structure but also give others a sense of predictability on how they’ll react in habitual situations such as making breakfast, getting dressed, or cleaning the kitchen.

They’ve observed, for instance, that Janice always keeps the milk and cream on the right side of the refrigerator’s top shelf and the orange juice on the left side of the door. They’ve noticed that Jeremy always aligns the shoes in his closet with the toes pointing north. They’ve asked Lily why she folds her cotton dishtowel into a square and places it within the framed grout lines of the tile counter and she consistently responds, “It’s just the way I’ve always done it and I think it saves time in the long run on grout cleaning.”

There are good habits and there are bad habits. There are habits that have been ingrained since childhood (i.e., eat everything on your plate), habits influenced by parents (i.e., there is only one “correct” way to hang toilet paper), and habits we develop on our own as a matter of convenience (i.e., if I put out my clothes the night before, it will save time getting ready for work).

The longer a habit has been part of one’s personality, the harder it is to break. Likewise, the passage of time may even have rendered it impossible to remember why or how it started in the first place. If those long-term behaviors aren’t healthy or helpful, it tends to make relationships with people that are impulsive and spontaneous all the more challenging. I’m sure you’ve known individuals who waited until their forties – or even later – to finally get married and co-mingle their possessions. Unless there’s an “esprit de compromise,” things could get ugly the first time a partner suggests even the simplest nudge to the everyday routine or existing décor.

The same scenario can unfold when the owner of a one-person business decides to share office space with a fellow professional. Even if they’re not forming a partnership and are only looking at this as a convenient way to save on rent, share a receptionist, and have a kindred spirit to chat with on a slow day, they both need to consider whether they’re too settled into their respective comfort zones to really make it work.

Authors encounter similar challenges whenever someone says, “Hey, why don’t we write a book together?” Clearly they’re channeling their inner Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and assuming that if the right kids just get together and go find a spiffy barn, the show will be a smash success. Sure it sounds like a great idea at the start, not to mention twice the fun and half the labor. When a pairing of kindred spirits exceeds their scribatious expectations, both parties can’t wait to work together again.

For the flip-side experiences, though, when you realize your business roomies aren’t quite working out, you have to deal with the pain of disappointment – and dissolution – in the very same way you’d pull off an adhesive bandage: as quickly as possible. Yes, there’ll be a major “OW!” that briefly hurts and then stops. In the best case scenario, you’ll still stay friends. In the worst case scenario, they’ll be out of your life forever…but you’ll still be able to move that couch wherever you want to because it’s back to being 100 percent yours.

*****

This month’s issue continues our showcase of entrepreneurial journeys and the epiphanies that made those dreams come true.

A Dog’s Way To My Heart – by Amanda Pravia

Breaking Into The Freelance Writing Market – by Rashida Tayabali

My Journey to Becoming a Wedding & Events Planner – by Courtney Lutkus

Swapping Bytes for Bites – by Sheryl Thai

An Ancient Business in a Modern Age – by Isabella Kleiman

Bubbles, Bling, and a Book – by Maria Nicola