Category Archives: How to…

Negativity spreads quickly and will take us all down

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I was chatting to someone at the office the other day. We got deep quickly on the topic of a mutual coworker – someone with a few issues in their life.

They are bleeding all over the rest of us with their sighs and “it’s all too hard…” comments about the job, leading to some poor performance. The slack created has to be picked up, of course, so no-one’s happy about it.

The chat goes downhill fast. It becomes a pile-on. Within minutes, we’ve gone way beyond anything uplifting or light and down into the murky waters.

By the end of it, we’re all stirred up. Our own productivity levels drop through the floor. The blame for this is clear, too – definitely nothing to do with us… we’re perfect!

But we are to blame.

The chat is gossip that takes us downhill faster than a black run. The decision to avoid the idle banter and stay focussed on the job sets those who get stuff done apart.

Step away. Do something else. Don’t take the bait. Stay in a positive frame of mind rather than taking the easy path and teeing off on someone who could be in real trouble.

It never ends well for those who love this kind of behaviour. The gossip kings and queens are not the ones to hang out with. Build a relationship with them, as with everyone at work, but don’t join them when the sourness takes over.

Rise above it. Be the one who leads the team in the right direction.

Don’t add fuel to the fire. Let it burn out.

Where change begins: a starter kit for real life transformation

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How do you build a life from a place where you think nothing will work?

There’s a starting point from which you can measure progress. An attitude shift and some changes to the way we use time are also required. If you stick with it, it’ll change your life. It revolves around the things we do in these three main areas and the time we spend on them:

  • Health and fitness
  • Money and income
  • Participation in society

We all sink time into things that take away from our lives rather than add to them. One of them is the time we spend on our phones or online. Using some of this time to build skills or habits in these areas is how you guarantee that your future will be better than your past.

Confidence grows. You’ll meet people. A way forwards will become clear. Goals will be set. Milestones achieved.

Gains are possible from a standing start. The first step is on you. It’s easy to avoid action, or add plans to a list. They’ll keep staring back at you but there won’t be any change. Action makes change happen. It’s gotta come from you.

It all begins with a simple plan. Small commitments lead to bigger commitments. Before you know it, you’ll have formed habits. People will notice your positivity. The dark clouds that were following you around will disappear.

But you’ve got to take that first step. Can you do it? 

If you need a hand, let me know.

Be interesting and interested

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This much-used sentence is one that I heard a long time ago but still resonates with me on an almost daily basis. It’s a rare skill but it stands out like wearing bright colours or dying your hair pink. It gets you noticed.

Being interesting is something that those who have travelled the world or have years of experience can rely on – sometimes a little too much. Their stories can become repetitive. That time they swam with sharks in the Bahamas or wrestled a bear in the Dagestan mountains was a jaw-dropper the first time around, but, after a few more mentions, its impact is lost.

All it takes to be interesting is to know what you’re about and be prepared to talk about it. It’s about standing for something and having opinions. It’s having an identity and being able to explain what it means to anyone in basic terms.

The interested part is about asking questions and actually listening to the answers. It’s about your follow up questions to go deeper and find out more. It makes conversations flow and lets people focus on their favorite topic – themselves.

I always remember the people who ask me questions. They’re normally the ones with an interesting background. Isn’t that funny? Maybe they’ve worked this game out.

Get things done using these steps

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1 – Hold your hand up and own whatever it is that you want to work on, fix or change.

2 – Make a simple plan with a start, a middle and an ending.

3 – Find people who can help you and form a team.

4 – Do the things you need to do and none of the things you don’t. Distractions will kill progress.

5 – Don’t stop until you’re finished.

The life cycle of the LinkedIn community

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You find me through search and check out my profile, see a comment I’ve made on someone’s post, hear about me from someone else or receive a message from me and decide I’m a good contact to have.

We follow each other’s activity on the platform. We add reactions to posts and a few comments here and there.

We learn from each other and build trust in the fact that each of us are subject matter experts and know how to solve the problems our clients face every day. We might get a coffee at some point down the line, or even collaborate on some content.

At some stage, we could work together. There was no direct pitching as we got to know each other – trust developed and it became a no-brainer.

I got a tremendous recommendation from you when we completed the project. Referrals from your friends and colleagues then began to arrive.

And we begin again…

Train the brain

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It’s as crucial as any other kind of training. And, in many ways, it’s more important.

Every day I’m trying to do some kind of mental exercise to improve my thinking and use the power of my brain.

It might be meditation. It might be writing my lists of ten new ideas. It might just be writing a post such as this one.

But I do it every day without fail. I don’t miss a day because I know it’s having a huge effect on my long term results. 

And I’m very focussed on the long term.

Short term is also important – we’ve gotta eat, right? But long term thinking and effort makes so much more sense for me. 

My brain operating on level ten is the goal for as long as I’m still breathing and daily training makes this increasingly likely.

How about we check back in 50 years (age 98) and see if everything’s still working?!

Is your main message clear?

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I’m constantly looking people up online to find out what they’re all about. I might want their help, want to work with them, or just want to see who they are and what they do.

Half the time, I see what I want and don’t have to scroll too far. But the other half can be terribly frustrating.

How clear is your main message?

When people land on your profile (and you’re in business, whatever that might be) they need to be able to work out quickly and easily what you do and how to work with you. 

If they have to dive deep, click through a couple of pages and do a tonne of scrolling to work out what you’re about, the chances of them moving to another page are high.

Signposts work really well.

Some sites have ‘who are you and what do you want?’ buttons right there on the front page. They can be confronting but they make it easy for the user to find what they want. This is what matters most – it’s all about the user. 

Even profiles on places like LinkedIn matter when it comes to this.

Use the headline and the ‘about’ info to make it clear how you can help people and you’ll get better results. 

Be specific and do it with purpose and the enquiries you get will be from the right people.

Can you get more from less?

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So much stuff that we write doesn’t get read. Emails, blog posts, posts of all kinds. We just don’t have time to read everything. There’s so much coming at us today from all angles.

Brevity rules

If you can say it in 300 words or less, you’re winning. 

If you can say it in 100, the chances of what you write being seen and read increases by a big margin.

Add a call to action – eg. come and say hi on Facebook – and this post is long enough. I’ve made a point, given a tip and asked you, the reader, to do something to get you into action. 

Do you actually need much more than this? 

(And this one’s over 100, even in this short format.)

Realistic expectations are crucial

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The excitement that builds at the start of any new project can be infectious. The idea sparks something in our minds that opens up new possibilities and lines of research. We get into action.

As time goes by and we get down to work, the size of the task can become clearer than it did at the start of the process. And, at this point, it can pay to take a step back.

Are expectations and reality lined up?

Bite off more than you can chew and the outcome can end up being destructive for all involved. You miss deadlines, targets get further away, your mood changes as things get real and you start to beat yourself up for falling behind.

Is your ego taking you on this new journey? I wanted to run a marathon for my 48th birthday with three weeks training (dumb idea for anyone at any age) and, on reflection, I wanted to prove to my ego that I’ve still got it – and I clearly haven’t as one training run has left me on the sidelines for two weeks and counting. 

The reasons why you’re not getting things done to take you towards this new goal can be resistance. This is something we all face and it shows up when there is something real at stake, so, in some cases, this is a sign that we have to dig deeper. 

But once we weigh all this stuff up and set realistic expectations, the energy keeps flowing through us as we work towards the goal and the chances of success increase.

What would I do if I was a retailer today

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The post-coronavirus world is starting to take shape. Here in Australia, shops are reopening and cafes and bars are now allowing 50 people inside. There is still the danger of a resurgence of the virus but we have no incoming travellers without a quarantine period and this seems to be doing its job well.

Retailers have been hit hard these last ten weeks. Here are a few of my ideas for them to boost their businesses and use free online platforms and tools to get it done. 

The steps for retailers in the post-Corona world

Firstly, their Social Media profiles need to be put to work. Posts should be daily with offers for new customers and special offers for existing customers. All profiles should be checked over to make sure contact details and ‘about’ sections are up to date and on point.

Facebook Messenger is the ideal way to deliver offers online with high engagement levels – 80% open and 40% click-through rates – and I would be working to build my own chatbot to automate customer service as a minimum.

I would hire a comedic writer to create funny blog posts with a true sense of humour to increase the attention on my posts. Two funny posts on top of the offers content would work well. The funny writing should also be used to email my existing customers once a week to keep them engaged and updated.

I would use Instagram/Facebook Stories and TikTok to create video content every day. All of the attention is on video right now and I would use it to attract new followers and highlight the daily offer.

Every Saturday and Sunday would be ‘bring a friend’ day and there would be a voucher for everyone who turns up for them to use on another visit based on liking the Facebook page and subscribing to the chatbot.

And finally, I would say my prayers every night and be thankful that I’m still in business while many have already gone.

Become an ideas machine

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Credit for this post goes to James Altucher. I’ve been tuning into his daily Instagram Lives with his wife during lockdown in NYC (they’ve been a rich source of ideas in themselves) and his number one tip that has worked so well for him through the years is this one.

Become an ideas machine

Take a notebook and aim every day to come up with 10 new ideas. Make them specific and put the brain muscle to work.

Choose a business you’re connected to and work out 10 ways they could improve, for example. It’s a great way to start a conversation. I did this last week for a client of ours – I sent the list over to them and it was a real success.

Or you could make a list of 10 ideas for a friend of yours who’s struggling with something in their life. It could be a simple playlist to brighten their mood or a list of courses online they could do for free to learn a new skill.

Whatever you choose to do, do it every day and your brain will adapt and start spewing out so many ideas you’ll need a pile of notepads. Give it a try and see where it can take you.

Add systems to increase efficiency

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The more systems I have in place, the better everything is for me. I have a long list of jobs to do most days and I feel demoralised if I don’t get the majority of things ticked off. There’s a regular daily battle between order and chaos in my life and anything I can do to help order win is always a good thing.

Systems and processes make the difference.

My mind works in a lateral, logical way so if I can stay focussed on a task for long enough I’ll always complete it. 

If a disruption happens – the phone goes off, incoming messages ding (I send a lot of direct messages to people every day) or I’m drawn to my inbox – it can be the equivalent of slipping on a banana skin – there’s no going back once you start falling.

If I can reduce the number of decisions I have to make every day, I can increase my outputs and efficiency. Time spent deciding what to have lunch, what to wear, and what job to do first may seem trivial but it adds up and if I don’t have these decisions to make when I sit at my desk, my brain avoids the banana skins. 

Something as simple as knowing what I’m going to wear the next day and eating the same things for breakfast and lunch most days makes a big difference to the flow of the day and the number of things I get done.

Simplicity is also important. Avoiding complexity makes every day run more smoothly and I work really hard at this. I try to avoid complex travel plans where possible and if I have to travel somewhere different I spend time creating a detailed plan with a couple of alternatives to keep the stress levels low. 

What systems and processes do you use to stay on track?

Write for one person

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The phrase, “Everyone’s a potential client”, was quoted to me last week and I immediately replied, “To those who don’t know how to sell”. All the evidence I have at my disposal from a few years of sales is that you can’t sell successfully to everyone, even if you think it’s possible.

Write for one person

Writing to an audience of one makes your content so much clearer. Your messages don’t become a fog of phrases attempting to catch everyone’s eye. You start to write as if you’re in a conversation and the writing becomes more readable as a result.

If you get to know the person you’re writing to, you can also tailor your message to be as helpful to them as possible. If you know what they find hard and what they enjoy the most, you can serve their interests and immediately become more useful to them. 

I write my weekly emails to a person I’ll call ‘Malcolm’. He’s a small business owner and a solopreneur. He’s had a mixed background in both corporate life and the arts and the business he now runs is focussed on training people in a very particular skill. We’ve also done some work together, both as clients of the other.

When I write each email, I ask myself if this is something Malcolm would find useful. I also think back to the conversations we have had and aim to add to those conversations through each email. And when I add a sales message to the email or a call-to-action, I always consider if the offer is something Malcolm would find interesting.

Think about how this concept applies to you and the messages you send out. Who’s your Malcolm?

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

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We can always find reasons not to do something. It’s one of these things that comes to us more naturally than saying yes. A fear of what the commitment will mean takes over us and, even for a split second, we hunt for an excuse.

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

The fear that we feel is usually unfounded. The fear is only inside our minds because we are being asked to go outside of our comfort zone and make a commitment to something.

How many situations end up with you in the following situations? 

  • Exposed as being a criminal or dishonest publicly
  • Embarrassed by something you do or say and have people you love see you go down in flames
  • Naked on live TV

“Err, not many” would be my reply. Not if you’re a decent person with a basic set of morals and no connection to any TV producers who enjoy asking their friends to get naked!

There’s so much to be gained from saying ‘yes’ more often. I struggle with this area myself through a lifetime of being highly cynical and critical of others, but I make an effort now to get more involved in groups and take on new responsibilities.

If we say yes more, the fear starts to go away. We meet new people and good things happen. It becomes clear that the bad things we thought would happen are nothing more than mind games. 

Give it a try this week. Anything that crops up and the call comes out for help or volunteers, override that instant reaction to block it and say yes instead. What happens could actually be great.

Attitude and our responses

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The way we respond to things that happen around us every day is the main reason for the way things turn out.

If we get angry at the queue in the coffee shop, that queue is rarely going to speed up. If we can accept it, chances are that it will disappear quickly.

If our partner gets angry at us and we get angry in response, nothing good is going to happen next (except for a full blown fight). If we take a second to listen to what they’re saying before responding angrily, there may be a chance we can work it all out.

If a job we interviewed for goes to another candidate, we’re going to be frustrated. But if we then blame the bus driver for making us 2 minutes late (the only reason we were passed over) without holding up our hand and realising this was our mistake, we’re not going to see much change for the better.

The fact is that it’s all on us. Our attitude and our responses to situations lead directly to the outcome of that situation. 

Keep a good attitude and good things will happen. Let anger take over and blame everything and everyone around you rather than looking at yourself and things will stay the same.

Order or chaos?

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Everyone prefers a sense of order in their life rather than chaos – generally lower levels of anxiety, better outcomes to projects, work delivered on time, etc – but how many of us actually achieve that state?

How many days start the right way with goals being met and tasks ticked off to-do lists but then go off-track faster than a downhill ski racer taking a tumble at top speed?

It might be the phone notification for a new message, an unplanned inbound call, or some web research that opens up the slippery slope of the internet.

Whatever form a distraction takes, it becomes difficult to get back to the task you were working on once it hits. Your brain reacts well to being focussed and taking deliberate steps as part of your plan, but it loves the distraction even more. 

You then have to make a decision to get back on track – one that would not have had to happen if you’d avoided the distraction in the first place. 

And it’s in the removal of decisions as we go through each day that lies, to me, the secret of achieving a better order/chaos balance. 

I plan the parts of the day that need focussed work and avoid decisions in these slots in oder to deliver my best. 

The fewer decisions I have to make, the higher the likelihood I’ll achieve more in the time I have available. 

If I have order to the way I work – processes in place, systems to work to, proper scheduling and a set of really simple rules to follow – chaos is off the table. This way, everything continues to move forward and this is always the goal.

Share your best stuff

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There is fear around when it comes to sharing your ’secrets’. The stuff you do that gets results. The best stuff you have to offer. 

I often hear from clients, “oh, there’s no way we can put that out there.”

My reply is always a challenge to this. 

It comes down to time. 

I’ve spent four years now creating content about my subject, Social Media. If someone took the time to watch my hundreds of videos on Facebook and YouTube, my daily LinkedIn posts and articles, and signed up for my weekly-ish email, they wouldn’t need to work with me because everything I know is in this content.

It’s all out there because I want potential clients to see the best from me.

The tips I’ve shared, the advice I’ve given and the stories I’ve told about experiences with clients is out there and it’s all free. 

And the reason why it doesn’t cause me any problems is that my work is saving my clients that magic ingredient we all have not enough of – time.

The content is giving people a taste and I want this taste to be something they want more of. 

I want them to get a practical tip, work on it themselves and get success from it. I’m then ‘top-of-mind’ as the person that helped them out and solved a problem for them. 

And when they want more help, the chances of them coming to me are much, much greater. 

They don’t have time to do it themselves and the work we do saves them lots of it. They also don’t have time to review everything that’s out there already from me. 

When they see a post and it’s something really helpful and useful, rather than something I’ve just dialled in to make sure I’m showing up, it will be remembered. 

And then when they need more, they’ll pick up the phone.

Play the long game

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The news headlines showcasing Trump’s latest tweet or the acquisition of another firm by Facebook can take us away from the reality of Social Media for brands everywhere – it’s all about people and it takes time to make real connections.

When I talk to business owners they often want to know how to use Social Media platforms to get maximum attention on their brand in the shortest time possible. 

They’re looking for their revenue to rise off the back of a couple of quickly written posts with a magical call-to-action in the final paragraph.

Yet we all can agree it’s true that a conversation is where you get to know someone better, and you won’t get to know anyone at all unless you have a conversation with them in the first place.

That’s why my answer to them is that they have to see Social Media as a long game. 

It’s a game that involves as many conversations with your connections online as possible in order to build trust in your brand before generating sales. 

This not only answers their question, it also embeds the true sense of what Social Media is all about – making connections with real people at scale over time, creating trust in the brand and building a loyal base of followers who buy your products and services.

Our job is to do this for our clients every day. And, if you’re marketing for a brand, it’s your job, too.

Mix old and new school techniques

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When something shiny and new comes onto the scene, everyone wants a piece of it.

Marketers scream that it’s the next best thing, ready to solve all problems. Queues form outside stores and consumers set their watches to get their hands on it first (and then resell it on eBay ASAP….).

There’s a glow that comes from owning the latest whatever. Everyone wants to touch it, get hands-on and compare it to what they’ve got.

The same thing happens when new ways are discovered.

New techniques for PC gameplay, unlocking some previously unseen new level, are shared on the internet. Or it could be something as simple as a faster way to clean your room or do the washing up (I’d be first in the queue).

The old ways of doing things are put to one side while everyone tries the new way but, after a while, people start to gravitate back to the tried and trusted methods.

The glow fades. In a pinch, we revert to what we know and trust. 

The perfect spot for me is in the middle of both camps.

Stay open to the new stuff but don’t lose sight of what works and has worked for a long time. 

Be wary of the marketing messages covering up any flaws in the new ways. The old methods have stood the test of time and may not be ready for the trash can just yet. 

But also be willing and open to the positive changes that new ways can bring in. Staying stuck in the past can be as dangerous as jumping on every new trend as it arrives.

How fast does Social Media deliver results?

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I get asked a lot by clients about how long it will take for Social Media to ‘work’. In most cases, this is roughly translated as ‘how fast will it make me money?’.

The golden age of online influencers and cheap Facebook and Google ads are long gone. The days where you could buy a keyword on Google for pennies on the dollar and then run ads against it for days are also nothing but stories we tell ourselves as marketers to remind us of those halcyon days.

It’s a lot tougher today in a world where attention online is the holy grail and those who have it are extremely reluctant to give it up. 

Today It’s about making a wider set of strategies work. Engagement with potential customers one-to-one works well once trust is built and the rewards for this are huge if you can stick at it for long time periods. 

Let’s pick this last sentence apart a litte to make the point here…

Engagement

It rules the day online. ‘Post and disappear’ is so over and those still practicing social media this way are the ones to avoid. Have you ever sent an email to an info@ inbox and then never hear back? This is the ‘post and disappear’ crew at work in their natural habitat – set-and-forget.

One-to-one

This is the world of messaging apps. Facebook has its own, Messenger, and it’s a real killer for increasing open rates and click throughs, e.g. how effective your marketing is. LinkedIn, Instagram and everyone else also give us these tools to play with and this is the way we love to interact today as humans. Even Google has a messaging service for businesses to receive messages straight from customers in ‘search’ mode, so it’s now a must-have.

Trust

This is where the winners win big and the losers stick to leaving piles of leaflets in coffee shops and running small ads in newspapers and magazines nobody reads. Trust is built up over time and it comes through giving huge value to your audience in all of your content. If you can give your followers a practical tip that will help them make more money or save time, trust will come. We at Fit For Social spend all of our time doing this as a brand every single day for all of our clients.

Long time periods

Here’s the big ‘punch in the face’ for those who want quick returns with no real effort: it takes time and effort. In some cases, there is little reward or payoff directly attributable to your social media content for months and months. Miss out any of the pieces of the puzzle I’ve just broken down above and the clock will keep ticking. Audiences are testing brand promises made online every day and if your brand makes any it can’t keep or rushes too quickly to the sale, it’s a black mark. These black marks can also add up fast. The switch back to someone we already trust, or who’s engaged with us multiple times through Messenger or email with an offer or special deal, takes place in seconds.

It’s a long game. The stories of quick cash and big things happening in a matter of hours or days are definitely out there, but be wary of how much work has gone into it behind the scenes and how it can translate to a business like yours before you put it to the test. 

Those who understand what it takes are clear on this and are reaping the rewards after they’ve ticked all the right boxes for their customers over months and years. If you can adopt this mindset and are willing to knuckle down and do the work, your customers will thank you in all the ways you’re looking for when the time is right.