In sports, umpires/referees/judges have an extremely tough job. They must be able to perform their duties – calling the game as fairly and accurately as humanly possible – while blocking out all external influences such as screaming fans, angry coaches, unruly players, etc.
It’s the same when you are you’re own boss. Keeping a cool head is crucial for success as a freelancer, entrepreneur, or business owner. But let’s get back to sports for a minute.
When a ref blows a call, and he knows it, you can’t help but wonder how that might affect his next call. For example, a baseball umpire makes a called 3rd strike on a pitch that was clearly off the plate. That call ends the inning, which results in one team being able to hold their lead going into the ninth.
The coach of the losing team comes out to argue the call – knowing full well that in baseball, calls never get overturned. Nonetheless, he’s out there cursing out the umpire, kicking dirt on his pants, throwing his hat across the field. He makes his anger known, and it’s compounded by the fans who erupt at the sight of a firey coach meltdown.
Coach is thrown out. Game continues. Now every call this umpire makes for the rest of this game comes with extra baggage. In the split second he has to make every call, he’s second guessing himself. Should he compensate for that missed call by leaning slightly in favor of the team he screwed over during the last inning?
The best umpires/referees/judges have the ability to detach themselves from all that baggage and focus on making the right call – no matter who benefits. They keep their cool and do their job.
Human errors happen and there’s no getting around that. It’s about moving past them without letting them effect whatever comes next.
Managing that fire in business
The ups and downs of running your own business are not limited to only errors. You never know what type of unforeseen obstacles will come your way.
You lose out on a big project you thought you had locked up. You get hit with a lawsuit. You owe a lot in taxes. Your employee quits in the middle of a large project. These things happen, and sometimes there’s nothing you can do to control or prevent them.
The question remains – how will an obstacle effect what’s next?
Let’s say you take a hit financially. Will you start lowing your price quotes to ensure you lock up new business? Will you accept projects that you wouldn’t normally take on – such as a red flag client, or something outside your specialty?
If you do, you’re making a very serious mistake.
Once you take on a project that you regret – either because you’re not getting paid enough for it, or because the client is a nightmare to deal with – you’ll be killing yourself with stress. Stress results in lower quality work, which leads to more problems. Now it happens all over again – you’re spiraling and constantly playing catch-up.
Bad move.
Above all else, you must stay true to yourself, to your business, and to your big picture goals. Accept that there will be hurdles. Learn how to move past them, minimize the damage, and continue to perform at 110%.
When it comes down to it, that’s what keeps your business in thrive mode.
Guest blogging on larger blogs than your own is a great way to build credibility and attract an audience. I’ve been guest writing occasionally on various blogs for the past 2 years and for the most part it’s been a great experience- that is after my posts have been published.
The frustrating thing about guest blogging is that there is always a period of being left in the dark. The editor might take a long time to respond to your submission. Even after you’re told that your article has been accepted, you’re still left wondering if and when it will actually be published.
Needless to say, this can be very frustrating. You took valuable time away from your work, your business, and your own blog, to produce top quality content for someone else’s blog. Since guest articles are to be published on an exclusive basis, you can’t simply submit and publish your article elsewhere or on your own blog. You just need to sit tight, wait and keep your eye on your RSS feeds to see when your article hits the web.
This is not right.
Large blogs need to get their act together in regards to managing guest authors. Guest authors are giving up their time and expertise to contribute to large blogs. They deserve to be treated with respect. At the very least, guest authors should be kept informed.
I don’t accept the excuse “Oh we’re so big and so popular that we can’t handle the hundreds of requests we receive each day”. These big blogs are big businesses. There is no excuse for a lack of organization. Can’t handle the workload? Hire additional editors.
A few rules.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were some kind of code of conduct that every blog should abide by when it comes to managing guest authors? Something to take the mystery out of the whole process. Here’s what I propose:
State your guest blogging terms clearly on your website. That means, specify an approximate response time for new submissions. If you pay for content, state how much. If you don’t, then state that. Tell writers how long of an author bio they’re allowed to attach and how many links can be included.
If you do accept a guest article, give the author advanced notice as to when it will be published. A simple, “we expect to publish it later next week” is fine (if it’s accurate). Are you currently on a 3 month backlog? Fine, but just let the author know.
If you’re running a blog network (several sites), be clear about which blog you’re accepting the article for. It’s unfair to lead a guest writer on. In the past, I’ve been led to believe that my article would go up on a network’s main blog (200,000+ subscribers), only to find out later it would publish on a smaller sister blog (45,000 subscribers).
I can’t help but notice that so many TV commercials today are focused on attacking their direct competitors.
Sure, the classic Coke vs. Pepsi battle has been going on for decades, and that’s always been somewhat entertaining. But today we see it in every industry, every product, every ad.
How about this Dominoes pizza commercial, offering a discount because they “beat” Papa Johns in some bullshit taste test?
Whatever happened to offering a quality product, with honest customer support, and having confidence that your customers will support you based on these things? Does every company now need to directly attack their competitors? Is this what people want to see? Is this what drives sales today?
It’s like these companies are high school bullies, trying to make a name for themselves simply by bringing down everyone else. I don’t know about you, but to me, that screams insecurity.
I’m turned off
Why would I want to buy a product that cares so much about beating up the other guy? That’s not a personality I relate with. How does that approach attract me to their brand?
It doesn’t. My prediction is eventually these types of desperate big dollar ads will open opportunities for the smaller guys to make a name for themselves with a quality product, quality support, and reasonable pricing. I think it’s already happening.
I love Twitter. But sometimes the viral nature of it tends to shape opinions that may be based more on popular belief than actual personal experience.
I’m talking about instant criticism. There seems to be a growing trend that when something brand new hits the scene, the masses instantly criticize it and reject it. This criticism resonates between Twitter and the blogosphere at an extremely rapid pace. It happens so fast that it makes me question it’s legitamacy. What are these critiques based on? Actual user experience or just an amplification of someone else’s opinion?
Take the example of Google Buzz.
It’s a brand spanking new thing from Google. It kind of came along without much prior notice (that I’m aware of). On Day 1, the widespread rejection of Google Buzz was pretty overwhelming. Everyone was like, “What is Google Buzz? I didn’t ask for this, so I don’t like it.” Really? In less than a few hours you already made up your mind about Google Buzz? Sure, there were some very real privacy concerns (and it’s a good thing those were made known by the masses), but is it really that bad? It might actually be a cool new way to expand your use of Gmail and share links and pics with your contacts. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. But why not give it whirl for a week or two before passing (and publishing) judgement? See how it might fit into your social network. How do you and your friends use it? Wait to see the unforeseen positive or negative effects.
How about the Apple iPad…
Now this one was extremely hyped before it was actually revealed. While some reactions seemed positive, the vast majority were clearly negative. The iPad apparently did not deliver what the masses hoped that it would.
Really? The fact that it’s missing a web cam (which may or may not be true) makes this thing a flop? The fact that it’s just like an iPhone makes it useless? Take a step back and see what this thing really is. It’s a mobile device for consuming online content. And based on what we’ve seen, it seems to do that pretty well, and likely a lot better than the clunky Windows netbooks currently on the market. I mean, nobody has even held one yet, but everyone’s passing judgement. Wait until the thing ships and you buy it (because I know all you Apple Fan boys, including myself, probably will), then pass judgement. Only then are you able to publish a truly informed blog post or tweet.
What do I think of the iPad? Looks pretty cool, but I don’t know much without holding it. I do think the $499 starting price tag is a pleasant surprise.
“Launching pretty fast almost always works.” … “Sitting around, spending a long time noodling on the idea is almost always a mistake. It’s like a form of procrastination that you can convince yourself is work.” — Paul Graham, during a mixergy.com interview
Yet another awesome entrepreneur interview from one of my favorite sites, mixergy.com. This one is with Paul Graham, the guy behind Y Combinator.
This quote really struck a chord with me. When working on personal projects, it’s always tough to take a step back, fight the urge to be a perfectionist and just pull the trigger and launch. It’s definitely a wise move to launch your startup (or website, project, or whatever it is) sooner rather than later. Get feedback, tweak and improve things as you move along. Don’t aim for perfection before day 1, because that’s simply impossible.
How long can you continue to support your work without financial profit? For those of you who have never had to pay your utility bill yourself or feed whole families with a salary, or worry about health insurance for a spouse, you will undoubtedly say, “Forever, because it’s about passion and community.” For those of you with that mindset, I hope your parents live forever and keep enabling you to live in their basement while they work to pay for your passions.
This is a really great read from the Cory Miller (the guy behind iThemes). He articulates perfectly just about everything I’ve been thinking in regards to businesses based around WordPress.
Designing and developing for the WordPress platform is a passionate trade. Anyone who is deeply involved with it will agree. But many will argue that passion and community cannot coexist with profit and sustainability. I flatly disagree with this idea and as Cory so eloquently points out, “passion + profit can and must co-exist.”