The Failure-Dichotomy Principle

Just between you and me (and anyone who stumbles across this blog), I have a thing for Donny Deutsch. I love his talk show (and not just because he picked a great theme song) and think he is a brilliant marketer/creative genius. So when I was browsing through the bookstore, my heart skipped a beat when I saw him on the cover of Often Wrong, Never in Doubt. Not only is he an advertising guru, the host of his own talk show, and not bad to look at, but he also wrote a book. Lucky me!

I'm only 60-something pages in, but I really like it so far, and thought I would pass on his "Failure-Dichotomy Principle".

Creativity is about freedom. In order for people to be free to create, they need to feel free to fail... You need to be free to unload your mind, to have the opportunity to put every idea on the table, no matter how far-fetched or unusual or downright weird. To free up the unconscious while inoculating oneself against ridicule, we have a ritual we call "Shards of Glass." It's a set of words, a preemptive strike against yourself. "This may be a really bad idea, and if it is, throw shards of glass at me..." It gives people a safety net so they can sail off into the unknown.

At the same time, you need a culture in which failure is not an option... We all, as human beings, have a depth gauge within ourselves and at some point we decide that the game, the championship, the job, our soul, is on the line. At that point you simply can't allow yourself to fail.

I really like the idea of embracing failure for the sake of creativity, yet instilling a mindset that you're capable of anything. Do you allow yourself the freedom to fail?

sidebar: I'm sure I'll come across something else I'll want to share from Donny, so I'm reserving the right to revisit this book!

Make Clients Happy

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and my soapbox at the same time (don't try this at home, kids!) Have you heard about this guy who taped his conversation with an AOL Customer Service Rep? He was trying to cancel his account and the guy from AOL was less than accommodating. I saw an interview with the aforementioned customer-turned-squealer on CNBC this morning (Let it be stated that I do not choose to watch "Squawk Box", Kevin steals the remote. A better name would be "A Group Of Morons Who Talk Over Each Other And Think That They Are Doing Stand-up") In any case, everyone is up in arms because AOL got caught doing what every other big company does (which is why you should do business with small companies, when possible.) I had the exact same experience last week with a certain company (I'm not mentioning any names, but it rhymes with "Berizon" and starts with a V.) After 1 hour and 45 minutes, 3 "Agents", 1 Supervisor and 1 lodged complaint later, my blood pressure was up but my issue was not resolved.

Here's the thing: It takes so little to make a customer happy; just some gratitude for their business, sympathy when they are upset, and the promise to try to resolve the issue. This is not new, people. Just forgotten.

Don't forget - it's more expensive and difficult to get new clients than it is to keep the ones you have. So, for Pete's sake, make your new mantra, "Make Clients Happy" and all will be good with the world. Or at least your business.

The balance between work and life

I was at a party the other night and was talking to another woman who has owned a couple of businesses. She was shocked to hear that I was able to go on my 10 day vacation and leave business here. I admitted that I checked in a couple of times, but was suddenly very proud of the fact that I have (after seven years of struggling) maintained a good balance between my business and my life. They used to be one and the same - and to some extent, they still are - but it's much healthier now. I guess I eventually figured out that no one was going to die from not getting their soap rolls.

Things I do to nurture a good balance:

• Don't sweat the small stuff. Think about it in the grand scheme of things - is it really that big of a deal? Some things are, but most things aren't.
• Take a day off every now and then. And when I'm on that day off, I might check in once or twice, but otherwise, it's just a day working out of the office.
• Work efficiently. Making good use of my time while working allows me to get more done and enjoy my free time without feeling guilty.
• Remember that it's just business. It doesn't take precedence over my home life, or my happiness.

Do you have a good balance between work and life? What do you do to nurture that balance?

Tell someone you love them.

In honor of my Dad on his birthday and Father's Day...

On this day,
Mend a quarrel.
Search for a forgotten friend.
Dismiss a suspicion
and replace it with trust.
Write a letter to someone who misses you.
Encourage a youth who has lost faith.
Keep a promise.
Forget an old grudge.
Examine your demands upon others
and vow to reduce them.
Fight for a principle.
Express your gratitude.
Overcome an old fear.
Take two minutes to enjoy the
beauty of nature.
Tell someone you love them.
Tell them again.
And again.
And again.

Sorry for the lapse...

I haven't abandoned you - I've just been crazy busy! I promise to get back to my more regular routine this coming week. Unfortunately, when things are busy some of my more favorite things to do take a backseat. I'm not complaining though, when work keeps me busy, I'm happy.

Oh, and I took my own advice last week (see March 24th post: Stuck in a rut) and took a design project that I just couldn't make sense of to a friend. After about 10 seconds of talking about it - the solution seemed clear. Funny that it was sitting on my desk for longer than I care to admit, but just talking it out to someone else was all I needed!

My own support group

Over the past seven years I have met some incredible people through having the business. I have met these inspiring people at trade shows, seminars where I spoke, or through other interesting people. I have learned to surround myself with people in different industries that know much more than I do in these other areas. It goes both ways, I enjoy mentoring other women and helping them through the parts where I stumbled.

I met Kimberly Wilson, Creative Director of Tranquil Space Yoga in DC, at a Women Business Owners workshop. I was speaking on a panel about "Big marketing strategies for small budgets" - I don't know about the big marketing strategies, but I sure had the "small budget" down. I noticed her walk in because she was dressed very chic and I just had a feeling that we would be friends. She came up to me at the end to tell me that she loved my story and we exchanged information. We got together the next week - eager to meet for lunch and share ideas.

At that lunch, I told her that I had been a part of a group for women business owners, but that I felt it was just for local networking (which I didn't really need) and that it seemed like their main goal was to participate in the ice-breaker at the luncheons so they could win a door prize. No real connections. I was looking for something deeper, a fusion of brainstorming and problem-solving, topped off with a little bit of emotional support and camaraderie. We decided to make our own group - pull in 2 or 3 other women in the same position and meet monthly. It was great right from the start - we would come to the group with a specific problem or idea we wanted to get feedback on and there we would find unbiased opinions, outside-the-box solutions and suggested resources. We talked about our personal long-term goals and at each meeting we would pinpoint five smaller goals for the next month that would get us closer to those long-term goals. There is a certain amount of accountability that comes with having to check in with someone. I knew that when I got to that meeting, I had to answer to my board.

Kimberly actually went a step further and created her own "Advisory Board" which I thought was brilliant. Five other business gurus (not sure how I got past the cut) meeting quarterly to help her with her business. I can only speak for myself, but I think I get as much out of her "board meetings" as she does - it's a real learning opportunity.

Kimberly is continually a source of inspiration for me. And with her new book, Hip Tranquil Chick, due out in November, it seems like nothing is out of her reach.

**To make your head spin, check out her bio on tranquilspace.com, and to hear me and Kimberly chat about being a "hip tranquil chick" in business, check out the Dec 19th podcast on hiptranquilchick.com/blog

Do you have your own "advisory board" - a support group, however informal, that you can bounce ideas off of?