Who wouldn’t want to be an emperor? Spreading your ideas and messages through the world, and kicking butt every step of the way? We’ve all heard that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and creating a successful lifestyle business follows the same idea. Plus, creating and running your own business can be pretty damn scary.

But, Chris Guillebeau’s Empire Building Kit puts a really fun spin on the idea of creating and running your own business. He has put together a product that includes “the business know-how, real-life case studies and daily steps designed to help you build your empire in one year or less.”

I haven’t pretended to be a fictitious character in a long time, but picking between playing “Alexander the Great,” “Hail, Caesar,” and “Emperor-in-Training” (the 3 pricing levels) made for a really fun shopping experience. If you’re in the business of selling anything, I recommend taking a look at Chris’ store. He makes the shopping experience fun and exciting. It’s riddled with great copy and cool design. I think you could learn a thing or two from just browsing around his store.

So, why did I buy the EBK?

Personally, I was really impressed with the way Chris presents himself and his business, and I thought I could learn a lot from him. I was really intrigued by the idea of other entrepreneurs opening up about how much money they make, the mistakes they’ve made, and sharing their best tips for success.

One thing I’ve seen already is that being a one-person business can be really lonely. I’ve lost the collective knowledge of working with a group of co-workers, and I most business people aren’t very keen on telling you how much money they made last year, how much they expect to make this year, and how they make a profit on their products. It’s sort of a taboo subject, but it’s crucial to learn and understand these aspects of business in order to succeed.

I didn’t take any business courses in college, and I figured this would be a much less-expensive option than going back to school.

What comes in the kit?

• An email each day, for 365 days
• 15 case studies from entrepreneurs earning $50,000-$150,000 a year in net income, and have no more than three employees
• 6 in-depth video interviews
• 9 short videos on tools and tips
• Product launch tips
• A recording of “No question left behind” webinar
• and more…

…and what have I learned so far?

A lot, and I’m only on day 42 of 365 in the email series. I don’t want to give away the content of the kit, but here is one of my favorite tips that has really stuck out for me.

“Service providers, let me pay you.”

A little industry secret: Most designers HATE pricing projects. Actually, I’ll go so far as to say that every designer I know hates pricing projects. Every job is custom-priced, depending on a ridiculous number of variables. As a designer, pricing a project based on the specific details makes sense to me.  Variables like timeline, end deliverables, complexity of information, etc all factor into the price I quote. But, if  I were a potential customer, this would drive me nuts.

Cue the lightbulb moment.

I research online first for almost everything I buy. And if it’s for a service, especially one I’m not familiar with, the first thing I’m trying to decide is if I can afford this person/business. Their credentials/portfolio/etc. could be awesome, but if they are out of my price range, I could care less.  No prices listed? Call for quote? Click, click, back to Google I go.

I’m always interested in finding new clients, and I’d love if some of those leads were generated from my website. So, the EBK has inspired me to completely restructure my website, services and portfolio. I’m in the process of developing base “packages” that you can shop through. These packages will have set prices that you can buy right away if you’d like, via PayPal. The goal is to make it easy for your customers to pay you, which goes against everything in my industry, but makes perfect sense from a general seller-buyer relationship.

Interested?

Maybe the EBK sounds like a good fit for you. It’s not aimed at any one industry, which is another really cool thing about it. I’ve learned from a ketubah maker and a raw foods witch and all sorts of other cool people. Anywho, it’s on sale today through tomorrow (Wednesday, May 18) at 11:00am CST. One day only.

I (temporarily) fell off the blogging wagon, but I’m hopping right back on. For now, I am committing to a Tuesday + Friday publishing schedule, with a goal of increasing it to three times per week later on.

What have I been up to?

The short answer: reading, learning and brainstorming (and client work, of course).

The longer answer: I have been spending a lot of time focusing and redefining my business. This journey began about 8 months ago at the Creative Freelancer Conference. At the end of the conference, we each wrote down “Things I’m committed to doing for my business in the next six months” on a card. The conference leaders would mail us the cards in about six months, as a friendly reminder of our goals.

I received mine in the mail about a week ago:

Guess what? I am working from my own office, which I absolutely love. I have spent the last six months developing a marketing strategy. My website and resume are current, sans one recent project. I (obviously) started a blog, and I am putting the finishing touches on my e-newsletter. (I’m working on the sign-up form for the newsletter, but you can also email me to get on the list.)

Looking at this list gave me a huge boost of confidence, because when I wrote those goals, I thought I might accomplish two of them, at most.

In the weeks ahead, I’ll talk more about how I’ve made it this far (it involves a lot of reading and asking for help) and where I’m headed next (including new services!). I’m really excited to share my new goals with you.

One thing that has been instrumental in developing these new goals is my Empire Building Kit series from Chris Guillebeau. Days 1 through 41 of the 365-day EBK course have seriously rocked my socks. I wanted to mention the EBK today because it goes on sale tomorrow for another 24-hour launch, which is the first time it’s been available for sale since I bought it. If you have your own small business, or are interested in starting one, I highly recommend checking it out. I’ll talk more about what I learned from it tomorrow.  Feel free to comment or email me with questions too.

Thanks for sticking around through the post drought. I really appreciate it.

As I mentioned in Monday’s post (“Anyone who says, ‘Looks don’t matter,’ is a liar”), my mom and I went to a spa last weekend. During my massage, the massage therapist and I were chatting a little bit. I think I said something like, “I bet after all this work, you’ll need to hire someone to give you a massage.” And then I laughed.

I should mention that, up to this point, I felt very comfortable and relaxed. The massage was going great.

And then, she started talking negatively about herself and her profession.

She went on for a good 10 minutes about how she’d never get a massage because all massage therapists are perverts. She would never let anyone touch her. She talked about how she was really bad at draping and that draping was the worst part of massage therapy school. “But, don’t worry, I’ve never exposed a client.”

I’m sorry, what??

This was my first massage (which she knew) and I had plenty of my own reservations about stripping down to my underwear and letting some stranger touch me. I had kind of gotten over it (she is a professional, it’s perfectly fine, I told myself) — until she starting talking down about herself and her profession.

What she said completely changed my experience. Her lack of professionalism made such an impression that it overshadowed her excellent technical skills.

What I learned

Business is about so much more than just the service you provide. I’m very conscious of my own short comings. I know I have highlighted them for clients on numerous occasions. Maybe it’s a fear of failure, so I feel like I need to warn them first, just in case I mess it up.

“Well, I’ve never done this before, but I’ll give it a try.”

I’m sure my clients are brimming with confidence when they hear that one. I’ve had a very good track record so far, and I took the job because — even though I hadn’t done x specifically before — I have the skill set to be able to successfully complete the job. My clients don’t need to hear my nervous inner dialogue.

Before I went in for my massage, the salon owner said very positive things about the masseuse. I felt completely confident and trusted her expertise. But, after hearing her speak down about herself and her profession, my opinion completely changed. After all, if she doesn’t believe in her skills, why should I?

What you say matters. No matter where or how you say it.

It is so important to pay attention to the language we use in person, on the phone, via email, on Faceboook, on Twitter — everywhere. It all matters. Off the cuff comments or random rants on Twitter still make an impression.

I have a tendency to do or say stupid things when I’m rushed or nervous. Since I can quickly compose and publish, I don’t always take the time to edit myself. But, I’ve realized that it’s important to take time and think about what you want your brand to say about you. Because we all have a brand, even if we don’t own our own business or have a logo.

What do you think?

I’m still discovering and developing my brand. Where are you at in the process? Have you had any experiences where a comment changed your perception of a business?

Lately, I’ve been having a series of mini-epiphanies. I think I’ve finally heard the same sage advice enough times from enough people for it to really sink in. Or perhaps I needed to experience it from the client/customer perspective to really “get it.”

Look the part.

Over the weekend, I treated my mom and myself to a spa day, courtesy of a Groupon I purchased awhile back. We spent over three hours getting a manicure/pedicure, a one-hour massage and a mini facial. The services were fantastic – but the staff were sloppily dressed and there was an avalanche of dirty towels piled in the massage room. The glass was smudged with dirty fingerprints. There were scuff marks on the wall. These details made me question whether I would return and pay full price for the services. The salon just didn’t “feel” high end.

I was reminded that it is more than just the quality of work that matters to your clients/customers. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, I’m trying something new. Each day, I’ll write about a topic that I’ve been studying. This week’s topic: search engine optimization (or SEO, for short). Check back each day for a new post, or why not just subscribe to the RSS feed?

Many of the factors relating to page rank rely on the talent of your web developer, web designer and/or copy writer. Hiring these professionals requires a budget — but there are things you can do on your own, for free, to help your site’s page rank.

On Tuesday, I shared some tips and resources about how to improve your rank, which included the importance of inbound links. You can ask other sites to link to you, ideally with keyword specific text as the hyperlink, but you really don’t have any control over whether or not that site will actually link to you or how they’ll do it. So, how do you get inbound links?

You can create (some of) them yourself.

1. Create business profiles on sites like LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, etc. and fill out the profile information. Include a link to your business.
2. Publish articles anywhere and everywhere you can. A site like Biznik is a great place to get published. Demonstrate your expertise by writing a helpful article, with an extended byline linking back to your website.
3. Create an HTML signature to use in Web-based discussion forums that uses your name (or business name) as a link to your web site. Every message you post becomes a link to your site that search engines can index.

These tips alone aren’t guaranteed to move you to the top of a search — but they are especially great for increasing the page rank for your name or business name.

Other tips to drive traffic

These won’t necessarily help your page rank, but it will help drive visitors to your site, which will hopefully result in conversions (see Monday’s post).

1. Include links in your email signature. Don’t forget your signature from your Blackberry /iPhone/Smartphone. You send out 300 emails a day? That’s 300 opportunities to share a link.
2. Comment on other people’s blogs. People feel like they need to have a blog or “a Twitter” because “everyone has one.” I have a journalism background and I like to write — but I’ll be the first to say that maintaining a blog is challenging and time consuming. Reap some of the same benefits, with less effort. Read blogs that your prospects read and leave comments. Most comment forms ask you to fill in your web address, which becomes a link back to your site when you comment.

Up next:

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll share some additional SEO resources. Don’t miss it: subscribe to the RSS feed.

A client might label their designer as either a professional or an amateur. But, did you know that designers classify their clients the same way?

Even if you have limited (or no) experience working with a professional graphic designer, you can still act like a pro.

The key characteristics of a professional client are:

• They are well-prepared.
• They communicate effectively and clearly.
• They trust that the designer is an expert in their field.

The Bailiwick Company wrote a terrific post: Working with Graphic Designers: Get the Most for Your Money.

Here’s an overview of their tips:

1. Finalize copy before handing it over to the design team.
2. Do not make changes piecemeal.
3. Be specific about what you’re seeking in a design.
4. If you’re uncertain about what you want, trust the designers.
5. Identify your audience and your objective.
6. Collaboration is great, confusion isn’t.
7. Let the professionals do their job.
8. The design process should not cause angst.

Read the full article here.

Piecemeal changes, confusing emails, etc. are essentially distractions from the task at hand – to create beautiful, effective work. A process full of distractions is headed for disaster. Expect the budget to take a hit as well.

Share your thoughts in the comments:

What else can clients (or designers) do to keep the project on track and the budget down?