building a business Archives - My Team Connects

Seven Surprises I’m Grateful For After Ten Years Of Freelancing

November 26, 2015 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

When I first realized I could have and grow a business from the family’s only computer, I spent all my “extra” time building a website for my arts and crafts business, and then writing a blog to write and showcase my work and writing I was doing for others at the time.

My website was essentially a “display case” for my work, which was fine for lead gen, but I still also had to do the work — making the art and writing the copy or articles for e-zines, magazines, local small businesses, and the people who hired me on elance.

On top of that, I was out there pitching the work in person — setting up a tent at holiday art shows, traveling to art retreats and drumming the pavement for local work. Not to mention personally bidding on lots of odd writing jobs and losing half of them to other wirters… Yes, it was a lot of hustling!

I was — and still am — a stay-at-home mom. If you’ve ever had tiny children you know any sort of regularity is impossible when kids are small. To everyone else, the stuff I was doing, making and building looked more like a hobby, especially since I wasn’t making much money doing it. If I had to describe my work-life “balance” back then it was like trying to staple jelly to a wall!

Ten years later, we’re still going through some challenging times with some “special needs” older teenagers, and life is good, given all its twists and turns.

But as a small business owner I’ve turned a corner, and that’s what I want to share with you.

I have the greatest respect for people with a business mindset and a big dream. People who are focused on building a business from home, even when it seems like not another living soul believes in them.

But I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t think gainful employment would be cool sometimes. Even though I know it doesn’t really work like this, I still fantasize about it: I’d clock in and perform some enjoyable, assigned task with supportive and appreciative coworkers for X number of hours, with the certainty that I was going to get paid X amount at the end of the week! (Oddly, I’m usually picturing stocking produce when I imagine a job other than writing… it looks like fun.)

It’s a mindset. A go-to job would never work for me because I made a choice, at least for now. I’m an entrepreneur-freelancer who chooses to work from home. I have a full, but unusual schedule. I can’t expect anyone else to live around it, either, especially when things get a little crazy around here.

But do I work hard? Of course. Do I place high demands on my work and productivity? You bet.

And that’s a typical entrepreneur-freelancer’s mindset for you. Helping folks create relevant content, and putting effort into marketing efforts is how I grow my business. It’s essential to filling any freelancer’s funnel.

For personal and financial reasons, a lot of folks are adopting a similar work habit. Freelancing and self-employment are not too far out of the norm.

Last year, self-employed workers made up 10% of the overall workforce. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s 15 Million people!

We’re a growing population, that’s a given. In order to support my fellow freelancers, self-employed solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, I’ve been assessing the changes in the last decade, and wanted to share my experience.

After ten years freelancing and working for myself, what’s changed and what’s stayed the same?

1. The more experience you have, the better you’re able to vet projects before you take them. I still hustle for jobs, but now I’m better at predicting which jobs wouldn’t be a good fit so I don’t take them or even bid on them at all. I used to spend hours on the phone with “prospects” who would ask hundreds of questions about marketing strategy, in effect getting valuable consulting for free. Then I’d spend half a day putting together a proposal based on their specific business and goals. Many times I would never even get a response when I followed up. Not cool, but it happens to new freelancers all the time.

2. Business details no longer consume time and drain energy. I still spend a fair amount of time working IN my business, rather than ON my business (the cardinal sin of entrepreneurship), but I’m gradually getting to the point where my business doesn’t drag me down. I can get on top of it and see where I’m truly helpful, and where I need to get help from others. I get to spend more time doing what I’m good at because there’s a bit of infrastructure in place, finally.

3. The name My Team Connects is a name we gave the company when a former partner and I had in mind a SAS that helped sales teams collaborate via email. I like to think it’s still a name that works. Three reasons:

I’m building a team via a network marketing company I believe in, separate but complementary to my writing business.
As a writer and marketing consultant, I get to help other freelancers and businesses grow. When the energy is great, I feel like I’m part of a team, albeit a revolving team.
I feel a connection to my professional and personal team of people on whom I rely to get me through the days. If we didn’t have a good connection working together, it wouldn’t be much fun, so I’m grateful for that.

4. My confidence underwent an adjustment. I’m not exactly sure “confidence” is the right word, because it sounds prideful, when what I mean is that I’m more aware and willing to admit what I can’t do, instead of pretending that I’m something I’m not. The word Confidence has evolved to mean “Less bravado, more kindness.”

5. Success doesn’t mean building an empire. I used to think that if I didn’t have an Inc. Fortune 5000 Small Business Award hanging on my wall someday, nothing I did would count. Success these days is more about choices, freedom, and giving back.

6. Trust your talent and skill. Listen, I’m a big believer in coaches and teachers, but there’s a moment you realize that their way isn’t always the best way for you. For several years, I spent lots of money and time taking courses on how to be a better writer, and comparing my writing with others’ writing. I mistrusted the words I penned, even though I’ve been writing almost daily since I was 11 years old; and while I know there are better writers, I didn’t allow myself to trust my voice. I’m getting better about that.

7. I also bought into what seems to be the inspirational speakers’ mantra that invariably goes something like this: “I was living in my car; I was such a failure, my mother didn’t even claim me; but now I’m over all that stuff that was holding me back. So follow exactly what I do and you’ll be a raving success just like me.” I would wear myself out readjusting my thoughts to someone who seemed like they had it all together, and taking to heart the voices and opinions of others who knew nothing about me. Weird, I know, but tuning out all that “inspiration” is a sign of growth. For me, at least.

Today, not only do I detect a trace of desperation in some of those voices (which makes me sad), but the message also makes me uneasy because I look around and see leaders with quiet confidence whose kingdoms are every bit as great. You have to learn to trust yourself and your own story.

If I can share the dream of building a business from home while being happy at home, then I know I’ll be doing my best work here. The things that have helped me build a writing business helping people sell millions of dollars in products and services, are things I can share with you, too.

My blog is a course in itself, where you can get hundreds of posts I’ve written over the years about copywriting and email marketing . You also have access to some of the information products I’ve created to add value for my small business clients.

I’m adding to this content library weekly, and working on organizing it into categories so that it’s easier to find relevant topics. Meanwhile, please enjoy what’s here and let me know if there’s something you’d like me to cover from a work-from-home standpoint, a business-building standpoint, or a copywriting standpoint.

A good place to start is with the Lucky Deck of content creation tips. Most people have a natural voice when it comes to their expertise, but they just don’t know how to tell the story. These help with that.

Then, you need the copywriting part. When you learn to infuse your content with specific calls to action, then your social media and blog, etc. really start to bring in the people who will buy products and services from you. This is how you transform your communication into writing and speaking that closes sales.

You really can’t build a business without it, so if you have 21 minutes today, I invite you to get the pointers for writing and speaking these words that sell. They’re my best 21 tips in short 60-second videos and I think you’ll like them a lot!

By the way, did I mention that all this content is free! Just register for the content library membership here to get started.

Showing Your Face and Building Your History As You Grow Your Business

September 30, 2015 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

I’ve watched certain movies, um, let’s say a few times. Among them, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Wings of Desire, and Jerry McGaguire.

Of course I cry when Dorothy Boyd says, “You had me at hello.”

After that long soliloquy about how he needed her, wanted her, couldn’t live without her, he needn’t have bothered. All he really had to do was walk in the door.

As a writer, that kind of verbal charisma would pretty much put me out of business. In this business, the first phrase only qualifies as swoon-worthy if it makes your reader want to keep reading.

(If only a mere “Hello” did the trick, writing would be so easy and pointless… that’s really why I cried!)

A Single “Hello?”

But it’s worth exploring why a single hello did it.

The main reason is History. Jerry had a history with Dorothy.

Besides his amazing smile, ballsy personality, his touching sweet relationship with her son, his passion for his work, and his recent success as a freelance agent for a promising, top athlete; Jerry had already laid the groundwork for winning her over yet again.

Because of his history with her, he never really lost her to begin with.

It wasn’t a huge risk he was taking. His ability to move Dorothy by just opening his mouth has already been established. Remember when he declared his manifesto before his entire agency, and she was the only one who walked with him that day? She’s already taken a chance on Jerry, and believes in him.

It’s true that Jerry stuck his neck out by showing up during Dorothy’s sister’s women’s club, an environment that proved to be less than friendly to me (I’m not sure I would have walked into that!), but that little detail only made his speech more romantic.

Assuming you won’t have customers “at hello,” what can you do to set the stage for a winning offer when the time comes?

You build a history. You tell your story.

Stay true to YOU and be real with your customers.

I follow a writer Scott Berkun (The Year Without Pants, about working for WordPress), and receive his sporadic e-newsletters. Since I know who he is and have read his work, I wasn’t too surprised to receive an email today, sharing, basically, that he was writing less these days, not sure why, and feeling like a change was in the air. Just a little heads-up to his subscribers, which I appreciated. I didn’t unsubscribe. I figured whatever he decided to do next might be cool, so I’d just wait and see.

Honesty is necessary when you are the face of your brand. Vulnerability (although a little scary) is endearing… at least if you have the right audience.

A lot of folks I follow provide excellent products and services, AND share stuff that most others wouldn’t dream of writing in a blog post or newsletter. Does it scare me off that they are human? Nope.

So when does sharing your story help, and when does it hurt your business? I think as long as you stand behind your offers and deliver them with professionalism and as much excellence as you can, then you should feel free to share your!

You’re building a relationship with your customers, running your business with integrity and sleeping well knowing you’ve done all you could. If you’re lazy, or insincere, don’t have the gumption to fix things that are broken, don’t want to put in the work to learn how to build a better business or learn from others who have cleared the path before you, then it’s gonna show!

If you are sharing personal things, like a story about burning out or losing credibility due to a bad partnership, or going bankrupt, you do have to tell the truth. Sugar coating it only makes it seem like you didn’t learn any lessons from it.

It’s taken a long time for me to tell parts of my story because when you’re slogging through something, and the wounds are still fresh, your work is sometimes what helps you keep your head above water. After the dust settles, then you can make some sense of it and see where telling your story would help others.

Truth feels great when you finally step into it.

Being a single (separated) mom of three kids, running a home business and raising children on my own, takes ridiculous juggling, hustling, and energy.

Building a business from home isn’t a cakewalk. It’s flexible, yes, but that means you have to work harder and stay more organized than your commuting counterparts. (You are probably wearing all the hats, too!) My typical day: I wake up at 5:00 in the morning knowing I have a couple of hours to get things done or snatch some quiet time before waking sleepy, sometimes grumpy children. I make lunches, head to school(s), squeeze in a workout, get the shopping done, prepare meals, pick up kids and drive for 5 hours to get them where they need to go.

Oh, and by the way, for many years when I was in the throes of freelance work, I met all my deadlines and scheduled client calls, too… Many days I thought (think!) I had lost my mind, although they occur less and less as the years go by, thank goodness. I can’t tell you how many hours I struggled alone, worrying over my family’s well-being, time and money. Only now do I know how valuable those lessons ~~were~~ are, now that we are learning better ways of coping with all of the above.

On top of all that, it’s absolutely essential that I stay positive! I chase down and silence every ugly, discouraging thing my inner critic says. I post a lot of encouraging, life-affirming, positive stuff on Facebook and Twitter because I NEED to do that. It’s as much for me as for my Facebook friends (thank you!) whom I love and appreciate every single day.

If you tell the truth about what it cost you, people believe you.

Your story becomes your history. Your followers will know what to expect. As you’re building a Facebook page, or adding articles to your blog, your story becomes easy to tell because it’s real. Even though circumstances may change – even your products and offers may change; but your authentic voice, your history’s narrator, rings true.

I’m reminded of a financial advisor who creates products, books and services geared to women. Nobby Kleinman is a fellow entrepreneur I met at a marketing conference a couple of years ago. Follow his Facebook page, and you’ll find that not only does he talk about personal finance, but he shares where he travels (women’s conferences), he asks opinions of his followers, shares jokes, and posts pictures of favorite food, cake. (You can be the judge whether cake is indeed food.)

Nobby is open about sharing what he does and what he likes. He also reveals that he’s committed to certain practices (marketing, authorship, entrepreneurship) and groups, When he rolls out a new product it’s no big surprise; be it a book, a course, or a service to help women outsource parts of their business. The main hub is women’s finances…and cake. You get a real sense of who Nobby is, not just his business and products, and that’s why people like his page.

Building a Soulful Business

When you are the face of your business, your marketing and social media sites become the patina of the soulful business. The sooner you become comfortable embracing that, even the darker shadows back there, the better you’ll feel and the easier and more naturally you will build a business doing what you love.

If you are freelancing, growing your network marketing business online, writing books, or selling info products; you really need to do this. Freely sharing your personality enables you to move faster through this wide open and social world we live in now.

If you spend 10 hours meditating each week, how could you not talk about that in your business life? It’s consuming a big part of your week, after all. If your faith is really important to you, that should come forth, too. If art is like breathing air, then of course art will emerge as a dominant theme in your home business. As you are building your personal brand, not much is off limits. The better you can integrate the little daily pleasures and the grind, the people you enjoy, and the errands you run, the more smoothly your business will flow.

Sharing your history is telling your story. When you tell your story, you don’t have to explain every detail in each post and update; it just naturally builds up. You reiterate what drives you. Share why it drives you, why it’s important to you, or makes you happy. Then when you make an offer to your friends and followers, they’ll be expecting it.

You might have to say more than “hello,” but they’ll be ready.

One Insanely Predictable But Effective Move For Business Building Success

April 17, 2015 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

In early February I saw a Facebook post written by an acquaintance that read something like, “OMG, I am simply beside myself with a great idea, can’t sleep, so excited, etc.” While others were congratulating her, I felt pity.

I felt her pain because I know she is in the throes of business building. You know how it is when you’re molding your business. The ups and downs are part of the landscape. If you’re like most, your restless, creative mind brings disorder as well as inspiration.

The Curse of Creativity

Don’t you wish it would stop? There are times I’ve thought, “If one more great idea comes furiously flapping in my face like a bat looking for food on a moonless night, I just might go crazy. While I’m grateful for sparks of creativity, my left brain is thinking, “No thank you very much to new ideas. Can we all just get back to work?”

For the past few years, I’ve made it my New Year’s tradition to choose two words to frame the coming year. It’s April already, and they’re still firmly stuck to my steering wheel and framed on my desk, so I haven’t given up. But I tell you, these are hard words to live by when you’re prone to great ideas.

The theory behind the year’s word choice is this: I force myself to choose two exclusive words, one to internalize and one that inspires action (sometimes a very specific action). Just seeing the two words one on top of the other, reminds me of the brutal importance of editing.

Editing, cutting things out, saying “No” to stuff… is not easy.

If you want to accomplish anything in twelve months, you must say no to a lot of alluring prospects. If you’re honest, you probably have some excellent choices on your table. The trick is choosing whom to listen to, and what to build. Editing is more difficult than writing. Just ask any writer.

I was stymied the whole month of January, I admit. Hogtied and buzzing with new ideas after a professional, spiritual and personal shake-up mid month, I knew this was Officially Not Good. While the self-created upheaval provided an exhilarating start to the new year, I realized I had been hoping and expecting a different kind of year. You know, the kind where you’re just pedaling consistently hard; not having too much fun, not pinching yourself with disbelief, just plodding forward. It’s why I chose these strong words in the first place. Listen. Build. Ugh.

What happened, right at the get-go, was a bit of a boondoggle of my own making. “Uh oh,” I thought for a second, “Maybe I could change my words to ‘Play’ and ‘Pray.’” I quickly decided it’s no fair changing my Words of the Year. That would be a sign of drama, which I’ve sworn off for good. If I were to see these words bear any fruit, I would have to buckle down and quit changing channels.

And anyway, they were already on my steering wheel.

So I’m (still) committed. The lightning strikes of creativity are beginning to lose their power over me. This doesn’t mean I did not act on some of these ideas raining down. But I didn’t run in every direction trying to catch them all, either. Instead I continued doing my usual work, while allowing them to fall to the ground.

My commitment to listen meant that I had to personally “check in” when something made an impression, but not lift a finger or move in its direction until I had bounced it up against these 15 decision-making guidelines and talked it over with a friend or colleague.

All that patient listening will have an impact on the “building” part of it, which will be coming right along in Q2. I can feel it.

pouncing on a great idea — Red Fox hunting on Prince Edward Island, Canada

Creativity’s Evil Twin: Your “Next Best Move”

Entrepreneurs often kid themselves into thinking that every creative impulse could be defined as their Next Best Move.

This happens a lot when the work that got you to where you are now isn’t new anymore. The fun part was beginning it; now the finish line is nowhere in sight. In fact, you can’t even imagine being in the same place this time next year. It must be time to do something different, bold, daring!

Whenever I feel like things aren’t happening as fast and dramatically as I would like, I start falling prey to the “Next Best Moves” trap. Most creative types love to imagine and discuss NBMs with their team, their masterminds or their friends. We imagine this new project, product, addition of skillsets, etc. will fill in for whatever excitement (and potential new revenue) is missing in our business.

Have you ever felt that desire urging you away from your beaten path? Like a fox, you stop, prick up your ears, and dart toward it. NBMs are significant and “game-changing.” They are not what you’ve done in the past. They are moves about which you’ll look back and say (for surely someone will ask about the time the big transformation occurred), “Now, that was a good move.”

In your imagination, that NBM is a turning point, the year you finally hit a specific goal because you’ll have finally deviated from the common and fruitless path you were once on.

Except that’s where the whole house of cards comes crashing down.

The hard truth is that many times your next best move is indecipherable from that move you just made.

Most likely, your next best move is boring.

It looks a lot like last month’s move, and the move before that. Your next best move may actually be no more than a mere, small adjustment that folds easily into the direction you’re already moving:

Adding a tool that makes you more productive
Asking your prospect what they need to move forward
Asking a current customer for a referral, or a repeat order
Redesigning your home page of your website so that it’s clearer to your buyer personas

It could be something that’s not nearly as fun as developing something band new, but flows in the direction of the moves you’ve already set in place to get you this far.

Predictability means staying on track, and doing the work. But it also frequently defines your next best move. It may not be the most exciting NBM you could take today, but chances are it will allow your business to gain momentum that results in success. The day you realize you’re pretty predictable, and also productive, is a day to rejoice, because you’re doing the thing that defines a successful business.

The Power of Predictable Moves

In the business classic Good to Great, Jim Collins describes the flywheel, a large, heavy, horizontal disk you must turn to bring up to speed. One dogged revolution at a time; the wheel slowly makes one turn on its axis, then another, then another. Eventually, it takes on a life of its own, its weight and momentum creating a force that easily revolves by its own weight and momentum.

Can you identify which move contributed the most to this flywheel’s energy? No, all the pushes to get it up to speed were important, and they all were nearly identical. It was the succession of simple, repetitive, boring moves them that got the wheel moving so fast.

If the flywheel theory makes perfect sense to you, you may already own the title of Chief Buzzkill on your team. While everyone else is falling in love with the latest new idea, you’re shooting holes in it.

Stick with it.

This shiny new idea, as James Chartrand describes here, will own you if you let it. Like a faceted rubber ball ricocheting off its own energy, the dynamics and enthusiasm of your team for this shiny new thing can be difficult to rein in. Before you spend too much time on it, make sure this NBR is a genuine contribution to the overall goal, and not just a diversion from work that’s lost its luster. Failed sparks of genius take a huge toll on a business (in time, energy and motivation) if they don’t produce results.

If you’ve listened and qualified a particularly good idea, maybe you’ve decided that you really do have an idea worth exploring. The next step is deciding how to move in on it. Will you pounce or will you quietly sneak up on it? Maybe you’ll get some outside help to research or establish preliminary steps.

When you do decide to take action and build on it, make sure it contributes to your core competencies, your talents and skills. You don’t want to undo work that got you this far by chasing something new.

With the responsibility to edit your life and business to ensure progress, comes responsibility for your own happiness. If you try to fit thirteen hours of joy into eight hours, you’ll make yourself miserable.

If you chase after every creative jot and wiggle your brilliant mind can dream up you may satisfy that inner creator who always likes to feel busy, but you’ll also feel like you’re always missing something just out of reach. (I know this because I’m all to familiar with this tendency.) The only thing you’ll really be missing is the opportunity to grow and develop a sense of purpose that’s the hallmark of a well-lived life.

If the grass is always greener, go peek over that fence over there. It has bare patches and weeds, maybe even more than your own patch of sod. What a relief, then, to get back to your real business at hand and build it big. Build it steadily, one revolution at a time.