This post is the first in a series following on my newsletter article “Don’t Just Do Something!” You may want to read that article first.  The link opens in a new window, so you won’t lose your place here.

What is it about bright shiny things?

Whether it’s something literally bright and shiny that attracts our attention, or whether it’s the lure of a new idea that’s apparently better than what we’re currently working on … there seems to be an impulse to move away from what we have in front of us, towards something new and different.

I’ve seen it in myself, and I see it in clients and friends.  And I know people who have this syndrome so badly that it’s had a serious negative impact on their businesses.

The bright shiny things syndrome is easy to slip into when you feel like you really need results.  If what you’re working on doesn’t appear to be accomplishing what you want or need – or if you’ve been working on it long enough that it’s no longer interesting (i.e., it’s no longer bright and shiny for you) – then something else that seems to have more promise can easily lure you away.

Bright shiny marketing things have an urgency to them that makes them all the more alluring, especially if you’re already feeling a sense of urgency about your marketing results.

Unfortunately, changing direction is confusing and exhausting.  It confuses you, muddies your efforts, and makes everything take longer.  Even more importantly, it confuses your customers and potential customers,  because your sense of clarity and focus (or lack thereof) is revealed in everything you do and say about your work. 

And if you’ve spent time and money on something (and time is money, even – perhaps especially – if you’re the one doing all the work), changing direction is a choice to consider carefully.  It may be the correct choice, but it’s never a choice to make suddenly, without stopping to see what’s really happening and what’s really true for you.

Are you turning towards the bright shiny idea because it seems more likely to get results than what you’ve been working on?  How real is that?

What are the long-term implications of changing direction?  How much money and time have you spent – and if you return to the project later on, how much more money and time will you spend re-engaging with the project and getting it under way again?

Just how important is the short-term need – and is your sense of urgency really justified? 

I can’t count the number of times I’ve jumped into something that sounded great (bright! shiny!), only to realize after hours and days of work that it wasn’t going to fly. 

Sometimes it was a great idea that wasn’t right for my audience at that time.  Sometimes it just wasn’t such a great idea after all.  And sometimes it was a great idea that needed time to mature and come into its proper place.

I’ve learned – the hard way – to stop.  To keep working on what’s already underway.  To pause, to wait, to ask what this idea really is and what it wants to be.  To allow the idea to develop at its own speed, showing me how it aligns with the bigger picture of what I offer and what my customers want.

Sometimes that waiting goes on for a while. 

I’m preparing to launch a new giveaway on my website (for newsletter subscribers current and future).  It’s something I outlined in a burst of inspiration over the New Year’s Day holiday.  So this idea is almost six months old! 

As bright shiny things go, that’s downright tarnished.

In terms of how it fits into the ways my business is evolving, it’s absurdly, beautifully perfect.  But I didn’t know that six months ago.   I didn’t even know it a week ago!

And because of how it fits into the ways my business is evolving, it will have a far greater reach and a far better impact for both my business and my customers than it would have if I’d finished it back in January and released it then.

How about you?  What bright shiny things are you considering?

Is it just me?

There seems to be some circular affiliate marketing going on out there.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been bombarded by offers for the same programs from three or four different people.

Mind you, it’s fascinating to see the different spin each one has. 

Um, up to a point.

But let’s face it, there are only so many ways to say, “Hey, looky here, I want to sell you this **insert various superlatives** program that will make you **insert ridiculously large sum of money** in **insert stupidly short period of time**.”

Marketing is necessary.   Those of us who have things to offer to our customers have to be able to talk about them in ways that our customers can hear, notice, take advantage of.

Affiliates are a good thing.  I love being able to promote the work of people I appreciate, respect, and honour.   One of my clients said to me recently, “I love hearing how enthusiastic you are about other people’s work!”  That felt really good to hear.  And it’s true!  When I like what someone’s doing, I’ll trumpet it from the rooftops.  If they happen to have an affiliate program I can sign on for, that’s a sweet added benefit – but I’d promote their work without it. 

I also love being able to promote my own work.  I know what I offer is what my clients need.  And I love the ways that I keep going deeper into that, finding more and more ways to respond more and more sincerely and productively to their needs.

At the same time, I’ve been feeling more and more overwhelmed by the bombardings of superlative-laden, Must Do This Now Must See This Now Must Learn From This Now Must Watch This Video Now emails I’ve been getting.  It’s put a nastily bad taste in my mouth about the whole Marketing Thing.

For about two weeks, I’ve been hanging out with a weird reluctance to let people know what I’m up to.  I have an honest, uncomplicated offer I want to make to my newsletter readers, and I just haven’t been able to write the emails and update the sales page.  And I so haven’t understood why.

After a brief Twitter exchange with the lovely and gracious Jen Louden, it became clear to me that this apparent resistance has actually been a reluctance to jump onto the superlative bandwagon.

What a relief! 

I knew this wasn’t like me, to not move forward with something I’d planned, something that felt good, something that seemed reasonable.  So in sitting with my reluctance and resistance, I was mostly curious, and only a little bit what in the world is WRONG with me?!

I guess if this post has a point – well, there are two or three points, now that I think of it.

First, thanks to the lovely and gracious Jen Louden for being lovely and gracious and responding to my nosy questions about her feelings on this subject.

Second, good grief, people, would you (a) notice that many of the same people are on your various mailing lists, and (b) tone it down a little, and (c) when you say you’ve got an informative video actually make it informative, and not just a sales pitch!?! 

Third, to my wonderful readers – here and on my newsletter – thank you.  If you’re not on my newsletter, please sign up, because I am going to make that offer to you in the next week.   Gently, with respect, without hype and fanfare, and with a really great deal.

How about you?  What marketing hype has made you feel uncomfortable recently, and how are you responding?

My mind is convinced that I’ve done almost nothing today.

This despite the fact that – among other things – I’ve created an amazing list of programs and products that I’m ready, now, to start developing and offering.  The outlines are clear, I’m focused and inspired, and I know exactly what to do next.  

Not only that, but I also know how much these offerings will help people who need it.

So why is my mind so upset?

Because I did this by breaking a lot of rules. 

I did it by not sitting at my desk.

I did it by not working on my computer.

I did it by … digging dandelions. 

Taking a walk. 

Sitting in the window seat with a notebook and my fountain pen. 

Going to buy milk, veggies, and kitty litter.  (And oh, yes – cat treats – without which I would probably have been thrown out of the house this evening.)

My mind, as you might gather from this, subscribes to a very Puritan work ethic.  It discards the notion that creativity has a flow that can’t be denied.  It pooh-poohs the idea that it’s okay not to work at my desk, and instead to get messy with pen and ink and a flow of un-edited, somewhat random thoughts.  And it’s frankly horrified at the notion that running personal errands in the middle of the day is actually perfectly okay and even reasonable.

I’m so glad that – even though it was a little difficult at times - I didn’t listen to its cries of dismay and predictions of doom.

Because working on these programs and products is going to be fun. 

And seeing how people take them and use them and find what they need in them is going to be … sublime. 

So who’s up for a little doing nothing?

There are some nasty, unethical, disgusting predators out there who prey on small business owners.

And this makes me really angry.

Several months ago, a friend of mine mentioned receiving a notice in the mail to renew his domain name purchase.  He mildly said that it seemed a bit expensive, and wondered if I could recommend a different URL registrar that he could switch to.

He was surprised at my reaction – which was vehement, to say the least.  In short, I went off on a tirade about unethical, nasty business practices.

If you own a URL, you’ve probably seen these notices.  The chances are vanishingly small that they actually come from the company where you registered your URL.   Instead, they come from companies that take advantage of people not reading the fine print, and count on people reacting like most of us do when we receive a bill in the mail.  We pay it.  Especially when it’s something as important as renewing the URL on which our business’s website depends.

These notices are nasty and deceptive not just because they cause you to transfer your URL listing from the people from whom you initially bought it.   No, they’re really nasty and deceptive because they cause you to do this without being aware of it, and at a significantly higher fee.

Yesterday, I received a different notice in the mail.  This one claimed to be from the California State Fictitious Business Name registrar in Sacramento.  (There is no such thing, at least, not as a government office.  Fictitious business name registrars, or DBA (doing-business-as) registrars, are local to the county.) 

It was a thickly-printed page with a lot of information about how my fictitious business name would expire in October of this year (true) and how I needed to renew it by May 25th (untrue) and how renewing it required publishing a notice in the newspaper (also untrue; this is only needed for the initial filing, if the name has lapsed, or if there have been significant changes).

And they wanted $100 from me.

Five years ago, it cost me $20 to file a fictitious business name.  The current fee is $30, for another five years.

Now, I’m careful about these things.  I read the fine print, especially when it’s something that seems this out of whack.

Nonetheless, it took me three thorough readings before I found the wording saying that this was a service, not an official notice.  By the time I finally found it, I was on the phone (on hold) with the San Diego County registrar’s office, preparing to ask them if the notice was legitimate.

I wish this sort of thing was illegal.

I really wish that people didn’t feel the need to run businesses that take advantage of others.

Since it’s not illegal, and since there are obviously plenty of people who do run businesses that prey on others … please be aware and be careful.

It’s remarkably easy to piss off your customers.

By customers, I mean anyone who’s reading any of your material (website, blog, Tweets, whatever).  I could say “audience,” but I’m using customers quite deliberately.  If you’re producing material that they’re reading, then they’re customers.  Whether or not they’ve paid you a single penny.

So, yes, it’s remarkably easy to piss them off, even with the best of intentions.  Someone can go from raving fan to active detractor in a split second.  All it takes is a single misunderstanding or out-of-alignment action, and whoosh.  They’re gone. 

Part of my job is staying on top of what other people are doing to market themselves.  So it could be that I’m a little more sensitive to mis-steps than someone else might be.  Whatever the reason, I’ve recently found myself getting more than a bit turned off (not to say pissed off!) by some people’s actions.  I’ve also noticed that my level of pissed-offness is directly proportional to the amount I liked them before.  The more I liked and respected their work, the more annoyed I become when they do something I feel is out of alignment with who I want them to be.

Notice that I said, “Who I want them to be.”  In doing whatever it was they did (or didn’t do), they’re being who they are.  My reaction is all about me wanting them to be something else.   Nonetheless, I am reacting – just as someone may react to me in a similar situation.

I’m clear that I can’t possibly please all the people all the time, and I don’t have any interest in trying.  I’m also clear about who I enjoy working with – which just happens to also be the people I do the best work for.  I’m happy to keep my focus right there where it belongs. 

And those are the wonderful people whom I don’t want to annoy, frustrate, or otherwise piss off.

I recognize that how I might react in a particular situation may not be how anyone else does.  The amount of importance I place (or don’t place) on something may not be what anyone else feels. 

So … I pay attention to the details that matter to me and to the details that might matter to my customers. 

With special attention to the latter, since that’s what I’m most likely to overlook.

I spend a lot of time watching and listening to see how different people present what they do.

And not just the successful ones.  You can learn a lot by seeing who isn’t succeeding as well as those who are.  (Or at least appear to be.  Just because someone says they’ve made $X bazillion doesn’t mean they have, after all.)

What’s particularly fascinating is to compare two people who are offering essentially the same product or service. 

The Southern California Renaissance Faire opened last week.  If you’ve known me for a while, you know that every season I help friends of mine at their booth there (seven weekends in a row!).

They make beautiful stained glass windows and ornaments.  Some seasons are better than others, but in general, they’re successful in selling their wares and meeting their financial targets.

A friend of theirs also makes beautiful stained glass windows and ornaments.  Different style, but no less gorgeous and no less well made.  Priced in pretty much the same general range.  And he’s just as nice and friendly as they are.

On a good day his sales are about a quarter of my friends’.

A client runs a successful event planning business.  Sure, she wants to deepen her connection with her market and take the next step up – that’s why we’re working together.  But even with that, why is she more successful than another equally nice, equally talented and skillful event planner I know?

Attitude

I see it over and over again, in my own business, in my business partner’s work, in my clients’ and friends’ businesses.  (And careers, too, for that matter.)

It’s all about attitude.

A coach I worked with years ago used to say, “Certainty sells.”  He meant your certainty about the value of what you do.  And that’s part of what makes up attitude – but only a part.

Going in through the front door

That’s what my business partner calls it.  It’s a powerful image.

When I go in through the front door – when I show up as who and what I truly am – when I take the risk to put all of me out there, nothing held back, nothing hidden - there’s a huge difference.

A huge difference in how I feel.

And a huge difference in how people respond.

Looking at the people I’ve described here, and at others I can think of, I see the same pattern.

When you believe you’re going to struggle, it’s inevitable:  you’re going to struggle. 

When you hold back, even a little bit, for whatever reason – you’re going in through the side door.  Or maybe even through the cellar door.

What if you were to go in through the front door?

What would it take for you to go in through the front door? 

What help do you need to make that attitude your reality?

Yes, it can feel scary on this side of the door.  But fear is just fear.  It isn’t the end of the world.  And the experience of stepping through the front door is worth every second of fear you might feel.

As my business partner said to me the other day, the doorway’s wide enough. 

We can all walk side by side.

With thanks to my business partner, Jon Hansen, for his help in finding my own way through the front door.

Visiting the Southern Cailfornia Renaissance Faire? Stop by Crystal Magic and say Hi!

Need help going through the front door? Hop over to my contact page – and let’s set a time to talk.

I’m bumping into a lot of very sad websites these days.

Some of them belong to people and businesses I know.  People and businesses I respect, like, and patronize.  People and businesses I recommend to others.

Others belong to people and businesses who somehow caught my interest.  Whether it was an intriguing tweet on Twitter, a blog post I stumbled across, or a chance meeting at a networking event, something about them was interesting enough that I wanted to learn more.

But their websites?  Oof.  And ouch.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this makes me very sad.  When someone’s work is really good – and their website is really bad, or even just mediocre – it breaks my heart.

Because a GOOD website is easy to have.

Let me repeat that:

A good website is EASY to have

It doesn’t take a lot of money.  It doesn’t take fancy technology skills. 

It does take time and vulnerability.

Vulnerability …

… because you need to dig deep and be yourself, honestly and openly.  You need to let people know who you are, and why you do what you do. 

You need to be clear about exactly what it is that you do, and for whom.

And you need to be honest and admit that this might be something you can’t do on your own.

Time …

… because digging deep and finding that clarity isn’t something that happens overnight. 

As I wrote in a recent newsletter article, “Don’t Peel the Rosebud,” it takes nurturing and time to discover how your business truly wants to bloom.

And it takes commitment 

Being vulnerable and putting in the time to do the digging can be scary and even painful. 

And doing the digging is hard to do for your own work.  (Trust me on that one.  I’m intuitive, fast, and damn good at doing this for my clients.  Doing it for myself…geesh.)

What’s your opportunity cost?

Many of the sad, bad websites I’m seeing are almost certainly sad and bad because their owners wanted to save money.

But if your website isn’t getting the results you want – or if you’re not even sure what results you could be getting – then you might want to think about opportunity cost.

That’s the lost income that you could be getting from your website. 

Because if your business’s website isn’t making you money, then it’s more than just a waste of money.  It’s actually costing you money every time someone like me comes to your site … and wanders away again without interacting with you.

Your website is one of the places in your business where it literally doesn’t pay to be frugal.

AND you don’t have to break the bank

The good news is, it doesn’t have to cost a lot.  There are great designers out there who can do wonderful things on a reasonable budget.  (I do my own, but if I needed a designer, AllieCreative is the one I’d call.)

And as I said, you’re the one who has to put in most of the time and effort to get your website to say what it needs to say.

Any website copywriter who says they can create your site from an overview of what you do … isn’t going to give you the kind of site your business needs and deserves. 

Any website copywriter who doesn’t come back to you over and over again with questions, asking you to go further and dig deeper … isn’t going to give you the kind of site your business needs and deserves.

That’s a good thing.  You’ll save money (because you’re not paying your copywriter to do what s/he can’t do), and you’ll have a website that engages and informs your visitors and encourages them to sign up for what you’re offering.

And just incidentally – your site won’t break my heart when I see it.

I’m relentlessly persistent in helping my clients create websites that are a real, resonant expression of the truth of their work.

If you’d like a review of your website, including concrete suggestions for improving it, just leave a comment with a link to your site.  Be sure to check the box to be notified of comments so you get my response delivered to you.

Caveat: I reserve the right to stop doing reviews at any point! This is subject to my availability and there’s no implied guarantee that your site will be reviewed, or that it will be reviewed according to any particular schedule.

Update as of May 27 2010: I’ve closed this post to comments because I’m no longer taking requests for free website reviews.

Instead, If you’d like a review (and if you have a website, getting it reviewed by an impartial third party is a Very Good Idea), I’m now offering Website Reviews at a very reasonable price.

Especially if you’re a reader of my newsletter, and have downloaded “Your Website and You” – the free report on the website questions, assumptions, and mistakes I hear and see most often. It comes with your newsletter signup, and includes a link to get the Website Review at a 30% discount.

In recent posts, I’ve talked about the good things that happen when you have clarity and focus.  I’ve described how one small business owner realized inspired action from her clarity and focus – and I’ve drawn parallels between Cirque du Soleil (masters at clarity, focus, and inspiration) and your business. 

But what happens when there’s failure to focus?

When you’re not focused, your audience is confused. 

It’s as simple as that.  Your lack of clarity and focus immediately causes your audience to be confused. 

And we all know what confused means. 

It means they’re not signing up as clients.  In fact, they’re probably not even signing up for your give-aways.  Why should they?  They’re confused about who you are and whether you’re really talking to them!

Lack of focus appears to come in different flavours. 

Sometimes it looks like a desire for certainty.  You think, what if I’m wrong?  What if this isn’t the right direction?  How can I be sure I’ll get clients?  If I just wait a little longer, I’ll have a better idea of what I’m really doing.

Other times it looks like a desire to help more people.  You think, if I narrow my focus too far, I’ll limit the people who know about what I do.  And I can help lots of people – I don’t want to make myself seem unavailable.

It can even look like being busy.  You think, I don’t have the time to get focused.  It needs space and effort that I just can’t afford to give right now.

It’s really all the same thing

When you’re dealing with a lack of focus, it all starts in the same place:  you don’t know.  And that can be very hard to admit.

You may think you’ve admitted it.  You might point to times you’ve made a joke out of it, times you’ve thrown your hands in the air and said, “I don’t know who my market is!” or perhaps “I don’t know where to find my clients!”

But until you really stop, stop and allow yourself to be not knowing, you can’t start to gain clarity.

It’s not an easy step to take.  Really deeply acknowledging not knowing equates to failure in our society.  Willingly stepping into that place feels a lot like stepping off a cliff without a parachute or even a bungee cord to stop your fall.

But if you really want to gain the clarity you need in order to focus – and experience inspired action – you’ve got to start where you are.

There’s great freedom to be found in not knowing.

Are you aware of that?

Really, way-down-deep aware of it?

Your work matters.  Whatever it is that you do, it matters.

I don’t mean this in the comforting way someone might say it when you’re feeling depressed or frustrated about your business.

Quite the opposite.  There’s nothing comforting or reassuring about this.

Because when you know it to be true, you don’t get to stop and take it easy.  There aren’t any excuses any more.  You’re compelled by this realization to put yourself out there in a much bigger way. 

And that’s frightening to the part of you that would far prefer to believe that it’s not all that important, because then it gets to stay safe and protected. 

I don’t need to know what you do to know that it matters.

If you really, deeply knew that your work matters - who would you be?

What would you do differently, right now, this minute?

Go do it.

Saturday evening, I went with friends to see Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza. 

Clarity?  You bet.  Absolute clarity about what they want to accomplish.  Absolute clarity about how they’re going to do it. 

Focus?  Well, if you’ve ever seen Cirque du Soleil perform, you know there’s focus.  There has to be.  Without it, the show would come to a screeching halt because all the performers would be injured.

Perfection?  Nope!

There are way too many moving parts, way too many variables, way too many opportunities for things to go slightly differently every time.

That’s why they use live music, after all.  The musicians watch what’s happening onstage, and adjust on the fly if something takes longer – or shorter – than usual, or if a performer misses an action and chooses to do it again. 

They almost always get it right the second time – but the point is, they don’t always get it right the first time.   Even after all the practice and all the performances, there are still imperfections in every show.

We watched someone fall from the high wire last night, missing the landing as he leaped over one of the other acrobats.  He caught the wire with his hands, pulled himself back up, tried again – and nailed it.

My point is, you don’t have to wait for perfection when you’re striving for clarity and focus.  Inspired action takes place without needing perfection. 

In fact, I’d say that perfection is the enemy of inspiration.  Because inspiration allows for the occasional fall as well as the flashes of brilliance.

What do you think?