I dropped out of college a year early to focus on my self employment lifestyle. I spoke live on BBC radio about life as a young entrepreneur at the tender age of 17. I spoke in public at marketing and sales courses at 17 years old, and had grown adults who at the start of the event had assumed I was the weak link, queuing up for my business card at the end. I don’t say this to take myself on an ego trip. I say this because of the diverse and exciting experiences that being a self employed youngster has given me.

Young People Will Face Challenges

I remember being told the only sane thing to do at 17 years old was go to college and university. I remember walking in to the room of a networking event and immediately being singled out as the weak link. I remember the countless amounts of people saying young people shouldn’t be in business, and young people in business devalue the industry they’re in. But I also remember how I thrived on all these things!

I thrived on the challenge of proving people wrong when being stereotyped as the weak link. I thrived on the feeling of talking confidently in front of grown adults, often teaching them things. I thrived on being a young person in business.

Where There are Challenges, There are Advantages

While the challenges I faced as a young business owner were many, I knew that if I didn’t focus on them, I’d also be able to reap the rewards and advantages that being young presents. Here are just a few I experience.

• At 17 years old, I received a heap of newspaper and press coverage. I got this coverage due to my age. Age (young and old) presents media angles. And it’s media angles that get you press!
• At 17 years old, I was incredibly ambitious. It’s a natural quality of being young. We believe anything and everything can be done. Because it can! I remember talking with my business partners at the time about using full size army tanks in a press shoot (think “Web Design Company Crushes Your Old Computers Under Tank!”). I remember talking about taking my best customers out for paint balling and quad biking days. I once remember talking about recoding the Google homepage, calculating the savings Google would make on much improved and streamlined code, and pitching our code to Google themselves. I honestly believed I could do it. I honestly believed Google would be using my HTML code.
• At 17 years old, I had no bills and no assets. I was free to build my business without knowing I had a mortgage to pay for or kids to feed. There’s no better time in life to start a business, than the time you’re financially independent. As a 17 year old kid, you’re pretty close to that position.

Jack & His Cycle Storage

Young people in industries such as Web hosting and Web design are now common place, so it was a fantastic surprise to see the 16 year old son of my good mate Brendon Sinclair, working towards his dream of being a pilot by managing his own Web site selling a bike storage product.

I want to outline a few things:

Jack is 16 years old. He’s the same Jack that has already cycled the width of Australia. It’s obvious he has great mental strength. And it’s mental strength, above everything else, that any business owner needs.

Jack’s business, his bike storage Web site, is funding a dream. That means he has a goal. Your business should always have a final goal (often called your exit strategy).

His bike storage product is in a niche he is passionate about. He’s always out on his bike. Sometimes he just rides down the road. Other times he rides the width of Australia. Ya know, whatever mood he’s in that day? Always choose an industry you’re passionate about!

Jack has a Dad who once made $200,000 in one hour from one single Web site. That means Jack has people around him who can advise and be his mentor. Every person, young or old, needs people around them to bounce ideas off or ask for advice.

Young people in business are valuable for every industry. They keep the rest of us on our toes, because they’re always expanding the boundaries and exploring new ideas.

Do you know any young people in business? Were you ever told at school, college or university that self employment is a viable career option? Let us know in the comments!

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Hey friends! Many of you will have noticed a distinct lack of posts here at Jamie Harrop Dot Com in recent days and weeks. Fortunately, I have an excuse, and one I hope will make the wait for content well worth it!

Introducing ‘Blogging Zest’

A big battle I’ve had ranging inside for a long time is the lack of clear focus at Jamie Harrop Dot Com. Some days I would write a motivational, spiritual post, other days I’d write about customer service, and thrown between those two things were posts about blogging, social media and online communities. While this variation in topic has been helpful in maintaining my motivation and inspiration to write, it’s certainly not good for building a blog, nor is it good for you, my readers.

So after a good chat in Starbucks with my blogging mentor, Chris Garrett, I decided to launch a new blog, with one clear aim and one clear specialised area. Welcome to Blogging Zest, the community for blogging tips, social media discussion and online community development advice, from me, a 7 year blogging veteran and online community specialist.

How Bloggers Can Make the Most of Twitter

I launched the blog via Twitter a couple hours ago, starting off with the post How Bloggers Can Make the Most of Twitter. The blog is already making waves, and the comments, subscribers and visitors are already pouring in. The community is building, and I want you to be a part of it!

All 260 of you are very valuable to me. So while I’ll still be posting here at Jamie Harrop Dot Com about customer service, business, and motivation, I’d absolutely love to see you head over to Blogging Zest if you have an interest in blogging and social media.

What Will Happen to Jamie Harrop Dot Com

I’ll still be writing here on occasion, talking about business, customer service, and motivation. But from now on, Blogging Zest will be my primary blog.

I’d absolutely love to see some familiar faces over at Blogging Zest. Please come join in the community. I’d love to see you there!

PS. Even if you have no interest in blogging, you might want to check out my Blogging Zest ‘About Page’. It has already had one person crying with laughter, and two others fussing over the cute photo of me as a six year kid.

I remember my childhood well. Long, Summer days. Girls and cooties. Best friends and big gardens.

My old man tells me the 60’s was a good time to grow up, but I swear the 90’s was good too!

I was always a popular guy in junior school, the captain of the class football team, the captain of my out of school club football team, best friend with (at the time) the youngest ever black belt Karate champion, teachers pet, the one who negotiated peace and broke apart fights rather than starting them, and son to one parent who used to look after all the other kids before and after school, and another who made the most wonderful sausage rolls on ‘Bring & Share Your Own Food’ day. For the most part, life was good back then.

Jimmy happened to live in the biggest house ever known to man. It was seriously the size of Mars. Or even The Sun. Or so it appeared to my 9 year old brain. It was, of course, the only excuse I needed to sleep at his house and go play as often as I could. Sliding down his stairs, playing with his nunchucks, or writing the 9 year olds equivalent of a business plan for a Karate dojo were what kept us entertained for all those years. Oh, and don’t forget the butler, Jeeves style, that lived inside the old fireplace and only came out at night when I wasn’t there (I never saw him, but I’m sure Jimmy was telling the truth!). And the endless supply of crazed bats that would fly in to the house. (We’ll forget about the time I accidentally stepped on and killed his hamster). And my old man said the 60’s was the time to grow up! Pfft!

Perfect Customer Service

I didn’t realise it at the time, but looking back now it’s obvious to me where I first learnt about customer service.

Every time I visited Jimmy’s house he would be well prepared. I could tell he had been looking forward to it all day.

He had cycled to the shop to buy a goodie bag of sweets and stickers for me and cycled all the way back as fast as he could. He would have the Playstation setup and ready to go, with the controllers free of tangles and the games lined up so I could choose what to play. (That was a Playstation One, by the way. Not two or three. Way before those times honey!). His many hundreds of videos would be stacked in a tidy fashion, with his endless supply of Jean Claude Van Damme and Bruce Lee flicks on top. His Mighty Morphin Power Rangers figures would be stood up on his floor, under the window, just ready for my hands to commence battle with the evil Rita Repulsa. And on more than one occasion, I remember walking in to his room to find it padded with cushions, ready for a simulated Power Rangers battle between the two of us (without nunchucks, might I add!).

Customer Service is About Exceeding Expectations

Exceptional customer service is nothing more than exceeding expectations. Solve problems, and solve them exceedingly. Surprise your customers. Make them smile.

I like to think I took some lessons away from those long Summer days, and here they are.

Make Your Customer Smile

Imagine what the reaction would be if, as you and your prospect jump out of your seats after a 60 minute meeting ready to say your goodbyes, you say “Hey, I almost forgot. Here’s a little goodie bag that you can take away and share with your coworkers and family. There’s a few things in there personalised for you. I noticed you said on your blog your wife loves chocolate, so there’s plenty in there for her. Hope you like it! Have a great day, John, and I’ll be in touch again tomorrow to discuss our future project.”

When John gets back to his car, he doesn’t drive off straight away. He dives straight in to the goodie bag to see what he got. In it, he finds a personalised note on good quality card thanking him for the meeting and confirming you’ll be in touch. He also finds his wife’s favourite brand of chocolate, a small toy for his young son, and some sweets, a USB stick and a lovely, thought-provoking ‘Quote of the Day’, all branded with your logo.

I don’t know about you, but if I got a present like that during a meeting, I’d be just dying to meet that person again!

Be Prepared!

One of the things Jimmy was really good at was being prepared. When I got to his house, there was no messing about with games consoles or trying to find the right game, or trying to find a good snack. It was all prepared and ready, so we could have the most fun in the short time we had.

You should also be prepared. You should be prepared to answer difficult questions with exceedingly good answers. You should be prepared to hand over your goodie bag. And you should be so prepared, you’re able to arrange meetings not tomorrow, but in four days time. Four days time so you have enough time to send the prospect a snail mail letter confirming your meeting time and date and to let them know how eager and excited you are to meet. Something not many others do, and something that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Know What Works and What Doesn’t

Like best friends do, Jimmy knew the films I liked, the games I liked and the sweets I liked. So he made sure we stuck to those things.

When you’re with a prospect or a client, it’s time to notice the small signals that suggest what they like and don’t like. Do they like quality over price, or price over quality? Does their Facebook profile tell you they like dark chocolate or white chocolate? It’s the small things that count, and the small things that will set you apart from the rest. Find out what works for that person and use it often!

Exceptional customer service is about doing simple things in exceptional ways that exceed customers expectations. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Do you send physical gifts to your customers? How do you make them feel special? Let us know in the comments!

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Guest Post Alley

This morning, John Chow published a guest post from me, discussing free ways to convert blog posts and documents to PDF. Please head over to John’s site and share your love.

I also have a guest post lined up for Darren Rowse’s (ProBlogger) Twitip. Discussing the law of attraction that exists in Twitter and five ways to give value to your followers, it’s a post I’m quite proud of. Darren will be publishing the post some time in the next week, so keep your eyes open.

I’ve also asked Darren if he is interested in a guest post for his ProBlogger blog. If he accepts, I’ll have three guest posts in front of three similar audiences within a very short period of time. Guest posting isn’t difficult, but is effective. I’ve wrote about how to guest post for the pro bloggers before.

Who Wants a 20% Boost in Search Engine Rankings?

Remember the case study I posted a couple days ago regarding some search engine optimisation work I have done for Ottawa based Web design company, Napfish? Well, barely 48 hours after I completed the work, we’ve seen a 20% increase in Google rankings for Nick’s four primary key phrases. I can’t wait to see what results we see over the next couple of weeks!

How My Traffic Dropped by 50%!

If you’ve been around this little community of ours for a while, you’ll know I’m rather proud of my list of 58 motivational songs. It’s a post that brings in lots of search engine traffic. In fact, up until a few days ago I was ranked number one in Google for “motivational songs”.

However, earlier in the week I was beaten to the post by a different blog post (with just 40 songs!). I’m therefore now down in second. The result of this is the amount of traffic I get from people searching for “motivational songs” has now dropped by 50%. Yep, position #1 gets 50% more traffic than #2.

What’s even more amazing is that my good friend, Andrew Mason from productivity blog, ‘Did I Get Things Done?’, is ranked 4th for the same key phrase, and he’s pulling in the same amount as traffic as I am in position #2. So there’s a 50% traffic drop from #1 to #2, and no difference between #2 and #4. It just goes to show how important that #1 spot is!

Subscriber Goal Breaking

To wrap up this post, I’m pleased to say this morning the blog hit a new subscriber high of 234. We’re growing slowly, but growing none the less. I’m currently working with Chris Garrett to find ways we can take this blog from 234 wonderful friends to 1,000. Good things are here today, but even better things are on the horizon.

Look out for my guest posts! Look out for some pillar posts here later this week! And please do share your own stories. How is your blog doing? Are you seeing any slow down right now, or are things busy as ever? Let us know in the comments!

G’day all! It’s a new day, a new week, and Spring is on the horizon. After a week packed full with job interviews, Twitter festivals, and Web development work, I’m now back to rock your world with lots of useful and motivational content (probably), some excellent writing (probably not) and entertainment (possibly).

I want to start the week with a bang by sharing something I’ve never shared before.

Search Engine Optimisation Case Study

I’ve recently been working with a long term reader of this blog and good friend, Nick Fish. Nick runs several Web sites and businesses, including a jokes and humor blog and his Ottawa Web design business. While Nick knows his SEO, I offered to see if I could help him so he can spend his time on other things, not least his lovely new baby boy, Tyler.

So over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working with Nick to help him improve his Web site so it gives search engines what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. Today, I want to review the last two weeks to go over some of the individual tasks I’ve undertaken on Nick’s site to (hopefully) boost his search engine rankings.

Produce a Site Map

Everything you do to optimise for search engines should ultimately optimise the Web site for humans too. There’s no more classic example of this than a site map. Linking to every page on your Web site, site maps are an invaluable aid for navigation. Whether it’s just a simple list of links or a more complex set of lists in a particular order, site maps should always be used.

Page Title Changes

There no more important HTML tag for search engines than the title tag. Your title tag should be descriptive, but also contain your main key phrases. To give you an example of how I changed the title tags on Nick’s site, here is a caparison of his old homepage title and the new title:

Old Title - “Web Design in Ottawa, Ontario from NapFish Internet Solutions”

New Title - “Ottawa, Ontario Web Design from NapFish Internet Solution”

I’ve brought the location to the front of the title. In research I’ve conducted for my own Web sites, the results suggest users often put the location in front of the main key word or phrase.

I’ve also kept the title short and sweet. There’s always the temptation to stuff the title with every word and phrase you can think of, but short and sweet is always the best way to go. Less is more.

Copy Changes

After the title tag, search engines head straight to the content to find out what the Web site is about. While your content should be useful for humans and not stuffed with keywords.

Working with a Web site that has a particular focus on one city or region is much easier than one that is international. Once you have your location focused, it’s much easier to drop the city and state name in amongst the content.

However, once again there is always the temptation to get carried away and throw in the location (or other key phrase) at every possible location. Don’t! Be moderate, and constantly ask yourself whether your content modifications are going to help or hinder human users. As soon as you start to hinder human users, you begin to hinder search engines.

Internal Linking Improvements

Before I did my updates, there were many references within the content to Nick’s services that weren’t actually linked to the Web pages for those services. References to Web design & Web hosting weren’t linked to anywhere.

While links from external Web sites have a lot of value and powder, internal linking has its own value too. I’ve now made sure references to Nick’s services are internally linked to the appropriate pages.

Hyperlink Title Attributes

One thing a lot of developers forget to do, or simply don’t take the time to do, is add title attributes to internal links. Title attributes give a description of the page the hyperlink is going to and are another place to drop in your key words and phrases.

That’s just a taste of the work I’ve done on Nick’s site. There are lots of other things, some simple like these and others more complicated, that can be done to ethically increase search engine rankings.

The Results?

I only finished the work a couple of days ago so it’s far too early to see the results yet. However, Google has now crawled the new Web site and is using the updated titles and content in its listings.

So far, we’ve actually seen a drop in rankings of an average of eight positions. This should be expected! After modifying a Web site, you’ll almost always see a drop in rankings for a short period of time. But as we give Google time over the next 3-5 weeks, we’ll see Nick’s site slowly start to crawl back up to, and hopefully surpass his previous rankings.

Have you optimised your Web site? Do you use any blog plugins to help? Do you have any SEO tips? Let us know in the comments!

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