Robbi Hess

Do You Have Priorities? Really?

Robbi Hess — 2012-02-13T09:00:00-05:00

I've found that if I write a to-do list and keep it open on my desk I get a lot of work done. Without the list, I spend time poking around on Facebook, reading Tweets, and channel surfing. I also am find I need to eat my breakfast, drink my coffee and jump into work first thing in the morning -- having a meeting first thing in the morning means I will have to work later into the evening. I do try to keep to a work schedule -- something that is not always easy to do as a work-from-home business owner.

When morning meetings come up -- or afternoon meetings for that matter -- I find I am thrown off my game and it takes a lot of concentration to get back into the swing of things. Is it just me? Do I have bad time management skills that a disruption in my day can sometimes make a normal day suddenly feel frenetic?

Is is a lack of prioritizing on my part? Do I need to plan my workday to begin after my meetings and networking events are over? Do I need to learn to be more flexible with my use of my working hours? Is it all of the above and then some?

In the course of my workday I sometimes forget that as an entrepreneur I need to consider networking and business meetings as part of my workday not an interruption to them. Networking, as any business owner knows, is part and parcel of the schedule. Networking should be a priority and needs to be scheduled and added to your to-do list. If attending networking meetingsmeans you need to put in a additional hour at the end (or the beginning) of the workday then consider it time well spent.

The clients you have today may not be there tomorrow and the next best client for your business could be at the very next networking event you attend. Prioritize and spend at least 10 percent (ideally 20 percent) of your workweek networking, shaking hands and getting out of your office.

Are You Inspired By Your Morning Routine?

Robbi Hess — 2012-02-10T09:00:00-05:00

I'll admit I am a hold out to reading the daily newspaper. I subscribe to The Arizona Republic and when I am back in New York I pick up a copy of theDemocrat and Chronicle. I rarely read the paper on its actual day because I don't like to have to run out and buy the paper on the days it's not delivered I "save" one to read the next day.

The other day I was watching The Balancing Act and someone (for the life of me I can't remember who it was) was on the show talking about morning routines and how the way you start your day can color the rest of it. Common sense, but not anything I had ever thought about. Consider it though, you wake up listening to doom and gloom on the news, pick up a paper and read about crime sprees, fiscal irresponsibility by government officials and other snippets of bad news. It is enough to make you say blah and want to crawl back under the covers.

I'm going through a bit of family stuff now so have been looking for ways to de-stress in the limited amount of free time that I have. I've taken some of the advice of the Balancing Act guest and stopped reading the paper in the morning. I've been taking time to pick up the Nook and find a book to immerse myself in while I drink my coffee. If I have been to a book store or grocery store I will pick up a magazine and give that a read during breakfast and the planning of my day.

I haven't been able to completely kick my day-old newspaper habit so I read it while I'm eating lunch or sitting at the doctor's office. It's not like passing on the morning news is going to make me miss some monumental happening. Let's face it, by the time the newspaper is in my hand -- even if I read it on the correct day -- is still going to be at least 12 hours old. If there is some earth-shattering event it will pop up on my Yahoo! news feed which I admit to glancing at before I even push the on button for the coffeemaker.

While I can't quite say that not reading "bad" news has anything to do with feeling a bit less stressed in the mornings, it probably isn't hurting, right? Not sure if I've found any inspiration or motivation from changing my morning reading habits, but it makes me happier to read a light romance or a ghost story first thing in the morning than to read about murder and mayhem so it can't be all bad.

Taking Time To Savor The Moments

Robbi Hess — 2012-02-06T08:00:00-05:00

Know how everyone tells you to "stop and smell the roses"? Well when people have said that to me before, I kinda wanted to make 'em sniff the thorns of the roses. Now that I find myself in the position of caregiver for my father, I've learned the beauty of that saying.

I had moved out of state last year but my dad was diagnosed with an inoperable lung tumor and he has spots of cancer on his spine -- all of a sudden my life changed. I came back to NY to help out as my sister and brother had been doing the majority of the running to the doctor's visits with my parents until the diagnosis was handed down. I'd planned to come back to NY for a few weeks to help out then head back to AZ. Now that I am here, I've extended my trip and paid the exorbitant airplane ticket fees -- thank you American Airlines/Continental -- so I can help out.

In my writing career, I've been blogging about caregiver stress and how caregivers need to take care of themselves and even when I wrote those posts I thought, "come on, how hard can driving to and from the oncologist be?" Well, let me tell you it's harder than I imagined. Add to the fact that since I am a self-employed individual, I need to get my work done and yes, I have the luxury of not having to do it between 9 and 5, but I still have to do it.

It's only been two weeks and I guess I was burning out without even realizing it. It was taking me longer and longer to do a blog post, seemingly hours to edit a piece, and I can't tell you the last time I finished a book or newspaper article. Yesterday, after the visit to the oncologist, I decided to "treat" myself to a trip to Walmart -- big day out, I know.

As I drove to the store I decided I "deserved" a day off. I drove to Greece, went to every craft store I could find, fondled every skein of yarn I came across, wandered Wegmans and almost every store in the mall. I stood in line and was jostled by crazed shoppers and I didn't even care. What the What?! I hated malls. Abhorred crowds yet here I was willingly subjecting myself to it and before Christmas no less.

I left the mall and my car seemed to have a mind of its own and I made my way to a coffee shop in the city - the opposite direction of going home and going to work. I pushed back guilt for not working, I swallowed the "oh my god" I'll be working 'til midnight woes and just enjoyed myself. When I got home last night I looked at the computer screen and my to-do list and know what I thought? "It will still be there in the morning." I picked up a book and sat down and read for two hours. The day was topped off by pizza and wine.

Did I take time to smell the roses? Figuratively, yes. Do I feel better for it today? You bet! Is my workload from yesterday waiting to be finished? Yes, of course. Am I less stressed than I was? Oh yeah. No matter how hard, or long I work today, yesterday was worth it. To every caregiver out there I now know how stressful the job is, but then I also know how precious those moments with my dad are and I am cherishing these five day a week trips to the oncologist.

How Great (Or Not) Is Your Customer Service?

Robbi Hess — 2012-02-03T09:00:00-05:00

What's the last time you had great customer service? Horrible customer service? What did you do about it? Many of us -- myself included -- typically sigh and walk away, vowing to never visit that store or website again, but we don't usually say anything. If, however, we do speak up, it's usually to complain about the bad, rather than to tout the good, right?

In the past I was more likely to complain to friends and family if my food was undercooked, the shoes I ordered weren't quite as advertised, or if the book I purchased had so many typos I couldn't even finish it. I rarely went to the source, I simply never gave that establishment my money again. Today though, with so many companies having social media pages, it is easy to voice your pleasure or displeasure at the moment of your unhappiness. I know I've done it, recently.

Several weeks ago I placed my first order ever with Bed, Bath & Beyond. After several days went by and I had yet to receive a notification of the order shipping I posted a Facebook status update basically saying I was unhappy and wanted my new Kuerig coffee pot now! Less than five minutes later, someone from Bed, Bath & Beyond had called me up to discuss my update. They also explained their shipping fulfillment practice on the weekend -- essentially it was my impatience and the fact that I didn't read the shipping info for weekend fulfillment. Talk about customer service! I was blown away!

I went back to my FB page and updated with the current development. You can also believe that when I discovered my order had been upgraded to overnight shipping and that my coffeemaker came the next day, I talked about that, too!

With that simple phone call, I was converted to a Bed, Bath & Beyond advocate, the fact that they upgraded my shipping... wow, I was blown away.

I have also had dealings that were not so satisfactory with Dearfoam and a pair of slippers I'd purchased that fell apart after one week of wearing. I never heard back from them and couldn't take the slippers back because they'd been worn.

Two completely different customer service experiences. I certainly hope that with my dealings with my clients that I offer exemplary customer service but I hope that if for some reason I don't, they will let me know. don't you hope the same from your clients? The alternative is that you lose a client and you never know why.

Can You Make Money Blogging?

Robbi Hess — 2012-01-30T09:08:00-05:00

While you may not have gotten into blogging with the idea that you were going to quit your day job and live a life of writing, watching television and eating bonbons, right? Blogging can help you bring in some money but as with anything you have to work at it. Very few people jump into blogging and achieve overnight success.

Even if you take famous examples such as the blog that was made into a movie, Julie and Julia, consider how many days she was working and writing on her blog before she achieved “overnight success.” Blogging can bring you in money if you work at it and have a focus for your blog. Keep in mind too that if you hear that Jane Doe is making money blogging about extreme couponing and you feel you want to jump on that bandwagon, make certain you love extreme couponing. If you don’t love what you write about, the idea of blogging will become a chore and it will show in your work.

Be certain you choose a topic that has longevity. Sit down and come up with at least 50 (yes, 50!) blog post ideas. Consider if you do that you will have at least one blog post a week for a whole year! That is a great way to keep your blog active. You will want to blog at least weekly, more often will raise your rankings and make you more searchable.

If you have a great idea for a blog but aren’t a writer, consider hiring a writer to fill content on your blog. There are many options for hiring a writer who can fill your blog with content on your behalf – be prepared to pay for quality work.

Keep in mind that when you’re blogging you will want to add a photo to your posts and you will also want to have at least two links that go to outside sources.

If you are blogging in a niche, make certain you know what the keywords for that niche are. Let’s take our extreme couponing example, keywords could be: couponing, money saving, grocery stores, etc. Use those words so that when individuals are searching for blogs on extreme couponing your site will come up.

Offer the readers valuable content. While you certainly want to spread the word and share your success with your extreme couponing, offer tips to your readers to let them know how they can benefit as well. Consider adding top ten lists and remember your posts don’t have to be long – shorter is better.

Consider too that if your blog becomes popular you can search for advertisers and sponsors and that’s a great way to add income.

10 Ways To Grow Your Business Through Social Media Marketing

Robbi Hess — 2012-01-27T09:00:00-05:00

Social media moves and changes more quickly than the seasons – in some instances it seems to change and morph from one sunrise to the next! As a small business owner you’re faced with the daily task of working in and growing your business, so how to you keep up with the fast moving tide of social media?

Here are 10 steps to get you into the social media mainstream and use it to help grow your business:

Are you involved in the social media conversation? Have you signed up for a business page on Facebook? Are you signed into Google+ (you can’t do a business page yet, but you should certainly set up a personal page), don’t forget a business Twitter account, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Are you launching a new product or service? Offer a sneak peek online through your social media platforms. Start a conversation about what you’ve got coming out soon and build buzz.
What’s your area of expertise? Are you the best widget maker in the West? Talk about it. Let everyone know that if they’re in the market for widgets, they simply have to come to you because you’re the one who’s been talking about it on your social media pages.
Don’t forget your website. If you’re in business, we’re assuming you have a website. You will want to use your social media platforms to drive traffic to your website. Additionally, update your website content, add a blog, give potential customers a reason to return.
Get the conversation started. Just having a Facebook or Twitter page isn’t enough. You need to start conversations, respond to queries, comment on other Facebook pages. Interaction is key.
Customer loyalty counts, so reward it! Give your social media followers a reason to keep following you and reward them for it. Offer special “follower only” benefits, coupons or giveaways.
Customer service counts. Some business owners shy away from social media because they’re afraid “someone will say something bad about us.” Know what? A dissatisfied customer can say something negative whether you have a social media platform or not. The beauty of being on line is that you can quickly respond to a customer complaint and turn the negative into a positive.
Go to where the customers are. Chances are, your potential customers are online and all you need to do is a quick keyword search to find them. If you sell widgets and you find a company that uses widgets, connect with them.
If Yellowpage and newspaper ads aren’t bringing the customers in, consider running a Facebook ad – if that’s where your customers are congregating, that is the best place to market to them.
Look for brand ambassadors. If you have customers that are always talking up your product or service, turn to them and have them help spread the word about who you are and what you do to their own personal networks.

There are many more ways you can add your voice to the social media fray. What unique ways have you found to interact with clients and potential clients?

Wrote Down My Dream, Made It Come True

Robbi Hess — 2012-01-23T09:00:00-05:00

For years I'd taught writing classes and was always great at telling the adults in the classes that "writers write" and to "make time to write something for yourself or toward your goals everyday." It was great advice and I patted myself on the back every time I gave the would-be writers in my class these words of wisdom.

I realized though, that I was a lot of talk, but not much action. True, I write for a living and earn my livelihood as a blogger and social media consultant but when it came to my own writing -- my romance novel, my ebook series, etc. -- they were always on the back burner because, 'I have clients to write for, I just don't have time for me."

As I saw the 2011 winding down I realized that yet again I didn't practice what I was preaching. I still hadn't written or published a romance, I still hadn't written my ebook. I knew I didn't want to end the year with these two things still no crossed off my To-Do list. I'd had enough of carrying these two goals forward from one calendar year to the next.

I'll admit it was hard to "steal" time from my clients to work on my own writing but I had to do it. In October I decided that I was going to take the first hour of every day and work on my own writing. Since I am usually up by 6 or 6:30 I'd be able to get my writing done, get breakfast, talk a walk with Henrietta and get into client work by 8 or 8:30. Not bad... very doable. Why the heck hadn't I thought of that before?

Bottom line from taking time for myself? I have my first ebook written, longhand in my notebook (Pet Blogging 101, in case you're wondering!) and my first romance story was released by Still Moments Publishing in its Christmas Treats Anthology. When I wrote the story, "Ghost of Christmas Presents" I had no idea I'd be in Santa's Naughty List(!) but there I am! Check out the book (yes, this is shameless self promotion!) and download your ecopy or leave a comment here or like and leave a comment on my Facebook Author page. Review copies are available as well. I'm doing a drawing for a free copy and a box of Godiva chocolate -- nothing better than a steamy romance and candy, right?

What are you going to make happen in 2012?

Working To Be Resolute in 2012

Robbi Hess — 2012-01-20T09:00:00-05:00

Every year I ponder whether I should put together my New Year's Resolutions. I sit down with pen and paper and come up with the usual, "Lose weight," "write every day," "exercise more," etc. You know the drill. Those vague resolutions that eventually fail and then make you feel bad about yourself? We've all been there, right?

One thing I found extremely difficult to keep up with was the "exercise more" especially when I lived in New York. It's hard to get out and exercise when it's snowing and blowing and I was never much on team sports -- which I consider a gym to be.

As for the "write every day" I do that because I write for a living; what I need to do is be more specific in my "writing" resolution. How about something like, "take at least 30 minutes a day to write something for my own edification or for publication, etc." This goal is more concrete.

Because I am deadline motivated, I found a publisher that was working on a Christmas anthology and in October I set myself a "resolution" to write a story and hopefully get published by the end of the year. I set time aside, wrote my romance and it was accepted! Publication was a goal I set and achieved it. Can it be considered a resolution because I made it spur of the moment? In October? In my mind, yes.

Still, in order to make many resolutions that I come up with, I need to first incorporate better time management skills into my life. Set a more firm office (even though I work from home) schedule. Stop being tempted to check email from the iPad or Smartphone when I'm lying in bed. Live in the moment -- again, that could mean stop checking email when I am with friends and family.

I truly believe the pressure of making huge changes in your life simply because it's January 1 is daunting. Why not pick a time during the year that truly motivates you -- rather than the time of year when everyone is resolving to do XYZ?

I do want to exercise more (what does that mean? I have to be more concrete with that detail); I will write at least 30 minutes a day purely for myself.

There is a new site I discovered called Schemer and I do have a few schemes in there that I hope to accomplish this year. Is a scheme any different from a resolution? Probably not. Will I be held accountable by anyone other than myself? Not likely.

Are you a resolution setter?

Don't forget to follow Lipsticking (and me) on Facebook.

What's Twitter Doing For Your Business... Really?

Robbi Hess — 2012-01-17T10:55:09-05:00

Chances are you’re signed up for Twitter and you use it occasionally but you wonder if it’s truly doing anything to help you and your business. Is there just too much noise on Twitter to make a difference? Are the masses really reading your tweets? For the longest time I really didn’t get the point of Twitter. I have followers, I follow people but truly, how am I supposed to keep up with the thousands – sometimes more – of tweets that come in on a daily basis?

If you spend even 30 minutes a day connecting with people – and on Twitter you can connect with high profile people – think Nathan Fillion! And he does his own tweets. Many high profile people actually do their own tweets and who knows, if you follow them maybe they will follow you. Regardless of how you think of twitter – micro-blogging or public instant messaging – you might want to get on board as it’s been reported that between 5,000 and 10,000 new people sign onto Twitter every day and it’s estimated that there are around 5 million users. Looking for potential business partners? There they are!

When you consider that with a tweet you are only allowed to write 140 characters, it’s much less daunting than having to do a blog post. Also, on Twitter, you can post as often as you want. Want to know what people are saying about any given topic: writing, music, social media? Go to Twitter Search and type in a keyword and search away.

If you want to benefit from Twitter you need a plan. Here are a few steps to implement to make your Twitter time have value:

Follow the “right” people. If you want to build a network of readers for your novel, follow people who read books, write reviews, etc. If you’re looking for experts in the IT field, follow IT company owners and computer gurus.
Put together a plan for your tweet marketing. What categories can you tweet about to grow your business? Can you do a day of hints, day of advice, a day of “follow these people,” inspiration quotes, useful resources, info about who you are and what you do. You get the picture.
Be consistent
Thank people who follow you
Ask questions, ask for direct message responses, track the results
Dread making cold calls on the telephone? Bypass that by following high profile people on Twitter and interacting with them there
Retweet. Your followers appreciate it and they receive notification if you’ve retweeted – great way to build a relationship

Okay, so how do you keep up with all of it?

Install TweetDeck and you can update and also see update streams from your various social media networks all in one place
Consider scheduling your tweets and have them go live throughout the week by using TweetLater. Spend a day writing your weekly tweets then forget about them. Make certain you are still monitoring the tweets that come into your account on a daily basis though
If you’re on Facebook all day why not use the Twitter for Facebook app? With this app the updates you make to your Facebook account automatically post to your Twitter account.
When you’re on LinkedIn and post a status update make certain you click the box to have that update post automatically to Twitter.

Yes, using Twitter is yet another step in your social media daily work but it is also another tool in your business-building arsenal.

Looking for an 'I do' from a publisher?

Robbi Hess — 2011-09-05T09:00:00-04:00

In a perfect world -- just like with the love of your life -- a book publisher or potential blog sponsor
would knock on your door, drop to one knee and ask you if they could publish your prose or sponsor your online words. Well, in the I-want-to-be-published world, this doesn't happen. You have to be the one to pursue the publisher, sponsor or advertiser of your dreams. You have to be on your best behavior and cross your fingers, hoping they will accept you into their family and you will publish happily ever after.

There are some steps you can take to make that happen. While seeking a sponsor for, or advertiser on, your blog is different from locating a publisher for your book, there are some universal truths.

Ways you can move yourself toward the relationship of your writing dreams:

Is there a need -- a market, a cadre of readers -- for the book you plan to write? Does your blog fill a particular need or niche that a sponsor or advertiser can get behind? If, for example there are 1001 books about "How To Housebreak a Dog" your proposal for a book on the same topic needs to really set itself apart from the pack. Does it? If there are 1001 books on the market, or blogs in the Internet on the same topic, point out to the potential publishing partner that you are aware of this fact and show why yours is unique.
What's your elevator pitch for your project? When you're putting together your proposal you need to work up a hook -- just as the proverbial hook in fiction, your proposal needs one as well. As an editor, I can tell you that with the stacks of manuscripts and queries that come across my desk, I (and many other editors with whom I have spoken) will tell you if you don't hook us in the first 25 seconds, we will move onto the next proposal in the stack.
Who are your readers? Yes, I know I wrote about the market but drill it down further to who will read your book, ie where can you market it? Is it a book about housetraining puppies? Are your readers dog breeders? People in waiting rooms at the vet's office? Dog trainers? Let the potential publisher know where and how you will get the book into the reader's hands.
What are your credentials? If you've never owned a dog in need of housebreaking, then chances are this is not the book you should be writing. If you have credentials and training in advanced housebreaking (I know, I know, no such thing) then note that in your proposal. Do you have a new and improved method of housebreaking that works in 15 minutes or less? Great! Tell the publisher about it. Have you worked with satisfied customers? They will want to know.
Talk about the format of your book/blog. If this is a critical part of the process then note it. As an example, if you're writing about "How to grow grapes on your NYC apartment terrace" and your book will include photos and recipes, the publisher will want to know that -- it is a selling point that could set it apart from the competition.
Testimonials. Will your book have rave reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers who have used your housebreaking techniques? Great. They want to know.
Grammar, grammar, grammar. It doesn't matter how amazingly fantastic your proposal is if you have typos, grammatical errors or other cringe-worthy items in your proposal. Don't, for example, send a proposal for a dog book to a cat publisher. Don't look for a dog food company that uses meat in its formula as a sponsor for your "how to live with a vegetarian dog" blog.

While this post hardly scratches the surface of what goes into a proposal when seeking a publishing partner or a blog sponsor, it should give you a starting point to pull your information together.