Justing Lukasavige is a storywriter. He helps individuals and businesses tell better stories that attract customers and change the world. We like that about him, and asked him to share with us how he does it – and why it matters. How does a business tell a story? Why does a business need story? In the show, Justin shares his secrets for success.

Justin is no stranger to stories. He graduated from college with a degree in aviation and immediately became a commercial pilot. Knowing it wasn’t the story he wanted to live, he began coaching people to get out of debt. He grew his business so quickly (with the help of coaches and mentors) that other business owners took notice and asked for advice on doing the same. Now Justin travels the country as a speaker and trainer and hosts four online radio shows each week from his Coach Radio studio.

It is impossible to underestimate the power of great stories. Justin’s success proves that. To see more of his story, be sure to stop by his blog and subscribe to the excellent Coach Radio Podcast. You can also follow him on Twitter, Google+, and/or Facebook.

Tame those to-do lists.

What’s Your Time Footprint?

We each know our work habits, and how long it takes us to get things done. Some of us don’t leave the computer until every last ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ is crossed, while the rest of us need to step away and take breaks periodically. The same project, the same work, takes each of us a different amount of time to complete.

In a world where high-productivity is valued (and sometimes confused with speed of work), it might seem that the latter method of working is a wrong one. To reassure those of you who need that periodic break, consider that a pause in work gives you that “second sight” where you are able to see things with fresh eyes. The important thing is to understand that there is no need to think one is better than the other, or feel guilty about which one you might be. Just know which one you are, know how you work, and know how much time it takes to get something completed. Be honest about it. That’s your time footprint, the amount of time that your work requires.

Triage That To-Do List

Some projects need to be done, and soon. They have a deadline. It might take an all-nighter (particularly if we aren’t organized), but we get it done. Lack of organization generally leaves us feeling exhausted by the time the deadline is met. But those things that don’t have a deadline, or have a deadline far, far into the future?

That’s the exponentially expanding pile of “to do” notes that led us to realize we need to get organized in the first place.

Sadly for most of us, no deadline means no incentive means no action. The more vague the deadline, the less we get to it. What’s worse, as things back up and pile on, we often deal with the panic of a towering pile of “to do” lists  by moving immediately to the enjoyable things in the pile whether they are important or not. Seeing the pile smaller is a kind of victory, sure, but it’s not an organized method of attacking the pile.

Forget randomness in reducing the pile. Approach the tasks and “to-do” lists with a triage mentality.

Determine what has a specific deadline. Determine what is flexible. Determine what has no deadline, ever, and decide whether you want to bother with those things at all. If you do, decide upon a deadline of your choice and treat it like a real deadline. Determine if something, even without a deadline, is vitally important and must be done ahead of something else. Most importantly, if something isn’t necessary or ever likely to be done, just get rid of it and take it out of the pile. Organizing isn’t merely a question of when something should be done, but if it should be done at all.

First Things First

We’ve just determined which projects are most important — now how do we tackle handling them as they come along?

Before you can tie your shoes, you first need to put them on. We know some things have to happen before others. We also know, shamefacedly, what kinds of things we put off doing because we dread working on them. For a project made up of multiple tasks, there are inevitably some parts of it we avoid doing. Unfortunately, that’s a great way to frustration and projects that either never get done, or don’t get done well.

That time footprint we talked about? Often they’re not as big as we think they are. Working out of order causes the time footprint to bloat. It means we’ll have to backtrack and waste time because we missed doing something foundational. Those things we avoid doing create roadblocks that cause work-flow traffic pile-ups.

A traditional tool that is used to keep projects on task is a Gantt chart. This method has the user chart out an entire project, breaking down the project into sections by showing which tasks cannot be started until a previous task has been completed. It’s based on a system of viewing projects as dependent tasks, and if that appeals to your way of thinking, perhaps you might find Gantter a useful tool. Gantt charts might not appeal to everyone. The basic concept that a Gantt chart is built upon, however, is valid. Whether we choose a formal method of planning out our work flow and breaking it down into chartable dependent tasks or not, it is important that we don’t jam up our work flow out of avoidance of the unpleasant. First things first.

Implement Your Strategy

All the planning in the world won’t help us if we don’t have the tools to help you carry the plan out. We need to find ways to make the decisions we made concrete and actionable.

Set up a system which allows you to plug in dates and tasks when things need to happen, even the projects that don’t have a specific date. For an overwhelming project with a deadline, break it into the “first things first” tasks, and put those smaller parts in your system, remembering the time footprint concept and how long it will take to complete them. The tasks should fall into place in the proper order so that when the project is due, all things are done. When the task you scheduled is due, we must do it. No getting around it.

Perhaps at the start, the system will be three containers labeled “now”, “this week” and “next week.” Maybe you prefer file folders, whiteboards and colored markers, or pinning things to a board with color-coded pins. Choose a method that works for how you work right now. Start small, with a mind set on improving the system.  A calendar is an ideal solution and perhaps an eventual goal. It doesn’t allow for vagueness. If a task wasn’t completed on the day determined to be the deadline, it’s pretty hard to get around that fact. A box labeled “this week” might easily become next week and next month.

The most important thing to remember is that it is better to think of projects and “to-do” lists as made up of parts that fall into a kind of chronological place. They are not a gigantic whole. We can’t master something massive and vague, but we can work on parts that have a place.

[This post is part of the ongoing series 4 Steps To Getting Yourself Organized In The New Year. ]

In a search for Todaymade, 4 out of the top 5 results are now socially driven!

From Google:

“Search is still limited to a universe of webpages created publicly, mostly by people you’ve never met. Today, we’re changing that by bringing your world, rich with people and information, into search. We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships. We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction by introducing three new features.”

Google’s page-rank algorithm has been analyzed by marketers and technologists for years. We’re always looking for a few ways to improve how our site is listed amongs relevant results. A few weeks back, we wrote about Mitch Joel’s suggestion that Google is the new homepage, so we can definitely see how Google has crossed the line between a handy service to a formidable force in determining who customers see, and who they don’t see.

While Google may be providing over a million links on any given search, web users are known for only considering the first few and rarely ever make it to the second page. With this is mind, how Google chooses to list those first few links stands to make a major impact for any business. With the announcement that Google+ data with now be incorporated into those results, many are questioning how this will impact business, and the purity of the search results.

Consider this scenario: Bob is the operator of a local gym, and has invested heavily into a good website, but has little to no social media presence. Previously, when people searched for gyms in his community, he was included in the top two results. Now, because of new social search platform and his top competitor’s active use of Google+, Bob’s gym has been push down the page. He has gone from being at the top of the page to the bottom – all because of social search.

Not so great for Bob, right?

How Social Search Works

The theory behind social search is that if there is something that our friends like, then we might like it, too. For this reason, Google has chosen to prioritize socially relevant messages directly into the search results. This seems pretty reasonable until we consider that at this time, those results only features data from Google’s own Google+ social network.

And therein lies the problem.

The vast majority of social media activity takes place on Facebook and Twitter. While these networks are still included in some ways, they have generally been ousted in favor of Google’s own social media pride and joy. For obvious reasons many are calling foul on Google. Where the chips fall in the end, we will have to wait and see.

The Takeaway

So, internet squabbles aside, where does that leave us – the business owner, or the marketing professional? It once again emphasizes the near-urgent importance of social media in any given marketing plan. Businesses that choose to not get involved in social media early on will almost certainly be left behind. But, as Google proves, a mere presence is not going to be enough. Should your company have a Facebook page, a Google+ page, and a Twitter profile? The answer is a unanimous yes, but we also need to go further than that. In order for a company to dominate social search, they must now be cultivating social conversation around their brand.

The most obvious and final takeaway from this is the absolute importance of the Google+ page for any, and all, businesses. It appears that Google+ truly is the sleeping giant that we feared it would be. Google is flexing its muscles and prioritizing their own networks over the other main players. Some may argue that this entire situation is just an attempt to gain leverage over Facebook and Twitter when it comes to contract negotiations (a.k.a. How much information these networks share with Google). There is some precedence to that theory, but the main concern for the modern business right now is to make sure that we aren’t left behind in this little social war.

We need to be everywhere, and we need to be ready for real engagement with our fans, because as of this week search is now social.

Before leaping into a system of organization and investing time and money, we need to understand the purpose of getting organized. Having your office supplies organized, for example, means that you know what you have and don’t buy more of what’s already filling your supply room. It means you can find what you need when you need it. Being organized with your workflow and project management means that things aren’t creating roadblocks or creating excuses (whether you’re aware of it or not) to keep you from getting the work done.

The small things don't have to distract.

Being organized, then, is a way to keep physical things or situations, from controlling or stopping you from doing what you want and need to get done.

So — how to achieve organization? Is it a matter of getting a new cupboard and filling it with labeled plastic containers? Possibly, but not necessarily. Without understanding the specific underlying need that we need to get organized and why it isn’t happening, we won’t have a plan to go about solving the problem.

Identify the Problem

Silencing the squeaky wheel means you have to find it first.

Before any steps are taken to solve the problem, we need to understand what the problem is. Look at the projects and things that we are consistently struggling to complete or work with, and ask what the reason is. If we can identify an excess of time being spent on the peripherals of the projects or chasing things down — “where are those TPS reports!?” — perhaps the solution is to either remove them from the periphery by making them unnecessary or bringing them into the core of the project before getting started.

Limits Aren’t Limiting

If you don’t know how to swim, start at the shallow end of the pool. It’s okay.

Only you know what works best for you. Are you a person who prefers a file system of multiple levels hierarchy, with folders and sub-folders and sub-sub-folders, or do you prefer fewer layers of folders and a reliance upon search functions within those general folders? Adopting someone else’s organizational program which calls for something you don’t naturally gravitate to is going to cause you unnecessary frustration and eventual failure. It’s good to make changes, but we should always take into account our natural inclinations. It’s a bit like lifting weights: find your level of comfort, and just bump it up a notch. You don’t have to lift the entire stack at once.

Knowing your limits actually gives you freedom to succeed, because you don’t set yourself up for immediate failure. It’s a great way to implement, by getting your feet wet as you wade in, some new habits that may eventually lead to that big change you were hoping for right at the beginning. You limits can quickly become your strengths.

Square Pegs and Round Holes

Fifty pens refuse to fit in a space designed for five.

As much as we’d all love to have an incredible closet of office supplies with impressive drawer and categorization systems, or a business library using the Dewey Decimal system, it just isn’t always possible. Be honest with what you have. What’s your budget? What kind of space do you have? What kind of digital systems or software can you integrate right now? What kind of work load are you under right now, and, in light of that, how big of a change can you handle in the midst of that? Perhaps switching your entire work flow organizational methods in the middle of the biggest project you’ve ever had isn’t the greatest idea. Instead, find smaller ways to make organizational change until you’re able to make a bigger change when things settle down. Buying ten plastic containers that won’t fit on your shelves will only cause frustration.

Understanding what your current limits are makes great sense.

Commit to Concluding

You’ve started the journey; get excited about the destination.

You’ve identified what is keeping you from being organized, you’ve been honest with yourself about your limits and your likes, and you’ve made an accurate assessment of what you have to work with — now what? Easy: get excited about getting organized! Get excited about being organized not for the sake of being able to tell others that you are organized or so that people will comment on your efficiency (efficiency is not the same as being organized) , but because you’ve dealt with the things that have been creating roadblocks and frustration for you. Essentially, you’ve cleared a path to free up creativity and better enjoyment of your time, making your work more enjoyable.

[This post is part of the ongoing series 4 Steps To Getting Yourself Organized In The New Year. ]

Todaymade is always looking for talented folks in the areas of Social Media, Copywriting, Marketing, Web Design, Web Development (PHP,MySQL), and Mobile Development for full-time, part-time, or even freelance roles. If you’re in Bismarck, that’s cool – but not required. We work hard, fast, and with a level of excellence that our competitors only dream of. If your the type that loves to do what you do so much that you would do it for free, then you would probably fit in well around here. And, don’t worry, we will pay you.

Imagine yourself here...

A few of the things that we believe:

• We believe that jobs are for suckers. We don’t offer jobs, we offer wide-open opportunities for you to enhance your skills and to make the state of Internet marketing better.
• We believe in “guidelines” far more than actual rules.
• We believe in ‘A players’ – those that play for keeps. We want smart, motivated, self starters that have a passion for what they do and the guts to take dreams and make them realities.
• We don’t believe in things like sick-leave and vacation time. We’re flexible. If you need a day off, take one. As long as the work in getting done, we’re happy and so are you. We believe that flexible environments encourage killer output.
• We believe in creating a community-driven, social, environment with plenty of room for new ideas and creative thinking.
• We believe in empowering those who work with us, and for us, with the tools and freedom they need to explore their own passions. Have ideas? Think like an entrepreneur? Todaymade is a place where individuality is encouraged and required.
• We believe that there is no certain way to do anything. New ideas and optimized workflows are daily realities here.
• We believe that you can’t stop learning. Our benefits include Audible accounts, free Kindle books, open-ended training budgets, and group development exercises that keep us all on point.

And finally..

• We don’t believe in resumes, so please don’t send us one. (LinkedIn profiles are allowed)

NAHO needed a serious look, and some big functionality.

From their site:

The National Association of Hearing Officials, Inc., is a professional nonprofit organization formed in 1986 and is composed of individuals involved in administrative hearings. The board of directors and members work together and share information and training related to hearings.

After a year of exceptional growth, NAHO came to us with some very specific needs. They needed a site that had a clean and professional look, was easy to manage, and could take over some of the frustrating tasks that tend to develop in a growing organization. Using our flexible, TodayCMS Content Management System, this site allows board members and administrators easily manage their growing membership database. Simplifying these mundane tasks allows the leadership team to focus more on providing, well-deserved, value to their members.

It is exciting to see a professional organization like this thrive. Their yearly conference is extremely well respected and seen as a resounding success in the industry. We couldn’t be more pleased with the experience of working with them to bring that type of success to the web.

Be sure to stop by their site to see what can happen when you couple exceptional design and development into a powerful little package. Most of all, though, I would like to extend a hearty Todaymade congratulations to NAHO group on their new site!

Technology is changing, and where technology goes, so goes the consumer. In this interview, we asked marketer, technologist and futurist Mitch Joel of the Six Pixels of Separation blog and podcast about his take on what he calls consumer connectivity.

Mitch Joel is the President of Twist Image – an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency (although he prefers the title, Media Hacker). He has been called a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert and community leader. He is also a Blogger, Podcaster, passionate entrepreneur and speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his marketing insights on digital marketing and new media.

Marketing Magazine has dubbed him the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” and called him, “one of North America’s leading digital visionaries.” He has also been considered one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. It was a pleasure to have Mitch on the show, and we certainly encourage you all to follow him on Twitter as soon as humanly possible.

I truly learned the power of one year in 2009 when I begin building Scriply with my business partner in the wee-hours of the morning. Even now, the final outcome of that work is undecided, but the skills that we gained were core to the founding of Todaymade and how we do business.

Never underestimate the power of a year.

Last December, my wife committed to doing a custom illustration every day for an entire year. Her work not only challenged her skill-set, but brought forth a viable business doing custom family illustrations that will hopefully continue plowing ahead in the months to come.

In 2011, Todaymade committed to posting valuable social media and marketing content on our blog 5-3 times per week. Now with over 275 posts in our archive, our content library has become the genesis for our Social Media Field Training course, and our new 20 part Social Media Consulting Course.

The point is that one years time can be a really powerful thing.

As the primary blogger, my writing abilities from one year ago look nothing like what they do today.

My wife has a successful and viable business that fits her lifestyle and passion.

Todaymade moves from a year of huge growth to an exciting future on deck.

But maybe, 2012 is your year to do something powerful.

Guts For Glory

It takes a lot to commit to something for one whole year. It takes guts, and honestly, most people won’t make it past day 30. The problem is that these types of commitments push our boundaries – big time.

Am I capable?

Is it worth-while?

Now, I am not really talking an exercise plan or a new eating regimin. These things can certainly be important, but the kind of commitment I am talking about is far more personal, and professional. It is committed to self-improvement and re-igniting a passion that was once lost or never found.

What is it that you’ve always wanted to do? What if this is the year you started doing it?

A friend of Todaymade’s recently released a video every day for 30 days highlighting a noteworthy person in his community. Just think about that.. he did something new, something big, something brave – every day. In the beginning, he started with 0 fans, and now he has thousands. He is also building a business from his success.

All too often, we talk about the things we love and the passions we seek with fond memories, but no immediate interest in action. It is a lot easier to talk about something that we will do ‘someday’ than it is to start on something today.

I think it is time for that someday.

Do Something Every Day For A Year

Do you want to change your life? I know, that sounds big, but it doesn’t have to. It happens all the time when people commit to something bigger than they think they can be. Maybe this is the year you…

• Post something new on your blog, every day.
• Make something new – art, writing, a meal, a photo, every day.
• Take one small step, every day, towards a business that you’ve always wanted.

Focus Intensely On One Task For One Year

What we are talking about here is something called focused intensity. It is something that Dave Ramsey teaches so well. When you concentrate intentionally on a task, it will eventually become a reality. The task you will focus on intently for one year is…

• Discovering or re-discovering a lost passion.
• Building a business from your basement card table.
• Practicing something that you want to be better at.

Commit To Investing In Yourself For One Year.

At the end of a one year commitment you will have something that you didn’t just 12 short months before. You will have more confidence and drive than you ever had before. Why? Because, you invested in yourself. This year you will invest in yourself by…

• Reading two books a month, every month.
• Begin journaling your thoughts and ideas daily.
• Make something great that didn’t exist before.

Not A Resolution

Many of you may call this just another way of saying “new years resolution.” Perhaps, but I don’t think thats all this is. I don’t want you to resolve to do something – I want you to actually start doing something. Get that? Start!

This year, do something completely different, and don’t measure the results until your done. Along the way you will be tempted to quit. You will be tempted to let it go – but don’t. At the end of the year, you will have something to show for it. I promise.

You will have something that you couldn’t have gotten any other way.

One of the main reasons that businesses get involved in social media is because of the sharing opportunities they provide for fans and customers. Facebook recommendations provide a simple way for anyone who likes your page to ‘recommend’ you to a friend. Think of this as a customer review, but with a more positive twist.

How Facebook Recommendations Work

Currently, Facebook recommendations can only be left on your Facebook business page. On your page, there are two primary places for fans to enter their recommendation. The first happens immediately after someone ‘Likes’ your Facebook fan page.

Recommendations can be added right after someone likes your page.

Once someone has successfully liked your page, Facebook will immediately suggest that they leave a recommendation in a simple drop-down box. From my experience, this is the most effect method for gathering recommendations on your page.

The second method for gathering recommendations is in the right-hand sidebar on your page. This section is much less obvious, but can still be valuable for a very motivated fan.

How to Enable Recommendations For Your Business

To allow customers the ability to leave recommendations, your Facebook page must have a physical location. So, if you don’t have your address listed on your Facebook page, you will need to update it to enable this feature. This could require that you change your page category.

To make changes to your page, click on the Edit button in the upper right hand corner of your profile. Under the Basic Information tab, you will see a drop down box with various categories. Be sure to choose Local Business or Place as the category. This is the only option that will let you enter an address.

Once you have done this, enter your address in the fields provided. And, that’s all there is to it.

Your page must have an associated physical location to make this work.

How to Get Recommendations

Once you have recommendations setup, you will need to develop a few ways to get more recommendations out of your fans. One of the easiest ways is to just ask for them. There are a few places that you could do this.

• Do a post on your Facebook wall that asks fans to leave a recommendation.
• Ask fans to leave a recommendation on your custom Facebook welcome tab.
• Offer a special or an incentive to anyone that leaves a positive recommendation.

Most businesses will find that several of these techniques are required to gain more recommendations to their page. One thing to keep in mind is that everyone who Likes your page from here on out will be prompted with the recommendations box. So, theoretically, just by encouraging more Likes you will be incurring a certain percentage of Recommendations.

Powerful Sharing

Every time someone leaves a recommendation on your page, they are given the option to make it publicly visible to your fans. While not everyone will do this, many will. This simple feature allows a basic recommendation to take on new life, and reach far beyond your usual audience.

Facebook recommendations are one of the simplest ways to generate conversation about your brand. They are surprisingly effective, and as you can see, they are very easy to enable. They are simply another must have in the world of Facebook Marketing For Business.

Enjoy this short video to see what Santa and his elves have been up to at the workshop.

Social media made 2011 a great year, and so did all of our loyal readers, fans, followers, and clients. From Todaymade, we hope your holiday season is filled with joy and a hearty helping of retweets.

Merry Christmas everyone!