The Invisible Mentor

Archive for December, 2009

How tuned in are you to what’s going on around you? I have pulled the interview responses from several interviews to give a different perspective because the interviews are rich in content so you may miss key information. I usually allow interviewees to interpret questions which has resulted in a minefield of very rich content. Take a look at the diversity of responses to each question. Which answer would be closest to yours?

What’s the most important business (or other) discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Steve Spalding

My most important business discovery has been that working more does not mean working better. In the last few months I’ve realized that you need to take some time out for yourself and do things completely different than what you spend 50-60 hours a week doing or you’ll start to stagnate.

Go for a hike, learn about Jazz, take a trip to New Zealand, do something entirely different and see how it ties back into your day job. You might not think that your career has anything at all to do with the plot of Pulp Fiction, but the lesson that most entrepreneurs really need to learn is to take lessons from everything they do.

It’s a badge of honor among entrepreneurs to brag about how many hours you work on your business, that’s great and I do it all the time myself but the truth is that success is much more a function of efficient time use rather than raw volume.

Shannon Van Roekel

I have been startled to recognize that God is not at all intimidated by business. That world belongs to Him, too. I am trying to learn to strive less and to depend on His nudges and promptings more. He is the best agent/manager anyone could ever have.

Deborah Koehler

I am good at whatever I set my mind to do.

Dennie Theodore

The best skill to have is the ability to adapt.

Don Martelli

The most important discovery I’ve made is pretty simple — social media is great, but it doesn’t replace the human aspect that’s needed to close business deals. Yes, clients like the fact that we are on the cutting edge of social media, but if we don’t vibe well with the client, we won’t win the business. Relationships and personal, face-to-face interaction is key to bringing in new business and keeping current clients happy.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

Steve Spalding

In the realm of Social Media (where I work most often), the biggest advances are coming as large companies start to care less about the number of people coming to their sites and start to care more about the quality of those people.

Almost every client meeting I have starts with the person wanting to get millions and millions of hits, as if traffic alone was somehow going to drive their business forward. I have to tell them that if that is all they want, that’s not too hard but no matter how many million people show up to see whatever stunt we devise to attract them, none of it matters at all unless those people eventually turn into customers.

I think companies are getting a more sophisticated understanding of how to read their own analytics and this understanding is translating into making discussions about “quality over quantity” a lot easier.

Shannon Van Roekel

I write contemporary Christian fiction; the biggest advance in that field over the past five years has probably been the growing interest in reading about real life issues, including international crises.

Deborah Koehler

Of course the movement of natural and organic products.  Nepal is ideally suited to deliver wonderful products that are non-chemical, utilize wise water usage and zero carbon footprint – all the new buzzwords. My business works to support new business opportunities in these areas.

Dennie Theodore

Women seen as necessary in leadership positions to move projects and business forward.

Don Martelli

That’s simple — social media. It has greatly impacted the way we think about our business and our client’s business. Every program we develop is run through a digital prism. The lines of advertising, marketing, journalism and PR are blurred because of social media.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Steve Spalding

Unfortunately, when you are in an information or knowledge based business like mine you only really have one threat — obsolescence.

Every day you wake up and your industry has moved forward a step, if you aren’t keeping up then it won’t be long until you have nothing to offer your clients that they can’t just read on the Internet.

I think the hardest thing about working in this field is the fact that not a day goes by where you can be complacent. If you are not constantly improving then you’re dying, and that death will come suddenly and without warning if you aren’t paying attention.

How do I handle that?

Well, mostly, I use the Internet a lot. I also try to avoid the trend lines. I am more apt to observe early adopters rather than be one myself, if you spend your time too deeply tied to the hot new trends you start to lose the forest for the trees and when you make your living off of the trees, that can be a serious problem.

Shannon Van Roekel

Three threats to my business and success would be

1. Not placing God first.
2. Lack of discipline
3. Getting distracted (can you spell f-a-c-e-b-o-o-k?)

I handle these threats, more or less, depending on the day, by starting it with God, keeping a day planner and working through the tasks I set for myself one at a time. Keep on doing the next thing.

Deborah Koehler

Local corruption, unskilled staff, and lack of testing facilities.

1. Local corruption: I face it without a Nepali present.  Usually corrupted officials are unwilling to ask for bribes directly to foreigners.
2. Unskilled staff: I teach in a college, train my own business staff, and offer suggestions where I can.
3. Testing facilities: I find existing documents and then talk to different labs and see if they can create a similar testing program or request that the testing be done in the clients home country.

Dennie Theodore

The usual… Similar Circles is run out of my kitchen with no funding, no time and is too GTA-centric. I’m handling them by asking my community to pitch in and they’ve been giving with both hands.

Don Martelli

There really isn’t three threats. It’s just one — social media. However, it’s also an opportunity. Social media has all but leveled the playing field for agencies. We are all “experts.” We are all going after the same budgets. It’s created a very intense and competitive environment, even more so than it was before. So the key is to stay on top of the trends and develop programs that are so forward thinking that the work you do speaks for itself. Clients hire on experience.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Steve Spalding

I think the most unique thing we provide is that we try to avoid stunts. A lot of Social Media tactics can devolve into pet projects that look great in a case study but don’t provide real client value.

At our core, we are educators, I want our clients to leave us, not only able to use the infrastructure we’ve built up for them effectively, but to also use some of the intuition that’s necessary to grow.

Shannon Van Roekel

I like to weave a story around a real issue, not normally in our radar, that will hopefully, not only inform and entertain, but also lead readers to compassion and empathy. Information dumps have caused us to shut down to the need, because we are intimidated by the enormity of the situation—especially in the third world arena. I believe touching hearts through the power of these stories can pull one out of that inertia into a state of true identification and hope.

Deborah Koehler

Traveling to and living in Nepal for 25 years, as well as working outside of my own culture has made be astute to cultural dynamics and my communications skills help me to facilitate new transactions.  I am accepted on both sides of the transactions.

Dennie Theodore

I’m not trying to offer a 10-step “how to” process, but rather open discussion on “why to”. By creating an emotional/mental comfort zone, folks feel better about mentoring and networking.

Don Martelli

Our unique perspective on this business stems from the mashup of the PR world before the web and since eruption of the web 2.0. We have experience that runs the gamut and fusing that experience with the knowledge of the digital space, truly gives our clients a 360 view of their brand and how we can help them move the needle.

What are your thoughts? How would you answer the four questions? Which interviewee do you identify with? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

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As 2009 comes to a close I wanted a blog post that wasn’t too heavy, but quite meaningful. I came across an Aesop’s Fable that teaches gratitude. After you have read Androcles let me know what your thoughts are.

Androcles

A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled
to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a
Lion lying down moaning and groaning. At first he turned to flee,
but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and
went up to him. As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which
was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge
thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain. He pulled
out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able
to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog. Then the Lion
took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat
from which to live. But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the
Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to
the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several
days. The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle,
and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena. Soon the
Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring
towards his victim. But as soon as he came near to Androcles he
recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands
like a friendly dog. The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned
Androcles to him, who told him the whole story. Whereupon the
slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native
forest.

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.

Source: Aesop’s Fable

Which character in the tale is most like you? Did you like the tale? Why? Why not? For 2010, let’s try to be grateful and in everything give thanks! Let’s keep the conversation flowing please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

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Many studies have shown the positive impact that mentoring has on both mentor and mentee. However, many people will never have the privilege of being involved in a traditional mentoring relationship. That doesn’t mean that you cannot reap some of the benefits of having a mentor.

What are the reasons for wanting a mentor? You have to know what you want before you can go after it. Identify two people who have done what you are trying to do (this may take doing some research to identify the appropriate people). What are three to five questions that you’d like to ask them?

For me, I’d like to make this blog content rich, since it’s an educational blog. Based on information in David Meerman Scott‘s book, Cashing In With Content, Laurel Touby has successfully done what I am trying to do with mediabistro.com the company she founded. If I got access  to Laurel, I’d ask her:

1. What are the critical steps you took to make mediabistro.com a success?
2. When you first started mediabistro.com, what are three things you did to secure subscribers?
3. Based on your experiences, what advice do have for someone who is trying to do what you did with mediabistro.com?

I have to spend time thinking about a second person because I do not think my choice, Steve Jobs would give me the time of day. While reading A Fine Line, a book I won in a Group Writing Project, the author Hartmut Esslinger, talks about Apple and their focus on consumer experience. I thought the strategy would work for this blog, for me to focus on reader experience. I then asked myself how would that work? How can I take an interview and turn it into a reader experience? How can I take a book review/summary and turn it into a reader experience. For the interview, I think interviewing the right person, will bring the interview to life and create a unique reader experience. Video and music would also enhance the effect.

For a book, that could be a bit tricky. What if the book was dry, but the content was definitely information that I think my readers should know about, what then? Whew, the heat is on, the onus is on me to figure it out. What are your thoughts? What are your two choices for mentors and what would you ask them?

At the off chance that Steve Jobs would give me the time of day, I would ask him, “What are the steps that I should take to create a unique reader experience. ” Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

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What does your best self, your most evolved self look like? What if you were not too young, too old, too weak, or too strong? What if you didn’t have too much or too little education? What if there were no barriers, including self-imposed ones, who could you be?

For 2010, do yourself a favor and become your most evolved self. Be that person  for a day, how does it feel? Be that person for two days, a week, a month, until you become that person. As that person, what mountains could you climb? What obstacles might you overcome? What wonders could your create? Become that person one day at a time.

Benjamin Franklin strove for perfectionism but discovered that it didn’t exist. However, on his journey to perfectionism, he achieved excellence, isn’t that what we all want? What are your thoughts?

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit, you can grab a copy by clicking here.

See The Best You!

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As many celebrate the Holiday Season, take time to reflect on what you are grateful for. Look back at 2009:

1. What went well?
2. What didn’t go so well?
3. What lessons did you learn?
4. What can you do differently next time?
5. What’s your proudest moment?
6. What’s an unexpected but welcome moment?

Wishing you all the best for 2010. I have some neat things coming in 2010. Thanks for reading!

What are your thoughts? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.