Are Experienced Graphic Designers Being Weeded Out of the Industry?

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Ah, a subject near and dear to my heart. Without turning this blog into a gripe session, I wanted to talk about many of the reasons as to why in current times, designers are expected to do more, get less and/or get out. Some explanations are completely obvious, some are more from gut feelings.

A Reasonable Explanation Would Be The Economy

 Yes, we are in a recession. To some degree we have been since the dotcom crash of 2000. One of the first things that companies look at in a recession is trimming jobs to save money. A company may have had many designers working for them, and as workers are eliminated, the remaining employees are then required to take on additional roles. A print designer may now be required to also design for web, or to do some creative writing. They are doing more yet their salary more than likely has not increased. In some cases, the salary may have been cut even though the workload hasn’t.

Looking at the requirements for new jobs, employers want designers to know print, web, mobile, photography and more. Can anyone really do it all well? And gone are the days of a great portfolio and years of experience landing designers a job. No degree—no job. Many older designers only have an associate degree. They didn’t need a bachelor degree to do their jobs, yet suddenly it’s imperative to have one.

A Glut Of New Graduates Competing With Seasoned Designers

OK, I’m just going to say it. Being a graphic designer sounds sexy. It appeals to a lot of young people that think that designers play all day long and the job is easy. Of course we know this to be the opposite (we do get to play at times). But with so many design schools cropping up and wooing students to come and be in the exciting world of art, designers are being bred like bunnies. This does not mean that every graduate is a top-notch designer, but they are hungry. They just spent XXX amount of dollars for a career and off they go to forge one.

Getting back to the economy, employers are flooding the market with unpaid intern positions or positions that pay $12 or less per hour. Giving away my age here, those were the wages back in the early to mid-eighties. No experienced designer is going to want or be able to work for those wages.  We all have families, houses and bills to pay. The younger set may be taking these jobs, but the older generation of designers are being forced to start their own businesses, switch careers or seeing no other choice, they are taking these positions. What a boon for the employer, all this experience at a bargain basement price. Why would they go back to paying $50k or more for a seasoned designer?

Note the graph on the right that I found at http://www.onlinedegrees.org/. It is easy to see the appeal to new design students yet I don’t feel it is very accurate—not in today’s market. The second graph from http://www.graphicdesignsalary.org/ is a much more realistic salary range. But again, looking at the job postings over the past five years in the United States, I feel that you would be lucky to find anything offering more than $25k per year where the prospective employer is asking for experience with three or more creative disciplines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Perils of Crowdsourcing

For those not in the know, crowdsourcing is the fast food of the design world and essentially outsourcing with a twist. The job doesn’t just get sent outside but becomes a competition. Designers from all around the world spend their own personal unpaid time creating work for companies with the hope that their design will be chosen from thousands of entries and then be rewarded with ridiculously low pay. I have no clue how many crowdsourcing sites are out there, but I know there are too many of them.

These sites can appeal to an inexperienced designer in hopes of easy money. Nothing easy about working for free. This also appeals to smaller businesses and startups that want to have it all, but not have to pay for it. There are so many drawbacks to crowdsourcing, but that is another article altogether.

The Computer Age

My computer will have to pried from my cold dead hands when the day comes. I love the computer and how it has changed the design industry. No, wait—maybe I hate the computer and how it has changed the design industry. Let me explain. Just because I have an expensive chef’s knife, pan and ingredients, this doesn’t mean I will produce a meal worthy of Le Cordon Blue. The same goes for design. Just because you have a computer, Microsoft Word and the font Comic Sans doesn’t mean you should be doing the work of graphic designers. We now have to compete against anyone and everyone with a computer that thinks the software they own does all the design work and they can market themselves as designers. There are enough people out there that really don’t know good design from bad and how it can affect their businesses. Design software in the hand of a talented and experienced designer can be amazing just as proper tools and ingredients are to a chef.

In the end, this may sound like all doom and gloom, but the times they are a changin’. We need to analyze the situation and adapt. Some scenarios may go back to the way they were when the economy recovers, but some, such as crowdsourcing, probably will not. There will always be people that understand the importance of design, and others will see it as just a cheap commodity.

I’d love to hear additional insights as to where you think the industry is headed for both younger and more seasoned designers and how we can adapt.

Online Grammar: What Type of Message are You Sending?

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Let me put this on the table, first: I love writing, editing, and proofreading. I take them very seriously. I expect excellence from myself because words are my passion, and I set my goals high because of the pride that I take in my work. I strive for perfection as a writer – every time, all of the time, because it’s not just the message that’s important, but also, how you present it to your audience.

If your message is presented poorly, readers can make certain judgments about your content, such as, “If you don’t care about how it looks or how well it reads, then why should I pay attention to your opinion or to the information you want to disseminate?”

Therefore, today’s lesson is: good grammar and accurate spelling are the foundations to building audience trust. To be taken seriously, you need to take your words (your tools for communication), just as seriously.

If you value your readers and/or customers, you obviously want them to trust you, right? Well how can they do that if they can’t rely upon your spelling and grammar skills? Why should they trust you with their time and interest if they’re going to have to work to figure out what you’re trying to convey to them? If you’re lax on the very basics of communication, then in what other arenas might you be found lacking? These are very legitimate questions; being a responsible writer is the answer.

Whether a person or a company is trying to broadcast information or trying to sell you something, they’re often putting themselves and their names on the line as being experts or authorities in some arena.  But whatever that message is, before that content goes live, it’s essential that it goes out error free.

Everyone who provides content is fighting for market share and/or readership. If you’ve taken the time to coalesce your ideas into written form, then it’s imperative to take the next step – to making those ideas read faultlessly so your audience will trust that you know what you’re talking about, and that you’re a reliable source of information for them to return to time and again. Remember: perfection always matters if you have something to communicate.

Here are a few tips for navigating your way to great communication, and therefore, to building a foundation of trust with your target audience:

 

1.       Hire a professional editor if you don’t possess the skills yourself.

2.       Proofreaders are great, too!  A proofreader may be a more economical choice if you can’t afford an editor. Learn about proofreading marks so that you can correct your own mistakes after a professional markup.

3.       Be your own editor. This can sometimes be difficult: you can re-read your work multiple times and still not catch some mistakes. Get yourself a good grammar book; make the dictionary one of your very best friends; and try to get a second pair of eyes to review your work before your content goes live. You could also read your work backwards a few times, starting with the last word, first – it may help you to catch any errors you’d previously missed.

4.       Use style guides. Standardization is very helpful to a writer, so have an Associated Press (AP) Stylebook and Libel Manual, or the Chicago Manual of Style on hand. From the beginner to the professional, all writers can use a bit of reassurance that what’s been written follows a customary form.

5.       Don’t rely solely upon spell check. Spell check can actually be your enemy when it comes to words that sound the same, but have multiple spellings and meanings (also known as “homonyms”). The grammar check function on many word processing programs can give spotty results as well.

6.       Don’t use cutesy spellings in your content. It’s neither hip, nor cool; it’s just distracting – unless it’s the name of a product, of course.

So, online writers… what type of message are you sending out to your audience? Please don’t let it be, “I’m lazy, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me because I’m presenting you with this awesome information!” Don’t delude yourselves. We all know there’s any number of sources from which to obtain information – primarily, your competition. Avoid pushing your audience into their hands!

And, as it can be next to impossible to change a first impression, leave your audience with the right one the first time around. Always take the time to check, check, and re-check your work.

So, is your content error free? Well, if it’s not, then it should be; unreliability can have consequences, and the financial ones can hurt the worst.

One more thing: yes, great communication has rules to be followed, so know those rules, first, before you start breaking them. Then, you’re not being a lazy writer; you’re being clever, instead!

 

“How SMBs Can Use Multiple Intelligence Theory to Hire and Develop Employees”

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Many different approaches are taken in selecting the right candidate for a job or project. Whether you are hiring someone for a full-time position or assigning an existing employee to a new task, it can be difficult to determine the criteria by which to make your selection.

Southwest Airlines, a company well-known for its heightened sense of employee engagement, is famous for the mantra, “Hire for attitude; train for skill.” Google, well-known as the gold standard of work environments, hires partly based on a candidate’s “Googleyness”–how well the candidate fits in with the existing culture. Aside from personality profiles, many companies use traditional criteria such as education and work experience. Every organization has a different mix of deciding factors.

One misunderstanding hiring managers often make in seeking a “qualified” candidate is assuming that “qualification” means the appropriate credentials. That’s part of it. But what “qualified” really means is a “good fit.” Does the candidate have the capacity to do the job that he or she is being given? That is an essential question that often goes unanswered. Thankfully, we have a test for that.

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed by psychologist Howard Gardner in 1983 and has been widely used in educational curricula. That is, many educators have adopted Gardner’s theory as a way of teaching their students. As far as the workforce goes, though, MI Theory (Multiple Intelligence Theory) is grossly underrepresented in the hiring process. If students are being taught in such a manner, why have we not begun adjusting our hiring and task delegation accordingly?

MI Theory basically proposes that there are a minimum of eight types of intelligence. Rather than understanding intelligence in merely two dimensions (language abilities and mathematical abilities), why not try to understand it in all the ways that human beings can possibly be intelligent? In other words, in what ways do people apply their mental capacities toward productive ends? Gardner proposes that the question we should be asking isn’t, “How smart are you?” Rather, it is, “How are you smart?”

So what does this all have to do with you? How can you apply Gardner’s MI Theory to hiring or developing your employees? First, you’ll want to determine what kinds of intelligence are best-suited for the tasks the employee will be engaging in. Secondly, you’ll want incorporate a Multiple Intelligence test into the process of screening for the job or the new task. If the employee scores highly on the intelligences that you have deemed appropriate for the job, that means they have the capacity to do well in the position.

So, what are these eight intelligences? Let’s delve into the eight intelligences that Gardner identified and determine what kind of tasks would require employees with such intelligence:

  • Linguistic: The ability to use words, written or verbal, to understand and articulate. Tasks that employ this intelligence include copywriting, technical writing, speaking, interviewing, etc.
  • Logical-Mathematical: The ability to understand symbols, formulas, logic, and critical thinking. Tasks that employ this intelligence include bookkeeping, statistical analysis, purchasing, creating financial reports, etc.
  • Interpersonal: The ability to interact comfortably and competently with others. Tasks that employ this intelligence include selling, leading teams, resolving conflict, negotiating, etc.
  • Intrapersonal: The ability to think deeply and engage in introspection. Tasks that employ this intelligence include developing strategy, developing marketing content, handling human resource issues, developing social responsibility initiatives, etc.
  • Spatial: The ability to visualize in multiple dimensions and understand conceptually the way objects move in space. Tasks that employ this intelligence include inspecting product quality, designing products, designing web pages, segmenting market geographically, etc.
  • Bodily-Kinesthetic: The ability to control one’s bodily motions with superb coordination and balance. Tasks that employ this intelligence include manufacturing physical products, repairing equipment, maintaining facilities, driving long distances, etc.
  • Musical: The ability understand, create and experience reality through rhythm, sounds, tones, pitches, and music. Tasks that employ this intelligence include multi-tasking, giving presentations, creating audio/video, making calls, etc.
  • Naturalistic: The ability to relate information to one’s natural surroundings. Tasks that employ this intelligence include gardening, traveling, developing environmental policies, organizing, etc.

Many of these may seem like a stretch. In most cases, the types of intelligence you employ will depend on the nature of your business. But you may need more types of intelligence than you realize. For example, if you want someone to perform a variety of administrative tasks simultaneously, you may want someone with the capacity of employing the concept of “rhythm” in his or her work. Who better than someone with strong musical intelligence? Or, if you have someone who must drive long distances to multiple project sites throughout the week, you’ll need someone with great stamina and coordination. Who better than someone with strong bodily-kinesthetic intelligence?

On the other hand, there are certain types of businesses that will not use certain types of intelligences at all. If your company develops CRM software for salespeople in the automotive industry, for example, it would be a stretch for you to find a task needing naturalistic intelligence.

Again, I want to reiterate that MI Theory is something powerful that you can add to your mix of criteria; it isn’t a silver bullet. Certainly, what you want to screen for before anything else is the appropriate attitude. If people don’t want to do the work, no other criteria will matter. On the flip side, though, if people have the best attitude imaginable but lack the capacity to do the work, the attitude is probably better applied elsewhere.

That’s where MI Theory comes in–applying the right attitudes to right kinds of work. You won’t get anywhere with employees who don’t want to work. But you also won’t get anywhere with employees who want to work but don’t have the intelligence to actually perform the tasks. I guarantee you, though, that if you find an employee who has an authentic desire to do the work as well as a deep-rooted intelligence regarding the work that needs done, you will have found the right fit for the job.

Storytelling for Startups: The Key Components of a Compelling Narrative

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Destruction of the LeviathanPeople love stories. Ever since the dawn of civilization, we have been using them to both understand and explain the world around us. Our belief about anything we encounter is the direct result of the story we tell ourselves about it. We eat vegetables because we tell ourselves a story about them being nutritious for our bodies. We read books because we tell ourselves a story about them being capable of informing or entertaining us. In everything, there lies a story that influences the way we think and behave in response to that thing. This idea cannot be truer than it is in business.

Every business has a story—whether they realize it or not. The way customers, prospects, and all other stakeholders interpret what the company means to them is the company’s story. Apple tells people a story about making life more fun and productive through innovative technology. Google tells a story about making life easier by providing quick and accurate answers to questions. As you get started in launching your venture, the story you will be telling must be at the epicenter of your strategy and your operations. Here are some things to think about…

The knight. Who is the hero of your story? You are! The organization you are creating is going to save the day for its customers. Spend some time developing your brand around the concept of you being the hero. Craft your messaging around the idea of you solving a problem, filling a need, or making something better. When people look at your company, they don’t want to see just another character—an extra, if you will. You want them to see the protagonist—the lead character in your industry. You want them to envision you as the hero.

The KnightGive your hero a face. Who are the founders? What brought them to the point of launching your new business? What need did they see? What skills had they developed to fill it? Who are the people that make up your team? What did they do prior to joining your new venture? What made them want to be a part of your company? How do their talents mesh together? Be sure that the people who interact with your brand know the faces of the people behind it.

The dragon. No, the villain is not—as you might imagine—a competitor. Competitors are other potential heroes trying to steal your glory…and you don’t really need to consider them as a central part of your story. The villain is your real adversary—what you are really fighting against. Your villain is the problem you are trying to solve. The pain you are trying to heal. The complacency you are trying to overthrow. The villain is whatever is keeping your customers from having better experiences.

Take a look at your industry and see where you fit in. What kind of work do you do? What business are you in? Then, take a look at your target customers. What bothers them? What holds them back? What makes them hurt? Now, what part can you play in alleviating that pain? How can you remove their burdens so that they can run more profitable businesses and live more meaningful lives? Whatever that pain or burden is—that is your villain. That is what you are seeking to overcome. Your customer’s pain is your problem. Know your enemy.

The sword. Yes, you are the valiant warrior that is going to slay the dragon and save the day. But you aren’t going to do it with your bare hands. You need a weapon. Your sword is your product–or range of products. It’s what you use to solve your customers’ problems and fill their needs. It’s how you prove you can be the hero your customers need you to be–the evidence of your knighthood.

In many cases, customers will fall in love with companies after first falling in love with their products. It starts with an iPhone, leads to an iPad, and soon becomes all things Apple. It starts with search, leads to Gmail, and soon becomes all things Google. You want people to eventually come to the point of falling in love with your entire brand, but they first may need to fall in love with your products. Be sure your products are telling a powerful story.

Dragon SlainThe damsel. I have already been talking about this, because no business’s story can exist without it. The “damsel in distress” is the customer.  Without the customer, the villain becomes irrelevant and no heroic deed can be possible. The level of satisfaction your customer has is the extent to which you have defeated the villain and become the hero in her eyes.

A common mistake that new companies make is focusing on their products. The focus should, from the very beginning, be on the customer. Your products are important, but they should be malleable and responsive to the ever-changing demands of your customers. When you discover that the dragon breathes fire, you may need a little more than a sword. Are you starting out as a customer-centric company? Have you thoroughly researched your target market? Are you soliciting feedback and engaging your potential customers in conversation? Don’t forget about your customer in a rush to sell your stuff.

That’s the formula. There’s a hero. There’s a villain. There’s a weapon. And there’s someone who gets rescued. It’s that simple. Think about any association you have with a brand. How do you feel about it? Do you have a positive association? A negative association? Regardless of how you feel about it, I can bet that your feeling is the result of the brand either 1) rescuing you from your pain, or  2) failing to rescue you from your pain when it promised that it would.

Story is everything. Each and every one of us uses stories as a way to interpret the world around us. What kind of story will you tell? How are people going to interpret you? Start right now and begin crafting an amazing story that will change the world around you.

Startup Mistakes And What To Do About Them, Part 1

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Man With Hand on His HeadIt has taken me a long time to get started writing this series of posts. I had begun the process a few months ago. And, then, things got busy and it sat in my Evernote notebook called “Posts to Finish”, taunting me for two reasons.

The first is that it was right above a post I had started called “Marketing and the Procrastinator.” I got as far as the title on that one. Ironic? No. Stupid? Probably. I just need to delete that one and get back to my marketing!

The second reason is that most of these mistakes are lessons from personal experience. As a sole prop commercial photographer, each and every one of these mistakes is something that I have done myself. And, going back through and really thinking about the mistakes I have made over the years was an uncomfortable experience.

The good part of that is that learning from our mistakes makes us better at what we do. It also keeps us interested and passionate about our businesses and life itself. Going through my career mistakes, while not exactly fun, allows me a few moments to figure out how to do it better next time.

And, it makes it easier to recognize in my clients and help them with it. The bad part? Well, check out my first mistake:

No matter how hard you try, you will never be “perfect”. You will never be “as good as” your idols. You will never reach the top of the imaginary pedestal that you have set up for yourself in your mind, late at night, when you lay on your pillow, staring at the blank canvas of your ceiling. You will always make another mistake. You will always see places for improvement.

Nice pep talk so far, eh? 

Actually, that is not the mistake. That, from everyone I have ever talked to who inspired me, is just reality. The mistake is letting all that get you down. This is the engine that drives us forward. How can we make things better? How can we change our product/service/branding/warehouse/delivery/pitch/proposal/marketing/behavior to make things better in the future. 

The mistake is thinking about the past without considering the future.

With that in mind, here is an easy workflow for dealing with your next mistake, based on a comment David Mullen in one of his posts, over at Communications Catalyst. He says, “Own it. Fix it. Make sure it never happens again.” And, you will be respected for it. (http://www.davidwmullen.com/2009/06/08/you-made-a-mistake-is-this-how-you-react/)

A) Own it: Admit, to yourself, that something is not right. Admit to your client that something went wrong. Do the research and find out why it went wrong. It could be on your end, it could have been on theirs. But, if it was on theirs, then it could have been because of something you let slide on yours. We are not making excuses here. All the client knows is that they are not happy. Apologize to them. Do not offer excuses. Never, ever start off with “it’s just that…” You don’t have to over apologize. You just have to let them know that you understand their side too.

B) Fix it: Graciously, make it right for the client. This is your opportunity to let them know it is not just about the money but about your honor, your pride and passion in what you do, and the relationship. Even if this ends up being a deal breaker for them down the road, if you take the high road and make it right, you will win.

C) Make sure it never happens again: Sure, easier said than done. Mistakes happen all the time. None of us our perfect and we will certainly come across things outside of our control.

But, when you were doing your research for fixing it for the current client, you probably figured out why it happened. It could have been something on your end that was over looked. It could have been a misconception on the part of your customer. Now is the time to address that misconception. Not with the current client, but with yourself. Because, if one customer perceived it that way, the next one probably will, too. Time to check your own perception.
The last part is one of the most important steps conceptually. Mistakes will happen. It is inevitable and necessary. From each mistake, we learn new things. We improve our products, our services, our brands and ourselves.

The sadest thing that can happen is to make the same mistake over and over again. According to Albert Einstein, a pretty smart feller, that is the definition of insanity.

Cookie Cutter Designs – Great for Christmas Cookies, Not on Websites

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I find social icons surprisingly mundane experience. Although networks of peers, friends, family, and professional acquaintances are a call, a send, or a swype away, the graphical elements that I use to interact with them are increasingly uniform. At one point, semi-glossy icons were a novel experience. They ain’t anymore.

The lowdown. Social icons appear when asked to add social channels to a website. On the most basic implementation, the icons link directly to associated platforms. For example, look at my header. I’ve got a few icons lined up there and they’re dead average – kinda transparent, slightly smoothed out, and totally ordinary. That’s why I picked ‘em! Social icons are typically on the header or footer of a site. Sometimes they’re in a sidebar or a hovering link. The physical placement doesn’t concern me – it’s how the graphical elements “feel.”

They all feel the same, don’t they? Rounded or squared, glossy or matte, the icons themselves seem totally interchangeable. You can swap the Twitter icon with the Facebook icon by switching around a letter or two because the typefaces are so similar. They’re different and unique! That is true – they are different – but they sure aren’t unique. The cartoony color palettes with heavy lines and rounded sans serif typefaces are all too familiar. Though time worn, placement proven, and traffic-tested these techniques certainly are, their cheerful facades make me reminisce of the plastic booths in a ’90s McDonalds. Forced corporate cheer. Suburbia. Every single modern “family sedan” on the market.

Ranging from general social media platforms, to social business, to social communities, every single “social” niche icon makes me feel like I’m staring at a Camry, an Accord, a Maxima, a Tempo… what’s the difference? Let me be explicitly clear – I have no problems at all with social platforms. I love them! A self-defined social media enthusiast, so to speak. But why do they all look identical? Different badging, different highlights – but the body and base and structure are virtually identical. Placement details like where the icons are and how they should interact are important to understand. Like the “rules” of fashion, you have to understand exactly what the basics are before you start bending and breaking. Rule breaking is always encouraged when you’re attempting to create. Entertain me. I’ve got only child-syndrome and I want more shiny.

Common Internet advice will tell you never to place social media icons at the bottom of your page. But many websites tend to do this anyways, burying their icons with their terms of use, disclaimers, and policy statements. Why? Do designers just see other people placing their icons there and lemming the style? Why would you want to place your social media links at the bottom of the page, so far down the fold that it requires a light to find it. You should probably bring a friend too – it’s pretty thorny down there.

But if you hover all your social icons at the side of the page, is that too invasive? As a viewer browses, the icons hover, following like a faithless dog, a bad penny, and every other overused turn of phrase I can’t think of. At least they’re all above the fold, right?

More common and conventional “correct” placements tell us to always place the icons in the header, along the top right, linked with email and RSS feed links. A “Share this!” button is also a good idea. Some people will tell you that the “biggest social media mistake” you can make is to forget to easily allow people to share your content – if it’s more than one click through, the user loses interest. Apparently.

Placement of icons, why they should be there, and sharing functions are all pieces of common wisdom for adding social media to a website – but why does it all have to look the same? At a time when one can literally browse across the world inside of an hour, how come every single social media icon placement in design looks virtually identical?

Disagree? Show me examples of some innovative new icons. I’d love to play.

The 10 Best Twitter Chats for Startups

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Twitter Bird EngravingWhen you are launching a business, it can be very easy to focus too heavily on your product. It is, after all, an amazing product. You’ve put a lot of time and energy into its design and even more time and energy into its development. But, if you create the most useful and awe-inspiring product the world has ever seen and no one ever sees it, you’ve wasted everything.

Before launching your business (or expecting it to grow), you need to build demand for your product. You need to get people talking. You need to generate interest in what you are doing. Lucky for you, it’s easier today to initiate a grassroots movement than it has ever been before. There are platforms available across the web on which potential customers willingly engage brands that offer something meaningful to them. One such platform is Twitter.

Now, many people launching new businesses “try” Twitter out only to quickly come to the conclusion that it doesn’t work. You can usually tell this business by the egg serving as its avatar, its list of followers consisting of fourteen spam bots and the owner’s second cousin, and the single tweet in its feed from three months ago that mentions the great sale it’s having.

The reason why Twitter doesn’t work for these business people is that they don’t understand it. Twitter is about conversation. It’s about talking with people about what interests them; not spamming people about what interests you. Replying to someone’s tweet about her breakfast will almost always bring you closer to a sale than merely tweeting about the sale you’re having.

There are many directions you can go when discussing how to engage people via Twitter. If there is one quick and effective way of getting people interested in what your new business is all about, though, it is most certainly through participating in Twitter chats. A Twitter chat is a real-time conversation (much like instant messaging) that takes place on Twitter via a unique hashtag (the # symbol).

Twitter chats are typically an hour long and most of them occur on a weekly basis. Chats cover a variety of subjects and are held at a variety of time slots throughout the week. As a startup, there are literally dozens of chats that could help you build a following of brand evangelists. Let’s start with a just a few…

1) #BlogChat: Sundays 9pm EST. Hosted by digital media consultant Mack Collier, #BlogChat covers a variety of topics related to personal, professional, and business blogging. As a startup, blogging is something you need to be thinking about. The best way to demonstrate the value you bring to potential customers is to teach them something. That’s what blogging for business is all about–education. #BlogChat will help you by giving you best practices on how to use the medium.

2) #LikeableChat: Sundays 10pm EST. #LikeableChat is hosted by Dave Kerpen, author of Likeable Social Media. The chat covers best practices in social media with an emphasis on authentic engagement. As the new kid on the block, you’ll want to foster genuine relationships with potential customers that will be willing to tell their friends about you. #LikeableChat can help you create that kind of word of mouth excitement around your brand.

3) #UsGuysChat: Mondays 3pm EST. Hosted by a variety of folks and serving as one of the most popular Twitter chats on the web, #UsGuysChat is a subset of the 24/7 #UsGuys discussion on trends in social media, marketing, and technology. A sort of digital coffee house for entrepreneurially-minded people, #UsGuysChat will connect you with people who will help you get started and give you pointers on how to find customers fast.

4) #MoneyChat: Mondays 8pm EST. Hosted by financial expert Dorethia Conner, #MoneyChat is all about, you guessed it, money. Although covering personal finance extensively, the discussion frequently centers around how entrepreneurs can best manage finances and keep cash flowing into their organizations. What startup isn’t thinking about money?

5) #RBChat: Mondays 10pm EST. #RBChat is a discussion on building relationships, hosted by social media personality and fashion expert Cammi Pham. The discussion often centers around digital social networking but also includes best practices on networking “in real life.” As a new business, the connections you form will mean the difference between survival and bitter defeat. Join #RBChat and learn how to build those relationships.

6) #SMManners: Tuesdays 10pm EST. Hosted by social media personality Dabney Porte, #SMManners is a discussion on “social media manners,” or proper etiquette within social media. So many business people fail at social media, because they don’t understand the particulars of how to use it. Don’t be that business. Join #SMManners and learn something.

7) #SmallBizChat: Wednesdays 8pm EST. #SmallBizChat is a discussion on general small business issues, hosted by small business consultant Melinda Emerson. The discussion centers directly around issues faced by small business people and entrepreneurs (i.e. “you”).

8) #ToolsChat: Wednesdays 10pm EST. Hosted by Twitter expert Michael Q Todd, Twylah founder Kelly Kim, and Buffer founder Leo Widrich, #ToolsChat features discussions on new web tools available for small business people to use. Tapping into the ever-evolving power of the web can make you more efficient with your time and more effective in reaching your best customers. #ToolsChat will give you some amazing ideas.

9) #InnoChat: Thursdays 12pm EST. A discussion on big ideas, #InnoChat covers topics in art, science, and technology. If you are startup using some sort of technology as your driving force, this chat can be really helpful in giving you ideas on how to leverage it to inspire your potential customers to take action.

10) #MediaChat: Thursdays 10pm EST. Hosted by marketing expert Aaron Kilby, #MediChat covers topics in digital media such as social media best practices, new web tools, and tips on how to leverage technology to reach customers. This chat is a fantastic resource for understanding new media and gaining actionable insights on how to use it to reach customers.

Now, Pick a time that you’re available this week and jump into a Twitter chat (or two or three). It will help you build a grassroots movement quicker than you could have ever imagined. Happy chatting!

7 Common Hiring Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Team for Your Startup

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A Crowd Waving Their ArmsSo your startup has built some steam and you’re finally beginning to see growth? The few of you who are working on your business–you know, the ones who have been there from the beginning–are starting to lose it. You’re exhausted. You’re falling asleep in your food. You’re slurring your speech. In one last fleeting moment of consciousness, the thought enters your mind: it’s time to find some help.

At some point, you’ve got to start hiring people. You can’t build your dream on your own. You need a solid team. In the words of entrepreneurial expert Michael Gerber, you’ve got to find some people to work IN your business so that you can focus on working ON your business. The time has come to assemble your army.

Hiring mistakes are some of the easiest mistakes to make. Like classical economists, entrepreneurs  often view labor as a means to an end. It’s just another resource, like equipment or office space, that you purchase in order to sustain and grow your business. But people are different. People are more dynamic. For every one variable to consider when purchasing a piece of equipment, there are thousand to consider when hiring a human being.

So, as you move into the hiring process, there are a few common mistakes you’ll want to be cautious of:

Placing Too Much Emphasis on Resumes

Small businesses people often focus too heavily on the resume and don’t really get to know the person they are bringing into their folds. That’s not to say that the resume isn’t important. It IS…as a screening tool. You use resumes to eliminate irrelevant or unqualified candidates. Once the candidate is in the door, you want to focus on her story–not her resume. Now, you want to get to know her as a person and assess her attitude. Assuming she hasn’t lied on her resume (that’s what checking references is for), you no longer need it. It has served its purpose. File it…and don’t look back.

Not Paying Your People Enough

This might just be the biggest mistake: hiring nearly minimum wage workers to help you grow your business. They aren’t going to help you at all. If you are paying them the bare minimum, you are a stepping stone–not a building stone. The great thing is that there is a point (some estimates around $40k/year) at which employees stop caring so much about money and begin caring more about things like autonomy and workplace culture. My suggestion? Don’t hire anyone unless you can pay them at least a minimally satisfactory income. Don’t hire minimum wage workers; outsource that work. You want your team members to own their roles.

Communicating Your Mission to New Employees

Right from the beginning, you need to be able to communicate a sense of purpose your employees should have in working for your organization. Your mission (not just your mission statement) is everything. Your employees need to know why you are doing what you are doing and how you are making the world a better place. Though they may not say it, the best employees are interested in that notion. We all are.

Focusing on Titles Instead of Responsibilities

Please, don’t hire to fill arbitrary roles that you think employees should be playing. Don’t look at other startups or scour the web for corporate structures to determine the positions you are hiring. Look at your own business. What actual work is going to be done in the next couple of years? Hire for that work…and then you can decide on a fitting title for the accompanying role.

Seeking Candidates (Only) Through Job Boards

Crane With Job Board

Sure, list your opening on job boards; you may get some good bites. But the best candidates are going to come through your professional network. Today, it’s easier than ever to tap into your network. Ask your connections on LinkedIn or your followers on Twitter. Perhaps you already know someone you could recruit from these platforms but haven’t thought of them as a candidate. Ask them–maybe they would be willing to give it a shot.

Ignoring How Well New Hires Will Fit in with Company Culture

Work doesn’t get done when people are fighting. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” On the flipside, a house united with itself will stand tall. You want to create a well-oiled machine. You want productivity to flow seamlessly. In order to do this, you’ve got to consider candidates in terms of the people you’ve already hired. Will they get along? Will their difference be an asset or a liability? Here’s a tip: create a survey for your current employees and have them evaluate all candidates you are considering.

Having an Interview Instead of a Discussion

Perhaps you yourself have been in an interview that feels more like an interrogation. What is your greatest weakness? What is your greatest accomplishment? Tell me about a time when you… Who hasn’t been asked these superficial questions? When you ask employees questions from a script, they are giving you prepared answers. They are telling you what they think you want to hear. That doesn’t help you understand the candidate at all. Instead of having a question-answer dialogue, try having a conversation. Begin the interview with an open-ended question about the candidate’s education, work experience, or professional interests, and riff off of his answer for the rest of the interview. Don’t have another question to ask. Make them up as you go–in response to what he says. If you really need certain questions answered, you can give him a questionnaire to fill out. But the interview is not about getting answers, it’s about getting to know the candidate.

The people you hire within the first year or two of your existence will define your company going forward. You aren’t just building a team–you’re building a legacy. So, as you start your search for the perfect employees, make sure you are doing everything you can on your end to make them feel welcome in joining your cause. There is a marketplace to be conquered–are you building the right army?

Wait…I’m not done learning?

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We never stop learning. That is a proven fact. Whether we realize it or not, our brain is continually absorbing information every day, much like a sponge does water.

There are many articles, theories and thoughts on the way in which we learn, the best ways to do so and how we retain what we’ve discovered. After browsing through pages and pages of information, another thought occurred to me. Don’t we learn at different stages of our lives? I believe so. Also I think that we learn in three specific ways – from necessity, from choices/mistakes and because we want to.

Early Childhood:

If you really think about it, we begin learning from the time we exit the womb. Our bodies instinctively tell us to take our first breath and then we cry from the environmental change of leaving a nice warm comfy space. After the initial shock of “what the heck is happening to me?” our bellies are rumbling and we instinctively to learn to nurse. Soon thereafter, we learn based upon our needs, wants and from choices/mistakes. For example, we discover that by crying our little heads off, we will get what we want and/or need – to be fed, to have our diaper changed, provided with more or less external stimuli. As I see it, we pretty much have learned to make our parents do what we want without even realizing it!

Before long, we find out that laying around isn’t much fun and we want to explore. In order to do so, we must work on becoming mobile by crawling and walking. I call this a bumper stage! We try to walk and fail only to get back up and try and fail again. Eventually we succeed in our endeavor then become a holy terror around the house. We also discover the power of a more expanded communication at this time. We go from pointing and hand signals to saying “Mama” and “Dada” to “NO!” to get what we need or want. Other than communication and being mobile, we also learn that the choices we make may result in mistakes, like touching a hot stove and being burned or how spreading flour all over the kitchen floor can result in a parental discipline. Time out!

Soon, we enter preschool or grade school and learn to socially interact with others our own age. Share? Who wants to share? Yet we learn to do so. We are taught to read, write and calculate. We learn that our teacher is our guide to help us grow. This is one of the most impressionable times of our lives that mold us as human beings.

Teenagers:

This paragraph should be empty because teens know everything! Oh wait…they don’t?

Contrary to most teenagers’ opinions, they don’t know everything. In fact, this may be one of the biggest and challenging learning experiences during our lifetime because we are preparing for adulthood. Social skills become more expanded by understanding the ins and outs of political correctness as well as respect for those around us (or the lack thereof). We learn from our peers as well as from peer pressure and the mistakes we or others may make when succumbing to such influences. We learn to become our own person.

In our necessity of preparing for adulthood, we also learn life and domestics skills such as doing the laundry, washing dishes or cooking a simple meal (begrudgingly mostly).  Also, due to our want to be more mobile since we discovered that walking isn’t apparently enough, we may choose to learn to drive. Big learning experience during this time! We may make mistakes by hitting cones during a driving test or lying on the gas or brakes a bit too aggressively. At this stage in my life, I was a rebellious one, as are many others where authority is questioned, rules’ limitations are pushed and speaking our mind is a given, often with varying results. The bottom line is, it provides us great insight purely through trial and error, if not in other forms.

Time for college! Mom and Dad says we need to get into a good college (or maybe we actually want to), therefore we learn proper studying habits (or the lack thereof). We discover that our hard work can actually pay off when we receive our high school diploma and/or are awarded scholarships and achievement awards. At this point we often feel that we have learned the necessary tools to prepare us for entering the adult world – well at least some of them.

Adulthood:

It may seem to many that our ability to learn and retain lessens as we stroll through adulthood is non-existent or greatly diminished. Such is not the case. Granted, if we pursue a college education, our road to discovery continues because we that dream job and must garner the skills to land it. During the same time, we also learn that if we choose to party all night long rather than pull an all-nighter studying for finals, it can be a huge mistake with detrimental results – and I am not just talking about a wicked hangover. Even after landing said dream job, we may eventually find out that that career path wasn’t what we wanted to do after all.

Out of necessity to support ourselves or buy the things we want in life, we learn to properly handle our finances to achieve our goals. Well, sometimes we do. Often we discover that some of our financial choices or those around us were mistakes.  Then, if we choose to spend our lives with another person, we learn to make concessions and grow from their life experiences as well as modifying our way of thinking or how we do things. By choosing to bring child into the world, we often learn to make sacrifices of our personal time, finances and space while, at the same time, make choices for our children that will impact their life and help them in their learning process. Every parent makes mistakes, and we learn from those as well. Tell me about one who hasn’t.

As we age, we also discover how to deal with loss and letting go, whether it be from the loss of a job, the empty-nest syndrome of sending a child off to college, a divorce or losing a dear member of our family.

In addition, we may feel the need and want to expand our minds at this stage in life by reading books on new interests, becoming involved in organizations, or learning new skills to further our careers.

I don’t know about you, but during my lifetime I have experienced much of the above and have learned from each and every situation. During our lives, we discover that there are three key reasons in which we learn and they are always happening – out of necessity, out of want and from the choices/mistakes we or others make. Simply put…we never stop learning and it makes us the person we are today. Are you still learning? What have you learned today?

4 Reasons Startups Should Not Commoditize Their Offerings

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When you’re the new kid on the block in your market, you will do almost anything to get business. Probably the first thing you will consider is lowering your prices. People are willing to pay for your products or services at the price you’ve already established. Naturally, they will buy more if you discount, right?

What many small business people fail to realize when they get are getting started is the psychology of price. When you discount your products or services, you are setting a precedent for your customers in which they will perceive themselves going forward. You are also setting a precedent for the way you perceive what gets you more revenue. If you discount now, you will discount always.

If you are getting into the commodity business, get out now. No one can survive in a commodity business. I’m not talking whether or not your product or service is technically a commodity–like coffee or natural gas. I’m talking about whether or not you treat it like one. Never say that you sell coffee or that you sell lumber or that you sell insurance. Talk about what additional value you sell that sets you apart from competitors. That’s what really matters.

And if you are pitching that extra value, there is no need to lower your prices. You aren’t a commodity; don’t commoditize yourself. Lowering your prices will get more people to buy your stuff. So, you have one reason to lower you prices? Here are four solid reasons not to…

You Can’t Afford It

If you have just started your own business, you know that it’s a lot like living on your own for the first time. No parents to bail you out and pay your bills when you fall behind. No ditching work to play video games with your friends. No more wasting time or money, because now it isn’t someone else’s; it’s yours. You are accountable, whether you like it or not.

So, like the newly evicted college grad living on his own for the first time, you are ever aware of one fact: cash is king. You are on a shoestring budget. You need all the income you can get in order to keep your business afloat. Guess what lowering your prices does? It lowers your income. “But,” you say, “if I lower my prices, I will be able to sell more.”

Yes, this is true. But how much more? Do you know the marginal difference in price that shifts someone from being unwilling to pay for your product to someone who is more than willing to pay for your product? You should. Because if you can sell more while keeping a higher price, you will make even more money.

The Incumbents will undercut you

How low do you think you can make your prices? If you are new in your market, you are most likely facing a myriad of competitors who have been there longer than you have. That means they’ve survived the startup stages and have learned how to be more productive with their resources to get where they are now.

Do you honestly think that you can beat them on price? As with any startup, you haven’t built the economies of scale necessary to give yourself a decent profit margin. Your competitors have. You can lower your price. But, I can guarantee you that they can lower it even further. Just do yourself a favor, and don’t get into a “how low can you go” Limbo price war with your competitors. You will lose…and it will be embarrassing.

You’ll Attract the Wrong Customers

So, let’s so for the sake of argument that you can get away with lowering your prices. If you are a startup and you plan on sticking around, you don’t want to merely get sales. You don’t just want customers. You want loyal customers. Selling your product or service as a discount is not going to make your customers loyal to your products or services; it’s going to make them loyal to your prices.

So many small business people try to bring people in with low prices. They put it on their marketing materials. They put it on their signs outside. They put it in the actual names of their business. Sure, some businesses focus on low price and it works for them. But, given the choice, why choose to focus on price? Why market to the customers who are going to be pinching pennies? Why market the profits right out of your business?

The customers you want to attract are customers that buy from you because they find value in what you offer. You want to attract customers that turn into fans, customers that become evangelists who tell others about you just because they think you’re that awesome. By lowering your prices, you will attract customers who will only tell others about you because your cheap. Which customers will be better for you in the long run–the ones driven by price or the ones driven by value? I think you know the answer.

You Will Devalue Your Brand

This is your business. It’s your legacy. It’s the brand you are creating and will be known by. How can you possibly in good conscience reduce it to a commodity? You are better than that. The amazing product, service, idea, cause, or art that you are bringing to the table deserves more than that.

Think about how you want your brand to be perceived by your staff, by your customers, by your community, and by the world. Do you want people to think, “cheap,” when they think of you? Or, do you want people think, “amazing?” My advice? Go for amazing! Focus on offering great products and services that blow people away–not mediocre products and services that people buy because they can afford them.

Still want to lower your price? Doesn’t seem so tempting anymore, does it? In the end, reducing your products and services to a commodity is only going to hurt you. People buy commodities because they need them, not because they want them. Make stuff that people want so badly that they are willing to pay for it…and then sell it for what it’s worth.