Via loop_oh on flickr

Are you open for business?

Every day I walk past vacant restaurants and half-empty shops, “victims” of the recession, of tough economic times, of changing priorities and values. Well, to all of that I say “Hooey!”*

_{*Yes, apparently I’ve turned into a cranky octogenarian.}

For every restaurant that has seen its customers dwindle away, there’s another one out there welcoming them in. Offering specials that are amazing to the palate and sensitive on the wallet. Getting out of the kitchen to talk with (and listen to) their customers. Taking advantage of opportunities to try something new or to partner with like-minded businesses. Yes, some of them are using technology (newsletters, Twitter, Facebook), but that’s only a piece of the puzzle.

Think about it. What do your customers want? Not what they need, what they want. I need to eat breakfast, I want to eat my favorite breakfast burrito from Udi’s.

How can you let them know that:

You have what they want.

Menus are helpful. Menus with detailed descriptions are more helpful. Menus with detailed descriptions, plus pictures, plus write-ups from you and your customers are the most helpful.

You will help them get what they want.

How many obstacles do you place in your customer’s path? Can they easily find out where you are? When you’re open? If you’re kid-friendly/vegan/gluten-free/etc… (Hint: Communicate, communicate, communicate.)

They will feel confident and successful during (and after) this process.

What? Is talking about your customers’ feelings too woo-woo* for you? Remember how you felt ordering the first time at Starbucks? (or insert your favorite coffee shop here.) After countless visits, you now feel comfortable and confident.

_{*Note to self: try “too woo-woo” phrase with 3 yr old daughter tomorrow. Take bets whether I get fits of toddler giggles or the scarily pre-teen eye roll.}

Most people will continue to frequent those places where they’ve learned the routine and know what to expect because it’s more comfortable knowing your expectations will be met than taking a risk on something new that might be a disappointment. No one goes to the Red Lobster in Times Square because they want great seafood.

Although, I’d recommend starting with the first two steps, don’t underestimate the importance of this final element. If you’re customers are buying a product/service that they want and feel good about buying (not just the product, the whole experience),  you’ve just put yourself miles ahead of your competition.  Now “I want a hot dog.” becomes “I want to go to Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs” or “Let’s go out for brunch.” becomes “Let’s go to Satchel’s.”

So, let’s say our farewell to those businesses that have been “victims” of these “tough economic times” and a hearty hello to those who continue to give us what we want while putting a smile on our face.*

_{*You know what I meant. Get your mind out of the gutter.}

What do you think? What are examples, good and bad, that you’ve seen lately?

Here’s some history and background before you get started.

I’m working with a non-profit to develop and implement a platform for their members that will make it easier for them to organize, coordinate, and communicate with each other. We’ve been testing a couple of wiki solutions, but have run into three basic scenarios:

• Hosted + good support + high cost ($6-10/mo/user). Hmm, 500+ members * $10/mo…. Yeah, not sustainable.
• Hosted + no support + no cost. Ok, it’s not really *no* support, it’s forum/community support which means that someone (typically me) has to dig around to find the answers. And, in this specific case, the company may be shutting down this product altogether to focus on their enterprise products (i.e., they want to get paid and make money. I understand.)
• Not hosted + no support + no cost. I’m the most technical person in the organization and getting one of these setup (not to mention maintaining it) makes my head hurt.

So, if we need a hosted, web-based, editable platform to help us organize, coordinate, and communicate, where does that leave us?

WordpressMU

WordpressMU is the multi-user version of Wordpress.org. It’s what Wordpress.com runs on. It does everything Wordpress does, plus scales to millions of pageviews, allows unlimited users and blogs, and allows different permissions on different blogs. All for free.

_{Ok. Not really free. You do have to host it somewhere, but the software itself *is* free.}

Instead of wiki “pages”, we can have blog “posts” and web “pages”. The site remains editable, but with flexible permissioning and the ability to take the whole site private (by requiring visitors to be logged in). And, since a core function of blogging software is to publish/push content to its readers, we don’t have to find a kludge-y way (like we did with the wiki) to update the non-profit’s members. Once blogs and feeds are established, readers can subscribe to RSS or choose to receive email updates.

I’ve only been playing around with WPMU for a few days, but I love it already! Now if I can just get it working with BuddyPress (and possibly Thesis), I’ll be set…

What are your experiences with wikis? Have you considered (or ruled out) blogging software for your organization?

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Anytime you’re trying to organize, coordinate, and communicate with more than two people over more than a few days, you’ll realize that relying on email (or Facebook, or Twitter) to carry the burden will drive all of you crazy. Someone’s going to miss a message, the “right” people won’t be cc’d or (worse) everyone will be cc’d. On every message. Good times.

After a few of these “I can manage the whole thing via email” disasters, hopefully you’ll start to realize that a centralized “hub” for your team / project / organization might just save your sanity.

A Brief History of Hubs

Then came the “quality” movement and its efforts to quantify and codify the information available from the Wes’s of the world. “Sure, you could go talk to Wes, but we can’t all talk to Ted at the same time, so let’s just write down what Wes said and then we can go back to that the next time we have a question.”

_{Note: This would have been a great time to buy stock in three-ring binder companies. Especially the really, really big three-ring binders.}

And, just as everyone was becoming comfortable with their bookshelf o’ binders, along came the internet and widespread use of personal computers. In the (ultimately futile) quest to become paperless offices, documents were scanned into “document management systems”, we created our “shared drives” and uploaded files to our corporate “intranets” and suddenly all workers had access to all the information they needed, right?

Not quite.

Now, not only had the information been separated from its human hub (which could interpret context and apply judgment), we’d added more layers of bureaucracy and abstraction. A two-minute call to Wes had been replaced by “where’s that #!@* procedure on the intranet? … No, not *that* version, the *new* version…. What do you mean I have to send it to X to get it approved so that Y can post it? … Never mind, I’ll just find that email that A sent me, I think that was the current version…”

Unicorn (via ffffound)

So, if bureaucracy was the problem, then the solution must be self-service, right? Enter the wiki. Now everyone can create their own content and make it available to others who can then edit and improve and contribute and then, in the magical land of unicorns and rainbows, we’ll have a dynamic and robust source of institutional knowledge and tribal wisdom and we’ll all live happily ever after….

Well, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen too many unicorns lately.

The great wiki experiment has had some notable successes (um, Wikipedia anyone?), but outside the realm of technologists and large organizations (who have lots of those technologists), I think the usefulness of wikis has peaked. If I want to share information with my friends, I use Twitter or Facebook. If I’m working collaboratively, I can use Google Docs (or perhaps Google Wave), or a variety of 37signals products. And, if I’m going to organize, coordinate, and communicate with a specific group of people, I’m going to use Wordpress.

Coming soon: From Wiki to Wordpress (why we’re making the switch)

As I talk with more people about my approach to building with or migrating their sites to a Wordpress+Thesis platform, I’m also trying to come up with a clear and concise definition of why I’ve chosen these tools and why they’re a great options for so many individuals, businesses, and organizations.

Here’s where I am so far…

Wordpress is a great platform because…

Even persons with relatively little technical skill can understand, create, and publish pages and posts. No coding experience required (although a little HTML/CSS/PHP wouldn’t hurt.)

It’s amazingly extensible with multiple plugins for almost any task you can think of.  Of course, it’s also annoying searching through all of those plugins to find one that does what you want it to do (only then to discover that the developer hasn’t worked on it for over a year…)

And, there’s a large, active, and growing population of users and developers who are willing to share their Wordpress knowledge and experience with the rest of us. (Thanks!)

Using Thesis is worth the premium because…

The code is clean, scalable, flexible, and SEO optimized. None of those characteristics are guaranteed if you’re using one of the many free themes out there. Sure, newbies may complain about the cost, and ninjas may want to roll their own for ultimate control, but for the rest of us,  it’s a no-brainer. Just buy Thesis.

It’s easy to customize. Most of the common options are available right there on the Wordpress dashboard. Want to show a certain page on your menu? Check a box. Want to add header or footer scripts? Just paste them into the header or footer box and save. Want to change a color? Pick one from the color box.  You’re not *required* to write code or FTP files.

Oh, and did I mention that all of those customization options are stored all in one place? As Joe Kraynak points out:

I soon discovered the idea behind Thesis. In most WordPress Themes, you have to edit multiple files to control the look and layout of your blog. These files are packed with codes and settings. If you make a bunch of changes, tracking down those changes later can be nearly impossible. With Thesis, the core theme files remain unchanged. You make all changes to two files: custom.css (for style changes) and custom_functions.php…

And again, there’s another large, active, and growing population of users and developers who are willing to share their Thesis + Wordpress knowledge and experience with the rest of us. (Thanks, again!)

What do you think? Are these characteristics relevant to you or your business? Too technical, not technical enough?

Photo by: altemark / cc 2.0

Now that I’ve talked about staying productive and sane at work when you’re feeling overwhelmed, I want to spend some time focusing on the technology aspects of this problem. Specifically, how you can use technology to make your life easier (not harder!).

The blessing (and curse) of technology

Technology enables us to consume vaster and vaster quantities of information at an ever-increasing pace. We no longer rely on the local newspaper or the national networks to provide us with our news – now we can cobble together our own 24 hr news stream. We can reach beyond our neighborhood, our family, and our workplace to form communities with like-minded individuals all over the world. But when you’re feeling overwhelmed, the last thing you need is *more*.

You need less technology to make you feel more connected.

_{(Are you glimpsing a pattern here?)}

Start by cleaning house

Do you notice yourself automatically archiving or deleting messages (email, newsletters, RSS feeds) from certain people/organizations? Here’s a novel idea… stop archiving or deleting and start unsubscribing. Trust me. Spend 30 minutes to an hour and really clean out your email(s) and feed reader, you’ll be glad you did.

Now, do the same thing for Facebook. And Twitter. And LinkedIn. And your address book.

_{(If you’re feeling anxious about this, then back up your information. Trust me, that Facebook fan page for your favorite breakfast cereal will still be there when you come back.)}

Pare down your information stream so that everything you receive is something you want. Messages from your (real) friends. Discounts on stuff that you *want* to buy.

Use good tools.

Tools that are (often, but not always) single function, well designed, and easy to use. For me, this includes:

• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Chrome or Mozilla Firefox (for browsing)
• Keybreeze (app launcher)
• Notepad++ (for code-type stuff)
• DarkRoom (for writing)
• Flickr (for pictures)
• Pandora (for music)
• Pinboard (for bookmarking)
• Wordpress (for blogging/CMS/web development) + Thesis (premium theme for Wordpress)

Sure, I can write an article in Microsoft Word, but why would I when I can generate the same content in a distraction free environment (DarkRoom) in a file that’s 1/10th the size and readable by any word processing tool (.txt)? I’ve switched my online bookmarking from Delicious to Pinboard because now I can bookmark a page with one click.

Spend the time learning the tools and creating your custom toolkit, then let the rest go.

Where will you start today? Which technology “room” will get the clean sweep? What tools will fall out of (or go into) your streamlined toolkit?

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Photo by: anasantos / CC BY-ND 2.0

We all go through times in our lives where we’re just overwhelmed. We’re stressed and tired. We struggle to make decisions. We want to move forward, but just can’t seem to do so. Here are some lessons I’ve learned (and had reinforced over the past few months) to help get through these tough times.

Staying productive and sane at work

I am always amazed at how little “work” goes on at most companies throughout the day. Sure, you can fill up your daily quota of 8-10 hours on the job, but how much of that time was spent a) checking your email, b) chatting with co-workers, c) online surfing/shopping/banking, etc… None of these activities are inherently bad and, many times, they’re what make your work day enjoyable. However, when you feel like you only have 10% brainpower to apply today, do you really want to spend that on TPS reports?

My recommendation?

Do less work, better.

Can you reduce the volume or type of stuff that trickles down to you? Could you simplify your email inbox so that most of the messages are from people you want to hear from about topics you want to hear about? Could you delegate some tasks to an assistant / colleague / family member? What would happen if you just ignored it (at least for a little while)?

And, once you’ve managed to do *less* work, how can you do what remains even *better*? Can you think one or two steps beyond your task and consider it as it relates to the root problem? Or instead of participating in an email firestorm of single word/sentence/paragraph messages, can you take the time to stop, gather all of the data, summarize the issues and solutions, and then propose way forward?

What do you think? What steps will you take today to help you do less work, better?

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Image by weblog244 via Flickr

So long, 2009! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

I don’t know about you, but 2009 was a rough year for me and many of my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful that my family remained safe, healthy, and happy, that my hubby and I have (relatively) stable jobs to support us, that we have friends near and far to eat, drink, laugh, and cry with (and, more and more frequently, to have playdates with!), and that I’ve found such wonderful techie / startup /entrepreneurial / etc. communities to be involved with.

Now that I’ve finished the last of my 2009 holiday relaxing and recharging, I’m ready to get 2010 rolling!

Content coming soon (no, really!)

You  know how they say the best way to learn something is to teach it?

Well, starting this month I’ll be posting some of the “How-To” guides that I’ve created for my clients along with some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.  This could include:

• Do I need to have separate domain registration and hosting?
• Why should I use Wordpress instead of my (host’s free) site builder?
• Why do I need to buy hosting when I can use Wordpress.com for free?
• Claiming and naming your Facebook page.
• Why you should have a Twitter account, even if you aren’t sure that you’ll use it (a.k.a What’s that Twitter thing?)

What else would you like to see in 2010? What software jargon is buzzing around your office that you don’t understand but need/want to? Let me know!

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After surviving a morning presentation filled with short-sighted selfishness, aggression, and fear, I eagerly grasped at the kinder, more hopeful society described by Stowe Boyd.^*

_{*Who happens to be the most tweetable speaker I’ve ever heard. I think he actually speaks in 140 character sound bytes.}

Instead of taking the trash out of the economy (you know, like librarians. Or teachers.) and driving harder and harder for productivity gains, let’s look at the humans who have those jobs.

Let’s build villages instead of armies, businesses who thrive on a human (and humane) scale, and opportunities for people, individuals, to become a source of meaning and a lens through which to see the world.

Imagine if the people doing the work mattered at least as much as the work itself. What would your relationships, your work, the world look like if you felt the most free, most engaged, and most needed?

Other ideas included:

• We define ourselves through our relationships with others
• The rise of the real-time web is making small talk big again. People are listening for the earliest whispers of news, the information that is brand new, and now have many more opportunities to do so.
• All critical information that is relevant to you is, or will soon be, available. Search tools cannot and will not be sufficient to manage this torrent. Instead, your social connections will act as a filter. Your network will be an engine of meaning.
• People will continue to trade personal connectivity for connectedness.

For more information check out Stowe’s presentation, “10 Minute Sprint from 140 Characters Conference: Social Business“.

Photo by Graeme Thickins

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Keynoter Andy Kessler kicked off Defrag with a bang. I guess with a title like “Be Soylent, Eat People”, no one should have been surprised at his controversial talk.

He started with an interesting premise (and visual) that we need to boost productivity by “defragging” the economy – reducing waste, improving efficiencies, having people spend less time on busy work and more time on value add.

If he’d just stopped at that point, we would have had some interesting discussions, some pro/con chatter on the backchannels, and everyone would have gone on about their day.

But he didn’t stop there, instead he continued…

People are either creators (those who add value, making stuff)  or servers (everyone else) .

Okay…

For the lowest level servers, those who just move stuff from one place to another without providing value, we should automate those tasks or ship them overseas.

Well, okay, we have managed to add automation into many of these types of jobs already. Look at those huge robots in car plants or watch Unwrapped sometime.

Luxury goods companies (or pretty much any successfully branded companies) are also sucking the productivity potential dry because they’re charging way more for their products than they’re worth. (Example: Why buy a Rolex when you have a free clock on you iPhone.)

Yeah, totally disagree on this one. I mean, I’m not saying that a Rolex isn’t over-priced, but a) it’s definitely not the same as the clock on my iPhone and b) who determines that value? Where do consumers fit into this economic paradigm? Are you saying that the size of the economic pie is fixed – that if I spend my  money on a Rolex, I’m not going to spend somewhere else?

We can squeeze productivity out of the “Sponge” servers by removing the false limits on supply (i.e. licensing, education requirements, etc.)

Yippee. Let’s remove all licensing. I mean, if I want to be a doctor, I shouldn’t have to be falsely limited by a stupid medical degree, right? Who needs a reference librarian when we have Google? Teachers, smeechers, let’s just find our content online. (Yes, this is where the tweet-revolt really started heating up in earnest.)

But when it comes to Wall Street, yeah, they may be servers, but they’re critical to the economy because they “grease the gears” of capitalism. Without them, we wouldn’t have these great deals happening that are keeping the economy moving.

Excuse me? School teachers don’t add value, but the Wall Street guys are critical to capitalism? Mega company mergers keep the economy moving? (Yeah, this was one of *my* hot buttons.)

Finally, if we could just tap into that final reservoir of productivity that exists in the band of “thieves”, those industries and businesses with a government mandated reason for existence (cable, utilities, telephone, etc.)…

Ok, the cable company is not a shining example of efficiency. Nor is the telephone company, or my wireless provider, but many of these regulated monopolies were created and are sustained for the public good. I may not like my phone provider, but I can make a phone call to almost anywhere in the world. Would that have happened without government involvement? Yes, there probably are some OSHA requirements that are ridiculous, but how many lives have been saved or injuries prevented because of those same requirements.

Like many other Defrag attendees, I didn’t agree with most of Andy’s talk. Even if we were able to implement some of his suggested changes, what would we now do with those people who are out of work? Are we turning janitors into Google founders? What if the highest and best use of your time is being a waiter? Should your job be automated so you can do something “more productive”, like compose music?

But even with the fundamental philosophical disagreements, I actually gave Andy good marks for his keynote. He was entertaining and memorable. He provoked discussion (which has continued even through today). He brought people together (through their dislike of his topic, but still.)  I’d take another Andy Kessler talk over a sleepy PowerPoint product pitch any day.

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Photo by Doc Searles / CC BY-SA 2.0

Image via Wikipedia

When you hang out around geeks, it seems like everyone’s on Twitter, has a Facebook page, or an iPhone app, or is working on some other sort of really cool and bleeding edge technology, but then you realize – these people are not the norm.

For every Twitter DM or Facebook Wall post I receive, I get at least two or three “aww, look at these cute animals/babies/baby animals, and here’s an inspirational poem/prayer for you in multi-colored comic sans font” email messages.  And, for every slick website I see for a hot startup, I run across a neighborhood restaurant or community center with an abysmal site (or no site at all).  I might not be able to kill the baby animal chain mail, but maybe I can help those folks with the awful (or non-existent) websites.

Here’s how you can build a dynamic site for your business in three simple steps:

1. Register a domain name.

I use 1&1, but GoDaddy is also an economical choice. When selecting a name, remember that a .com domain that matches your actual business name is best. Although many techies argue that a .com extension isn’t that important anymore (because people will just Google your business to find the domain), they’re talking about a much more sophisticated audience than the typical user.  Unless you have a tech-savvy primary audience, stick with a name you can pronounce and spell, that’s not too long, and that ends in .com

2. Create an email address with that domain name.

…and forward it to an email account that you actually use.* This is an easy way to instantly add some credibility to your business. Who would you rather buy from: craftyguy45@hotmail.com or Adam@CabinetsbyAdam.com? If you can’t take 5 minutes to get a professional email address, I’m not sure I want to trust you with my business.

_{*Gmail makes this really easy. Check out this Lifehacker article for more info.}

3. Send an email (from your new email account) to post@posterous.com

I know, I know… I wrote a few months ago about how I preferred Tumblr to Posterous, but here I am recommending Posterous. Why? Well, because if you can use email, you can use Posterous. Audio, video, text, links – just email them into your Posterous account and now you have a dynamic site for your business. Change your menu? Send an email. Running a special? Send an email. Have photos from your latest event? Send an email.

So for those of you out there with the website from hell, no more excuses. Take 15 minutes and change your world. What are you waiting for?

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