Social Media Could Drive You Out of Business

entrepreneur: en·tre·pre·neur: ?ä?n-tr?-p(r)?-?n?r, -?n(y)u?r noun : one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise (According to Merriam-Webster)

In my not-so-humble opinion the picture of an entrepreneur is at the top of the page, with one teeny tiny, itsy bitsy exception: THE JUGGLER HAS TRAINED RIGOROUSLY, ARDUOUSLY AND IN A FOCUSED MANNER FOR YEARS to perfect the trade before he jumps on stage.

We entrepreneurs, afflicted with “restless mind syndrome“…

WARNING: documented causes of “Restless Mind Syndrome” or RMS (not to be confused with PMS even though the symptoms may appear the same) include:

• Excessive exposure to bosses who can’t spell their own names let alone run a company.

• Getting laid off 3 times in 2 years (twice on your birthday).

• Being forced to sell a product that is not ready for prime time “or elses” (the written threat from the boss that can’t spell).

• Verbal abuse from the boss that can’t spell.

• Being forced to travel on Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day and skip an annual retreat all in the same year.

(This was a Public Service Announcement from your local Sales Whisperer. If you notice an excessive amount of any of the causes listed above or those not named please contact your nearest Sales Whisperer before it is too late. We now return you to the letter already in progress.)

…just hop right in to start our own ventures because we get fed up with the inefficiencies, the lack of respect, the lure of more money and control over our lives. But more times than not we’re not really prepared for life and business on our own.

This happens because Entrepreneurs are doers. We don’t read the manuals. That’s what “managers” and “technicians” are for. We get things done! We’re the dreamers. The big picture people. The visionaries. (The losers of sleep and gainers of much anxiety but we’re getting things done!)

We often wish we had read the manual but where do we get that “How To Succeed at Entrepreneurship: The Starter’s Guide?” It’s primarily trial by fire and/or learning from those that went before you.

Look at the “manual” the SBA provides. WARNING: DO NOT GO TO THEIR WEBSITE if you operate heavy machinery as it may cause drowsiness, shortness of breath, dizzy spells and light-headedness.

For “starters” the SBA website has a Small Business Planner section with a nice, neat, tidy, concise 4 step, 31 part, 522 subsection guide on their homepage to help you “Manage your business from start to finish.”

JIMINY CHRISTMAS! I made it through 5 years of college and two degrees without reading that much content and writing as many reports as the SBA recommends!

And this is supposed to be our Guru-on-the-mountain-top, tax-funded source of “programs and services to help you start, grow and succeed?”

But wait. There’s more!

To show you just how thorough the good ol’ SBA is, they’ll help you fail! (Not even I can make this stuff up. If I’m lying I’m dying!) According to Step 4, Part 30 they even help you file for bankruptcy! How’s that for leaving no stone unturned? I just love an advisor that can help me plan for both success AND failure at the same time.

I’m amazed that this program EVER worked for more than 1 person out of 8 million but I’m sure it did help someone launch a business. Just not me. And probably not you. But even if it did how well did it prepare you for today’s economy in the age of disruption and attention deficit disorder?

You and I both know the typical dreamer, go-to-gal, doer, mover, shaker, producer, go-to-guy is not ever, not once, not even close gonna even visit the SBA website let alone read all the way down to Step 4 with its 31 glorious parts.

And we sure as heck aren’t going to write a business plan with its 87 pages, 187 footnotes, 45 charts, a table of contents and an appendix along with a 5 year earnings projection and ROI calculations. (How’s that forecasting working out for you on that business plan you created back in October 2008, huh?)

Today, the entrepreneur is either catapulted to her zenith or to her death by an extension of Moore’s law, a 51 year old discovery first documented by Gorden E. Moore, the co-founder of Intel. Moore observed that the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit since its invention in 1958 increases exponentially and doubles every 18-24 months. Doesn’t it feel like your “To-Do” list and your “Still-To-Do” list and your “When-Will-It-Ever-Get-Done” list doubles every 18-24 months?

How often do you think that Moore’s law applies to the quantity and severity of critical issues you must manage, navigate and juggle just to keep that entrepreneurial spirit with no user’s manual alive? Today sales may be down, haggling over your prices is up, deals are delayed and when they do come in they are cut in size and your customer still wants extended terms and delayed payments. Your salespeople are whining about not having leads and you know you need to do more to advertise and market but that’s just another manual you’ve haven’t read and another To Do to add to your list.

Now you throw this whole “social media thingy” into the mix that your kids insist you gotta do and you notice it’s all your employees are doing so you join and VOILA! 100 people want you to join “Mafia Wars” and they want to know when your birthday is and who your relatives are and what your favorite TV show, movies, books and food are! Wow. You had no idea you were so popular, did ya?

Then some uber-happy-appearing person in Oshkosh, Wisconsin wants to “follow you” using some strange electronic shorthand and a co-worker from 1987 (who you think got fired for stealing toilet paper from the office) wants you to give him a glowing recommendation on another website for all the world to see!

Whew! After hacking around 6 different sites an average of 6 hours a day for 6 weeks listening to your computer bleep and whistle and snort at you in order to remind you that “@no_real_life is going to have a cheese sandwich and take a nap” it takes every joule of willpower to keep from throwing your computer into the aquarium…while it’s still plugged in…and attached to the person that first told you to “get into social marketing to grow your business!!”

As the inestimable Randy Jackson of “American Idol” fame would say, “I feel ya, Dawg. I feel ya. It takes some mad talent to make it to the top. But you got it. You do. Don’t give up. Keep working at it. The competition is tough, which is why you gotta bring it strong day after day after day, Dawg! .“

Social Media and leveraging the power of Social Marketing is a must for the business that wants to stay ahead of the competition. However, like any new medium and skill, there are tips and tricks and techniques that must be mastered if you are to control it. Otherwise, it will consume and control you either through wasting time trying to figure it out on your own or by losing to those that already have figured it out.

If you’d like the “Owner’s Manual to Mastering Inbound Marketing” you will want to see if I have any openings in my Private Coaching.

Either way, congratulations on possessing the spirit that made this country great and know that you are not alone.

Know that failure is not a person, it is an event.

Know that now is the time to do what your competition is either unwilling or unable to do and it will pay off for you sooner rather than later.

Know that you deserve success and you deserve the best. Know that making money is not dirty or evil or anything to be ashamed of.

Know that God really and truly only gives you what you can handle.

And remember, Life is good. It’s gooder when you’re selling.