I love the moxie of a small company in a small town in Northern California who looks at a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and says “Yeah…we can fix that.”

That’s exactly what Mobius Technologies, of Lincoln, CA, has done, and they didn’t stop there.  When Mobius realized that it was going to take too long to get through the bureaucracy and red tape required to get their product approved for use in the cleanup, they set about using social media tools like YouTube and Facebook to recruit a volunteer army and encouraged them to spread the message.

And while I think the powers that be at Mobius Technologies are making a huge mistake by not engaging with bloggers to help them spread their message (it seems they don’t consider bloggers to be “true” media outlets), I can’t argue with the results they’re getting.  Have a look at this video from the local ABC affiliate in Sacramento.

Mobius is starting to get some traction, and I applaud the work they’re doing.  More than that, though, I applaud the way they’re going about it.  Here are some valuable lessons other small business owners and entrepreneurs can learn from the example of Mobius Technologies:

The kind of ingenuity and innovation Mobius Technologies is demonstrating is impressive.  They’re a great example of how vision and determination can lead a small business to the forefront of an effort to solve a global problem.

It’s examples like this that make me believe the future is bright for small businesses, especially the ones who can bring an “A game” like the one Mobius Technologies is playing.  Congratulations, guys!

I was having a conversation via Skype with my cousin Ed, an entrepreneur who runs Natural Merchants, an importer of organic foods and wines from Europe to the USA.  He lives in Spain.  It was 1:00 AM for me on a day that had started at 6:00 AM, and 10:00 AM for him on a day that had started at 5:00 AM and would end around midnight.

Ed is just getting into using social media to expand his customer base (if you like organic European wine and foods, you should become a fan of their page on Facebook), and we were chatting about some of the tools he could use to make his life a little easier as a social media newbie.  The conversation came around to the same question it always does: where am I going to find the time?

And we agreed on the answer: if you want to add to the mix of what you’re doing, something else is going to suffer.  This goes back to the discussion about work/life balance from a couple of weeks ago.  Remember: there is no such thing.  Building or growing a business means extra work, and extra work means you won’t have time for something else.

That’s not a bad thing; it just is.  Accept it as a fact and move on to deciding what you’re willing to sacrifice to squeeze in that extra work.  If you’re not willing to sacrifice anything, forget about committing to the additional work.  You can’t do both, at least not with our current understanding of space/time.

For me, I’ve decided to shave an hour or so off my sleep routine.  This has a cumulative cost, and I know that every couple of weeks I’m going to have a morning where I sleep in a few extra hours.  I shoot for Sunday, but it doesn’t always work out that way.  I fought it for a long time, and suffered as a result of my stubbornness.  Since I learned to just roll with it, I got rid of the guilt and made my life that much easier.

And I think that’s part of the answer, too.  Whatever you decide to do, you’ve got to arrange things so that you don’t feel guilty about what you’re doing.  If you’re working late on a new product and feeling guilty the entire time because you had to miss your kid’s soccer game, are you really going to be performing at your peak potential?  Probably not, so don’t so that to yourself.  It’s a recipe for disaster.

Communication is key.  You need to let the people around you know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how long you plan to be doing it for.  If your loved ones know what to expect, it’s less likely that there will be drama to undermine your efforts.  Everyone involved should be in agreement about the rules of engagement, and you should do your best to live within those rules, so define them carefully.

When you commit to your entrepreneurial dream, you need to be ready for some changes.  Don’t operate under the illusion that everything in your life will be the same as you try to build your business.  Rarely does that happen.  The good news is that if you’re prepared for the changes, they’ll be easier to deal with.

And don’t worry too much about losing a little sleep.  Sleep is overrated, anyways, and you’ll have plenty of time to catch up on your rest when you’ve created the business of your dreams.  In the meantime, be ready for some hard work, and a whole lot of fun, too.

One of the biggest challenges I face as a budding entrepreneur is what to do when I get stuck on a project.  I know I’m not alone; in fact, this post was inspired by a friend on Facebook who is one of those wacky serial entrepreneurs you’ve read about (thanks for the idea, Travis).  It was nice to find out I wasn’t the only one who gets in this mode from time to time.

The question remains, though: what should you do when you get stuck?  Is it better to muscle through in an attempt to get to the other side?  Or are you better off just giving in to the “stuck”-ness and switching gears to a different task?  Or should you, as my friend Joel D Canfield says you sometimes should, just call it a day and head for the beach?

The answer, of course, is that there’s no one right answer.  That said, here’s what I do: I meditate.  Rather than make a decision when I’m feeling frustrated by a lack of progress or productivity, I’ll consciously make an effort to step away from the project for a set period of time, say 15 or 30 minutes.  During that time, I might push my chair back, close my eyes, and let my mind wander; or I might take a brisk walk and take in the scenery (this is especially effective on perfect spring days like the one we had today in Sacramento).

Whatever I do, I purposely let go of any thoughts of the project I was stuck on and just take some time to enjoy being (thanks to Paul Coltharp for reminding us of that one).  You’d be amazed at how powerful this little exercise can be.  Sometimes I return to the project with a fresh outlook and manage to get past the place where I was stuck; other times, I realize I’m not going to get anywhere right then and I pick up something else to work on and leave the current project for later.  Either way, it beats staring at a blank computer screen and waiting for something to happen.

The power of this technique lies in its simplicity.  If you really want to get past the place where you’re stuck, sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and let go.  Trust me, the problem will still be there to solve when you get back; you however, might have changed just enough to be able to solve it more effectively.

This past week, I’ve been re-reading Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau and contemplating why I’m so drawn to Thoreau’s message of non-conformity.  It all began to make sense to me when I got this Copyblogger article by Sonia Simone in my email last Thursday.

The post basically said that in order to be a successful entrepreneur you have to be a little nuts.  You have to be willing to step outside the realm of what others, particularly your “normal” friends and family, consider to be right for you.  Taking the plunge and trying to create a great business that supports your lifestyle is risky, and it’s hard to conform to what the herd is doing and take risks at the same time.

Sonia’s article was a big deal for me; I had a pretty strong emotional reaction to it.  You see, I’ve been struggling for the past several years to create what I consider to be my dream business, and I haven’t had the kind of success I’ve wanted so far.  As you can imagine, that’s been pretty frustrating.  I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what it is that I’m doing wrong and why things aren’t working the way I think they should be.

As I was reading the article, I realized what I’ve been doing wrong: I’ve been trying to build my business based on other people’s ideas of what was “normal”.  I’ve been taking the advice of well-meaning friends and family and putting it into practice in my business.  I’ve been obsessed with the idea of “credibility” and whether or not I have it.  I’ve worried about what other people might be think of the things I write here and elsewhere.

And all the while I’ve been suppressing my inner punk-rocker.

Now I’m not saying that I suddenly feel the urge to go out and get a mohawk (or even a faux-hawk) and pierce my body in weird places; I’m still pretty conservative when it comes to my appearance.  I even wear a tie to work (which fact makes me a bit of a non-conformist, I know, but in a way I’m comfortable with).  What it means is that I’ve got a rebel inside that needs to be allowed to come out and play.  The rebel is the part of me with all the pent-up creativity and drive waiting to be expressed.  I’ve seen glimpses of his genius when I’m desperate and don’t know what to do; it’s at time like those that I let him out to save the day.  What I need, though, is to let him out on a full-time basis.

This is tough for me.  For the past two decades, I’ve become a master of keeping the rebel under lock and key.  I see now the damage that’s been doing to my business life; I’ve been stifling the part of me that has the best ability to get things done.

So I guess it’s time to get out of my own way and give the rebel free-reign to get things done.  I’m sure there are going to be some bumps in the road ahead, but I’m excited to see where this new leader takes me.

What parts of your personality have you been suppressing in an effort to appear “normal” to the people around you?  Do you see where that might be holding you back from achieving greatness?  If so, it might be time to let that cat out of the bag.

What’s the worst that could happen?

OK.  I admit it.  I’m a huge fan of American Idol.  I haven’t missed an episode since Season 3, and it’s not likely I’ll lose interest anytime soon. I don’t care what anyone says: it’s just great entertainment.  And since it’s (finally!) Idol season, I thought I’d share three business lessons I’ve learned from AI over the years.

#1: Know who you are

One of the things we’ve heard over and over from the judges is “you need to figure out who you really are”.  In other words, the contestants need to be able to take someone else’s music and sing it like it was their own, to give it their own unique brand.  And there’s business lesson #1.

I don’t know what business you’re in, but I’d be willing to bet that the product or service you sell is available somewhere else at a lower price.  That’s OK; a lot of bands make a great living playing covers.  But every now and then, along comes a singer or a band who can make a cover sound like an original.

Think of what Whitney Houston did for the Dolly Parton song “I Will Always Love You”.  Dolly wrote a fantastic song, and so long as she was the only one singing it, everyone knew that.  The second Whitney’s version hit the airwaves, though, it was “Dolly who?”  Whitney made the song her own, and every person who sings it from now to the end of time will be compared to Whitney, not Dolly.

So here’s the question: what can you do to make whatever product or service you sell, no matter how long it’s been around or how commoditized it is, your own?  How can you make sure that when customers think of your product, they think of you?  How can you create a situation where you are the industry standard by which all other suppliers are judged?

#2: If you’ve got it, flaunt it

Another common criticism from the judges is “You sang that well, but I felt like you were holding back.”  The most common cause?  Lack of confidence on the part of the performer.  They allow their fear of failure to hold them back.  They don’t take risks, and as a result their performances are a little bland.

Then along comes a performer like Adam Lambert, and things get interesting again.  Adam did things with familiar songs that no one on the Idol stage had ever dreamed of doing before.  He dressed like a glam-rocker from outer space, went for impossible notes without any hesitation, and owned the stage.  You couldn’t take your eyes off him, and every week you wondered what kind of magic he was going to do.

So here’s your homework assignment: What risks have you avoided taking because of your fear of failure?  If you weren’t stuck in fear, what would you do differently that would set you apart from the crowd?  What makes you outrageous?

When you figure it out, go do it.

#3: At the end of the day, it’s not just about how well you sing

The judges are always quick to remind the performers that Idol is ultimately a singing competition, but I think Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, and Adam Lambert might disagree.  All three lost out to performers who are nowhere near as talented as they are, while performers like Sanjaya Malakar and Jasmine Trias survived on the show much longer than their talent warranted.

The same is true in your business: being the best at what you do doesn’t always mean you’re going to be on top.  Business is, ultimately, a popularity contest.  Don’t be mad about that, and don’t try to fight it.  It is what it is.  Just realize that you’ve got a decision to make.

If you want to get the most votes (make the most money, sell the most product, beat the competition), you have to give the voters (customers) what they want.  Remember, though, that the voters are fickle: what they say they want isn’t always what they really want and what they really wanted last week is entirely different than what they want this week and in a different universe than what they’ll probably want next week.  Confused?  Get used to it.  If you decide you’re going after the popular vote, this will be your job: figuring out what to sell to people who have no idea what they really want.

Of course, the other option (and the one I’d encourage) is to just do what you love and be really great at it, no matter what the majority might think.  You run the risk of alienating some of the voters, but the ones who like you and like what you do will stick by you (again, just ask Daughtry, Hudson and Lambert, who’ve sold millions of albums in spite of “losing” on the Idol stage).

There are many other business lessons AI has taught me, but these are my top 3.  What business lessons has American Idol taught you?

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I know this is really late, but I wanted to let you know that the winner of last week’s Social Media Fable Pick-a-Moral contest is Jim Keenan, who said that the moral of the fable was “Act online as you would offline. Being social is being social no matter where you are. It’s still about people.”  (I know, that’s technically three morals, but all three were really good!)

Congratulations, Jim!  If you’ll direct message your mailing address to me on Twitter (@jerrykennedy), I’ll get your autographed copy of “Motivation 101″ sent out right away.

Thanks to everyone who contributed a moral…all of them were great!

You’ve probably heard before that, in order to really have success in business, you need a written business plan.  Trouble is, most small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t take the time to create one.  They see it as something that’s only important if you’re looking for a loan or trying to raise venture capital.  That’s a fatal mistake in many businesses.

I recently co-authored a free report called 6 Mistakes That Could Destroy Your Business - And How You Can Avoid Them (206).  Please click on the link to get your copy now.  And don’t worry: there are no strings attached. 

I hope you enjoy the report and, more importantly, I hope you take some action on it.  Just like you can’t build a sturdy house without a well-drawn blueprint, you can’t build a successful business without a well-thought out, written business plan!

In the last post, we talked about the importance of being a humble HERO.  Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to observe the effects of humility in your sales day.  So let’s move on to the next characteristic on the list of HERO traits: ethical behavior.

Should we call out the Myth Busters or the folks at Coast to Coast AM?  After all, there’s no such thing as an ethical salesperson, right?  Wouldn’t you expect to see something like that in the same room as Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster?  Strange as it might sound, I want to assure you that there are, in fact, a lot of ethical salespeople out there; we’re doing our best to make sure there are many more.

How can I say that, though, when most of us have been manipulated by a salesperson into buying something we didn’t really want or need, followed almost immediately by feelings of “buyer’s remorse”?  What about all of the people feeling this pain right now as they see their mortgage payments double, all because an unethical mortgage salesperson talked them into buying a product that really wasn’t right for them?  Unfortunate as these encounters are, I’d like to think they are the exception, not the rule.  They just happen to stick in our memories for a lot longer than the good experiences we’ve had.  So how can you be sure you are an ethical salesperson, a true HERO of the economy?

First, understand that being ethical means doing the right thing for your customer, always.  No questions, no hesitation.  You just do the right thing.  This can be difficult at times, especially when the right thing to do is to not sell your product to the customer in front of you.  Being ethical means having the courage to say “You know, I really don’t think this a good fit for your situation” and to refer them to someone else, even a competitor, who can help.  The reward, though, is immense.  Not only will you sleep better at night, you’ll probably also get great referral business from that person.

Second, you have to remember that, contrary to popular belief, ethics are not situational.  Your ethics are decided upon by you ahead of time, and you stick by them under all circumstances and conditions.  There are, of course, going to be times when someone points out a flaw in your reasoning and you make an adjustment in your beliefs; that’s called flexibility and it makes you a better business person.  For the most part, though, your ethics are going to be pretty solid.  They have to be.

This is why having a mission statement for your business is a good idea.  Your mission statement is the constitution for your business.  It is the law that you abide by, whether you like it in a particular situation or not.  If you haven’t already taken the time to create a mission statement for your business, do it now.  While you’re at it, create one for your personal life, as well.  You won’t believe the power this one simple act will produce.  This will become the code you’ll abide by from here forward.

If you want to really be a HERO of the economy, just operate by one simple rule: always do what’s best for your customer.   If you can adopt that simple code of ethics, you will be part of the solution.

After reading yesterday’s post, “What Is HERO Selling?“, my friend Skip Anderson asked the question, “Why is being humble important?”  That’s a great question, and I’ll attempt to provide a satisfactory answer in today’s post.  After you read it, let me know what you think by leaving your comments below.

One of the first things you’ll notice when you deal with a HERO salesperson is that he or she is humble.  Actually, you won’t so much notice the humility as you will notice the lack of it’s opposite: arrogance.  While many of the salespeople you are used to dealing with are, for the most part, arrogant know-it-alls, the HERO is noticeably different.  How, though, is being  humble an advantage in your sales career?

Well, think about that arrogant salesperson for a moment.  How do you, as a consumer, feel when someone shows up at your door to show you a “better way” of doing things using their product or service, then implies that if you don’t buy TODAY, you’re an idiot?  It puts you off a little, doesn’t it?  After all, you were doing just fine before this so-and-so showed up, and you’re pretty sure you’ll continue to do okay without him and his widget.  So then, here’s the question: how do your customers feel when you insist that your product or service is a “better way” of doing things in their business?

You get the point.  Implying, let alone saying outright, that you know better than your customer is a sure-fire way to get their hackles up.  This isn’t to say that your product or service isn’t a better solution for the customer’s need.  You just can’t say that it is.  You have to lead your prospects to arrive at that conclusion on their own.  How do you, the HERO, do that?

Easy: you ask.  That’s right: if you want to demonstrate that you are humble, just ask a lot of questions.  Asking questions demonstrates to your prospect or customer that you trust them to know how to run their business and that you acknowledge that you’ve got something to learn from them.  Let them do the instructing and you take the role of student.  How does this help you sell your product?

By allowing your customer to do the talking, you are going to learn a great deal about them and their business.  You’ll learn what they like and dislike.  You’ll learn about what other solutions they’ve tried in the past, as well as why they are currently using the product they are.  You’ll learn what they like about that product, as well as what they’d like to see improved.  All of that information is what you’ll then use to build a solution that truly fits the prospect’s need.

Does this approach involve more work than trying to “pitch” your pre-packaged solution?  You bet it does!  Then again, nobody said being a HERO was going to be easy!

Simply stated, HERO Selling requires the salesperson to be Humble, Ethical, Responsible and Optimistic.  I know that’s not the way most people are used to thinking of those in sales, but my mission is to make a believer of you.

You see, the reason you don’t think HERO is an accurate description of a salesperson is that precious few salespeople actually behave that way on a consistent basis.  But here’s a secret: the best ones do!! In fact, you’ve probably encountered many of these HEROs and weren’t even aware that you were being sold to.  Truth be told, you weren’t actually being sold to, at least not in the sense that the word has come to mean (i.e. being coerced to buy something against your will).  The HERO wasn’t selling so much as he or she was making it comfortable for you to buy.  And that, my friends, is the key to being a HERO.

More than anything, what the economy needs right now is for more people to feel comfortable buying again.  At the moment, people in general are very reluctant to part with any of their money out of fear for the day when they won’t have anymore to spend.  What happens if this trend continues? More shrinkage, more cutbacks, and even more bad news. What the world needs now is consumers, and it’s up to the salespeople of the world to gently coax them out of their shells.

Does this mean that I think salespeople should be trying to convince people to buy things they don’t need or can’t afford?  No.  All we have to do is look at the mortgage crisis to see where that kind of behavior leads.  What I do mean is that we, the salespeople of the world, have to make it OK for people to buy the things they do want, need and can afford.  And we need to do it now!

So, are you ready to embark on our HEROic mission?  Great!  I’m glad to have you along.  Over the next few days, we’ll analyze each characteristic of the HERO salesperson.  As we do, think about how these principles can be applied in your business, starting right now!  When we’re done with that, I’ll be asking for your help in a special campaign for the launch of a new website all about HERO Selling and the people who make it possible: YOU.

Whenever I have the chance to speak to groups, I always start by asking the following question: “Who loves salespeople?” You might be surprised to find (or maybe you won’t be) that I’m often the only person in the room with my hand raised. This has even happened when I’m speaking to groups composed entirely of salespeople! Why is that the case?

For the most part, people really, really hate to be sold to. Think of the last time someone tried to sell something to you; did you enjoy the experience? Even if you were there specifically to buy something, the answer is probably “No”. There is just something about being sold to that sets off a defensive reaction. We feel that if we’re not careful, we’re going to be taken advantage of. Salespeople, on the whole, have a nasty reputation. That said, you might find what I’m about to say a little offensive: no matter what you do, you are in sales, or at the very least, sales adjacent!

That’s right: no matter what line of work you are in, if you provide a product or a service that other people pay you for, you are either in sales or a sales support role. Bottom line. No arguments to the contrary will be accepted. Selling is the primary function of business. Think about it: if you don’t sell anything, can you really say you’re in business?

So we’ve got a bit of a dilemma: no one, including you, likes to be sold to; at the same time, without sales you have no business. How can you reconcile this quandary? That’s where HERO Selling comes in. You see, the reason no one likes to be sold to and that everyone hates salespeople is simple: many “traditional” selling methods (and the salespeople who still use them) are offensive, brutish and outdated. You know the routine:

                             “What can I do to make sure you drive out of here in this car…TODAY?”
                              “If price weren’t an issue, would you buy…TODAY?”
                              “How many of these widgets would you like to order…TODAY?”

Just hearing the questions makes you cringe, right? You automatically feel hemmed in, backed into a corner and defensive. So why do people still use these tactics? Simply stated, they just don’t know any better. Their managers are so busy pushing for “results” that they never bother to teach them how to treat people.

So what can you do to be different? How can you make sure that you (or the salespeople who work for you or with you) don’t heap this kind of abuse on your prospects and customers? You can become a HERO!  What’s a HERO, you ask? Stay tuned for more…