My 12-Month Social Media for Solo Professional Service Firm Experience
December 13, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
RedShift:12-Month Social Media Experience
I realized that its been exactly 12 months since I decided to get involved with social media. I’d already been blogging for a number years, but prior social media experiments were disappointing. Its good that I gave it another chance.
There’s so much out there about how to use social media for professional and business benefit. It can be daunting to find the right information that you can relate to if you’re a small business or professional service provider just getting started. That’s why I wanted to present my experience as a story and a picture. I didn’t follow a plan; I just dove in.
The experiential, test and learn approach worked great for me and it was right that I waited until the social networking applications allowed users full control. If I made a mistake, or changed my mind, it was easy to edit or delete. I needed that.
I didn’t have a plan beyond wanting to connect with people and bring my content to a higher level, and I think that was a good thing. I developed my own social media models and tools as I learned and gained experience. The more I learned, on my own and from others that I connected with, the more clear I got about where I was going with social media and how it integrated with my my business. It was an iterative, not linear, progression. That’s typical for me, but that’s me. Success in social medial looks and feels different for everyone and there’s nothing wrong with figuring out what’s most valuable to you as you work with it.
My only strong recommendation is to not get bogged down in a lot of advance research or planning, or wanting to be like others. That’s because of the sheer volume of information out there and the huge numbers of people involved. Just start. You’ll figure it out as you go along.
I think that iterative processes and learning are better expressed in visuals and I’m hoping readers will relate to some of my activities and milestones in the diagram and hopefully can imagine their own. I’ve tried to illustrate how my social media experience for a small professional service firm is an ongoing, fluid work in process.
I’m pleased that I’ve built a good foundation and platform for growth, have new relationships with excellent people, and have expanded my personal and professional influence. The biggest return at this point is the content I’ve developed and integrated through repeatedly expressing my ideas, insights, beliefs and observations for my small, high quality and growing community.
The only cost was my time and its been well spent. In fact, after only 12 months, my social media experiment has morphed into my most important small business system. Its become the cornerstone of my intellectual and social capital development and hopefully, in the near future, a driver of increased awareness of my brand by people who need what I offer.
For small businesses and professional service providers in the connected and conceptual world, social media can definitely add to the Value of You!.
RedShift News for Subscribers
December 11, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
Thanks subscribers! I hope you’ve been enjoying my monthly newsletters. Unfortunately, Zookoda, my email/blog service is shutting down Jan. 1 so this will be the final edition in this format. I have another email service through Feedburner that I’ve moved my subscriber list to. The difference is that every blog post will be emailed; but the privacy and security is the same, or better, and you can unsubscribe with a single click. Generally, I post once a week. I hope you’ll like the change and and will recommend it to others.
The other change I’d like to mention is my fee structure for my consulting and creative programs. I’ve made my fees more fluid and flexible and write about that in a post that follows called Alignment Pricing.
Many of you are local and I hope to see you over the holidays. Community, both local and online, is the gift I’m most thankful for this year because it provides so much support and connection in times of extreme change. I appreciate each and every one of you and value your precious attention. I hope your holidays are peaceful and joyful. - mary
Alignment Pricing Your Professional Services - Its a Conversation, not a Proposal
December 9, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
I’m playing around with my business right now. Its one of the great things about being an independent and an entrepreneur. You can try things.
This week an impulse to do something innovative with my fees just took hold. Granted, I’m interested in shifts to buyer power and business models like VRM that have sprung forth from that shift. But it just felt really important to take action as long as what I did passed my basic criteria that it be integral, that is:
- good for me and my business
- good for my clients
- good for my community
- some kind of greater good
I just feel so strongly that a lot of people need my help and I want to make it easier for them to get it and for me to give it. Its as simple as that; in fact it always has been but our resistance gets in the way of what’s easy and simple and creative.
Since the dawn of professional services we’ve made setting fees difficult and complex because we’re attached to and identified with a lot of beliefs and assumptions about them and the clients who pay them. I’ve decided to not believe, assume or expect that anymore. As a result of that shift, I’ve published “suggested fees” for my programs and will encourage anyone who has concerns or issues with the fees to converse simply and openly and honestly with me to align our:
- intentions
- readiness
- perceptions of value
- desires
In so many ways, personal, professional and social, we’re starting things over and we’re in it together. That’s why I want aligned partnerships, based on trust and focused on new direction and positive change. So I’ve decided to be that partner and give the fees space. They’ll find their natural level and I’ll have more time to play, dream and innovate.
Differentiate Your Professional Service Practice
December 4, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
Photo credit: Wessex Archaeology's photostream (coastal and marine set) on Flickr
I get asked over and over by some people about what kind of coaching and consulting I do. They seem to have a preconceived notion, or perception of it and then attempt to reconcile my explanation to somehow fit their worldview. Sometimes I can’t figure out if they’re curious and trying and wanting to understand, or just not listening.
But now I’m realizing that people are pulled out of their comfort level when they’re in the depths, and the depths is my space.
I work with people at the level of often hidden assumptions, expectations and beliefs. In organizations, its collections of those - the culture. I use metaphysical metaphors to support the change facilitation process. I shouldn’t be surprised that people want to stick their toe in the water many times before they risk getting a touch of the bends.
I’m blogging this because I’m getting a sense that there’s a growing desire, or movement, or response to series of crises, to go deeper: in life, business and self-awareness. I think its a great sign that people and businesses are showing willingness and readiness to move beyond the surface of their experience, and with a leap in faith, take the plunge into what’s deep and unknown…that with which we identify but which contradicts what we want and where we want to go.
I don’t believe that “going deep” is only within the realm of professionals who focus on “people” issues. Accountants, consultants, health professionals, lawyers, technology professionals, etc, can practice recognizing opportunities to serve clients at a deeper level. It starts with allowing more space for conversation and sharing, being present without an agenda, and being willing to think differently about everything we and our clients think we know.
Uncertainty is the new reality for our clients. We can help them make it their pivot point of power from which they can create and direct their change and growth, if we dare to be different.
The value of You!
November 24, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
RedShift: The New ROI-Of You
If everything you read or hear about money and finance contradicts your present experience, what you want and where you’re going, why look or listen? Think about it: do you want the so-called “experts” to determine your worth?
You may protest, saying you have $100 in the bank and owe $20,000, so you know you’re toast. Really? By what criteria? Most of the financial valuation criteria was designed for a world economy that bears little resemblance to the present, and maybe none to the near future.
So perhaps:
You’ve heavily invested in your physical well-being that will likely prolong your life for 20 years. Is that not a high-yield investment?
You’ve created a global micro-branded business that is not generating much revenue. What about the many intangible assets that can be amortized? How much? How long?
You’re beginning your encore career and are concerned with making yourself and the world better. How do you value your present and future impact? On how many lives? For how many generations even after you’re gone?
You’re sticking out, for 8 more years, a job you despise to meet your financial goals. How do you value what you really owe for that 8 years, or beyond?
The probable scenarios are countless. What does yours look like?
Remove your attention from the 100% negative financial reporting and boldly claim and create the value of you. Its not a fantasy. Its creative authority. Perhaps your -$19,900 negative worth is actually +$4 million. Which will you intend?.