Chris, Author at ChrisDucker.com

Get Smart – 3 Things Entrepreneurs Should Hand Over to the Experts!

As entrepreneurs we have a thousand ideas a minute and not enough hours in the day to think about ’em!

If you’re just starting out, bootstrapping, growing – you’re no doubt doing long hours and tiring yourself out. That’s okay. It’s expected. A lot of the time you ARE the only one that can take care of a certain task, or project. However, a lot of the time there are certain tasks that you shouldn’t even be thinking about getting involved with (unless you’re an expert in that particular subject).

Today, I thought it might be good to look into this a little more.

Here are my ‘Top 3 Things’ that Remarkable Entrepreneurs should certainly leave to the people that do them every day for a living. By having this type of ‘Delegation Mindset’ we can a) work a few less hours, and b) genuinely get better quality work output.

When you’re done reading, I’d love to hear what else you think startup business owners shouldn’t be attempting themselves, instead delegating to the pro’s.

#1 – Any type of Graphic Design or Web Design / Development

Here’s a true story, involving… me… 3-odd years ago when I started to play around online for the first time, I decided that I could buy a customizable WordPress blog theme, spend a few hours tweaking it to the way I wanted it to look and then go live with my first blog post.

FACT – Business owners are, 9/10 times, perfectionists.

That afternoon turned into the evening, which turned into the wee hours of the night. It was 4am by the time I had finished ‘tweaking’ everything and the blog I was trying to set-up still didn’t look the way I wanted it to. I was tired, frustrated and overall, I felt deflated about the whole thing.

The next day I sent it onto a Web Development guy that I knew in Manila, telling him what I wanted and even attached a couple of sketches I had put together in regards to the way I wanted the homepage to look. Just 6-hours later I had my blog online and looking exactly the way I wanted it to!

This story will no doubt ring home with a lot of other entrepreneurs that might read this post. The moral of the story – get the professionals to rock out great looking logos, business cards, flyers and websites – whilst you focus on the income generating tasks, such as writing sales copy for your website landing page, or spending time with your number one client on the golf course!

#2 – SEO and ‘Online Marketing’ Tasks

This is probably one of the toughest topics I had getting to grips with when I started getting active online, in regards to promoting and marketing my business on the internet. That has changed a lot over time, obviously, as I have become a lot more knowledgeable on the subject by reading a ton of books, trail and error and asking as many questions (to those that ‘know’) as possible!

As someone who came from a very traditional, brick ‘n mortar business background (and who’s largest company, presently, is still very much in that category), I struggled with understanding SEO concepts. I soon learned that marketing a business online is a lot, LOT different to marketing one in the ‘real’, offline world.

From day one, I paid someone else to do it for me. Someone that had experience and understood Google and how ‘ranking’ worked, etc. And it paid off – for sure. Nowadays even though I’m a little more involved with the general strategies that we implement online, I still pay other people to do it for me, and I know one thing for sure…

If I had’ve even attempted to do this type of work myself when I was starting out, it would have been a complete disaster.

SUGGESTED LISTENING: Check out Episode 42 of the VBL Podcast with marketing professional David Meerman Scott for some of the most up-to-date marketing ideas and concepts for small business available anywhere online. David is a genius at this stuff!

#3 – Everyday, Repetitive Tasks

Being who I am, and doing what I do – this one is kind of a no-brainer.

Call it ‘working with a virtual assistant‘, or ‘outsourcing‘, or whatever you like – offloading the types of tasks that bog you down everyday as a hard working, ball-busting startup entrepreneur is just plain, good business strategy.

Whether you have to do a ton of online research; frequently have to update your social media channels; handle boring, repetitive book-keeping tasks; update your website content regularly; handle your calendar (note – I am terrible at this, and would be lost without my personal assistant doing it for me!); reply to boat-load of daily email inquiries or simply have to transcribe audio or video files, delegating work to other people, nowadays, as simple as 1, 2, 3.

Off-loading these types of everyday ‘busy tasks’, as I call them, is a great way to leverage your time, allowing yourself to get more done, with less effort and really focus on growing your business. At first that might mean spending more time on marketing concepts, or packaging ideas for your launch product. Down the road it could mean that you have more time to spend on putting processes in place for your growing empire.

Either way, working with VA’s and other types of professionals, people that do this stuff for a living everyday, is great business sense and you’ll enjoy the benefits of it, I’m sure.

That about wraps up my ‘quickie list’. Although, like I said, I’d love to hear from you on any other types of tasks, projects or processes that you feel startup entrepreneurs should simply hand over to the people ‘that know’, instead of attempting to do it all themselves.

Comment below, and lets see if we can get a bit of a conversation going!

The Top 5 Things Remarkable Entrepreneurs Should NEVER Do. Ever!

You always hear about the important things that entrepreneurs should ‘do’ in order to become successful.

However, its rare that people talk about the things that business owners should NOT do when it comes to running and growing their businesses, on or offline.

In this post I’d like to serve up a few of those tips for you. And, I encourage you to make a list of your own (perhaps even based on your mistakes in the past) and even share a few tips for the VBL Tribe at the bottom of the post, in the comment section.

On your marks. Get set… GO!

#1 – NEVER Start a Business Just to Make Money

Every business owner that I have come across that has an insanely successful business, attributes that success to one thing, and one thing only – they love what they do!

We spend 60-70% of our waking hours ‘working’. Call me an idiot, but isn’t it a good idea if we spend that time working on something that involves passion – a product or service that we love (that ultimately will make us money), instead of simply working on ‘something’, just to ‘make’ money…?

I love what I do for a ‘living’. Every day I get up and get to work with a smile on my face. Talking with clients, creating content, spending time developing my staff (both on-site and virtual), developing new projects, reading, writing, eating – you get the gist of it, right…?

Do something you LOVE. And you’ll be a raving success.

#2 – NEVER Be Scared to Pivot, or Change Plans

The entrepreneur pivot is something that I’ve discussed before here at VBL and on other blogs and podcasts, whilst being interviewed, too.

It’s a subject that I’m really passionate about because it allows me as a business owner to never stop thinking about how to make something better. How to improve, evolve or make a difference.

Don’t get me wrong – its great to have a plan. Its essential, in fact. But, if you’re so caught up in that plan and following it step by step, you might just miss out on an opportunity to change something, even just a little thing, that could make your business all the more successful.

Keep an open mind and never stop thinking about ways to pivot in your business.

#3 – NEVER Blame Someone Else for Your Mistakes

We become entrepreneurs because we want to be our own boss, right? The head honcho, the big swinging dick.

If you screw up, drop the ball, under price your service or product, get beaten by a competitor on a local holiday battle, have your best manager quit on you, lose your biggest client – don’t blame anyone else.

You don’t necessarily have to blame yourself. But, the bottom line is that you are in charge. You’re the boss. And everything, always comes down to you.

Accept it. Embrace it. And go for it!

ESSENTIAL LISTENING: Check out this interview with best-selling author Jonathan Fields that I did for the VBL Podcast a while ago. There are so many golden business nuggets for you to devour, you’ll thank me – really!

#4 – NEVER Try to ‘Do It All’

I always say that entrepreneurs are a strange breed. We are – think about it.

At a recent speaking gig, I discussed how we, as entrepreneurs have what I like to call ‘Superhero Syndrome’. We like to think that we can do everything. That the world is a better place with us in charge and that we should make sure that we are the one that people look to for guidance all the time – to save the day… all the time.

Reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

What we should be is smart, hard-working business owners. When I say ‘smart’, I mean we work out what we’re good at and focus on that aspect of our business. We then bring in the best people we can a) find and b) afford to do the rest of the stuff needed to help our business explode into a huge success.

Entrepreneurs are not superheroes. Don’t try and be one.

#5 – NEVER Shackle Yourself to One Location. Become ‘Virtual’.

One of the reasons why I wanted to become a Virtual CEO was so that I could have the freedom I felt was required to continue to grow my business.

I wanted to work ON my business, instead of IN it.

Since freeing up myself to be able to only have to go into my company facilities (where 300-odd people work for me) once or twice a week (and normally for only a few hours at a time), I’ve encountered more success, more profits, more opportunities and… a much more enjoyable business lifestyle.

I believe that its an absolute requirement for entrepreneurs nowadays, that want to start and grow something remarkable, to be as flexible as possible when it comes to the way they run their businesses.

Becoming ‘virtual’ is the way to go.

FREEDOM TIP – Start by making a list of all the things that you do in your office (whether it be a facility, or a home office) on a daily basis. Then start highlighting the stuff that you NEED to be IN the office to be able to perform. You’ll be amazed, in this day and age with the technology that we have at our disposal, how few highlights will be on that list when you’re done! Nuff said.

What are things you’ve done in the past, as a business owner, that you would NEVER do again? Anyone got any further tips for the VBL Tribe? If so, please leave a comment below with your pearls of wisdom!

Mr. Business Owner – Suck it Up! You’re a Freakin’ Problem Solver!

Being an entrepreneur, and in the early days of starting a business is much like being a duck on a pond.

Everything looks great above the water as the duck’s body (the business) glides effortlessly along the surface, with its beak standing out proud – whilst below the surface, the duck’s legs (the business owner) are peddling at 180mph to try and make sure that everything looks good above the water.

Over the weekend I was having lunch with a few friends at my house. It was the first time we’ve had guests around since I came out of spine surgery. There were 4 couples in attendance. Some good food, a little wine and some great conversations were on the horizon. I was really looking forward to it.

But, it was almost ruined for me, by one of the guys that was there – until I intervened.

Problems, Problems and More Problems!

My buddy (name witheld to protect the entrepreneurial innocent!) started his real estate business about a year ago, focusing on the higher-end market locally. We’ve met several times in the last 12-months and all he had to say was how well the business was going, that he wasn’t experiencing any major issues with marketing to the local cliental, or competition, etc. Everything sounded great!

However, on this occasion he took it upon himself to spoil as much of the first hour of the get-together as possible – by moaning, arguing (with himself mostly!) and generally admitting that all was not so calm on the pond, after all.

He was having problems with local competing real estate brokers and agencies.

He was having on-going problems with property owners that he rents places for, as well as property owners that want to get the best deal in utilizing his company to help sell their houses and condos.

And lastly, he was having major problems when dealing with potential tenants and buyers – having him run all over town, showing them this condo unit and that house, one after another – all in the blistering heat that currently is Cebu’s awesome summer season. This problem alone was the biggest for him as he felt that he didn’t have enough time to be able to strategize for growth, which was to be his major focus this year.

I simply had one thing to say to him…

Welcome to the World of Entrepreneurship.

With Problems, Come Solutions!

I learned a long time ago that the higher up the corporate ladder you climb, the bigger the problems that you have to deal with. God forbid, you decide to become a business owner yourself! At that point you’re the head honcho, the CEO, the President – whatever you want to call yourself.

Slice of ‘Reality Pie’, however – you’re the main problem solver!!! That’s it.

And as entrepreneurs, thats EXACTLY what we should be looking to embrace – solving problems for people (AKA. our customers). The more problems we solve, the more success our businesses become.

So, I sat down with my buddy for about 30mins, and these are the points that we worked on together as business solutions for small businesses, and ended up putting into place a bit of a ‘Mission List’, as he started calling it:

#1 – Stop Wasting Time

Firstly, he needed to sort through the ‘decent’ prospective tenants and buyers when they came in, only picking out the ones that he felt the most confident about becoming ‘A-List’ clients. He would then pass on the others to his assistant (who is good, and can work well when given instructions, I’ve met her on several occasions).

#2 – Tell People Why They Need You

He’s going to put together a ‘Why You NEED Me’ package (focusing on his USP) to give the owners that he works with, in helping them sell or rent their property. No more wasting time answering the same silly questions, or having to run around getting this document, and that piece of information together.

Everything is to be pre-arranged in a package that not only looks super professional, but also answers all the questions he runs into, in regards to these specific relationships all the time. The rest he can update on the FAQ section of his website (which is good).

#3 – Screw the Competition!

Local competition. Screw them!!! Nobody has the experience he does, that I know of.

The fact of the matter is, however, that its a local market, where the local, Filipino real estate brokers are very much in bed together (some even ‘working’ clients and splitting commissions, etc.). But, there is one MAJOR feather in my friends cap – he’s a foreigner (American). And the very large majority of the prospects that contact him are foreigners, too. So, he will leverage that with a new ‘no holds barred’ approach to relationship building and conversions through social media and other online channels.

These tips for marketing a small business, coupled together with a well run ship and a professional mindset should make all the difference.

#4 – Daily ‘Strategizing’ Time

His goal was/is to focus on growing his business this year. With the other points above, after a while of taking care of teething issues and ironing out the inevitable bumps that come with ‘change’, he should have spare time, every day, to work on his goal for 2012.

As mentioned, he’ll start becoming more active in social media, he’ll start blogging, shooting regular videos on the local scene here in Cebu, along with property ‘walk-thru’ clips to put on his website and Facebook page, etc.

This is What We DO!

If you look carefully above you’ll see that the ‘problems’ as well as the ‘solutions’ I helped define for my friend’s business, can basically be successfully merged into ANY business – online, or offline.

They revolve around the following BASIC business principles:

Don’t waste time.
Make sure your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is clearly defined and communicated.
Keep an eye on the competition – but, work SMART to beat ‘em.
Never stop planning for growth and expansion.

This is the entrepreneurial way of life.

Solving problems is right there at the top of the list. The thing is, from time to time we get frustrated dealing with the daily grind of running a business. And that IS what you’re doing for the first couple of years of any new venture – deal with the daily grind.

If you think being your own boss means checking your email whilst enjoying your morning coffee, publishing a blog post and then logging into Paypal in the evening to count your millions – think again!

After you’ve been in business for a while and you’ve achieved a certain level of success (and we all define success differently, remember that!), we can start developing plans to remove ourselves from our businesses a little. This might begin with just working in different locations. But, could develop into full blown trips away for a month at a time, or simply working from home four days a week and spending one full day in the office – its different for everyone.

So, the next time you get pissed off with dealing with a pain-in-the-butt client, or stressed out with competition copying an idea of yours, or with staff screwing up, or with suppliers raising prices on you, or with your better half moaning at you for not spending enough time with the kids – just breathe. Think about how to solve those problems, and then deal with them.

Become good at solving problems, and you WILL make it in the business world.

Have you come up with any solutions to business problems recently? Are you struggling with some right now, that perhaps the VBL Community could help you with? If so, we’d love to hear your insights and comments below.

3 Perks Your Virtual Staff Will Go Crazy For!

As most readers of my blog know, I have been involved in the outsourcing industry for over 10-years.

The ‘game’ has changed a lot over that time. And when it comes to working with virtual assistants, particularly home-based virtual assistants, the game has changed more than in any other area in the entire industry, as far as I’m concerned.

It’s not about working with an offshore VA anymore.

It’s about leveraging the power of the global economy and what that means to small business owners in western countries, such as the USA, Australia and the UK (the three countries that I hear from and cater to the most). We’ve come a long, long way since to publication of the 4-Hour Work Week, people.

It’s time to look at this a little more seriously.

No More ‘Cheap Labor’ Attitude

The biggest change I’ve seen, and its been more evident over the last couple of years, is the perception of the virtual bosses that I’ve had the pleasure to work with. It used to, and still does, madden me whenever I hear ‘Hire a Filipino for $2 an hour’. Thankfully things have changed (and continue to!), like I said, people no longer think of working with Filipino VA’s as a cheap option to finding ‘help’.

If they do have that attitude, I change their minds pretty quickly!

Sure they understand and appreciate that working with Filipino home-based VA’s is more cost effective than hiring locally 9/10 times, however, the mindset has shifted from ‘cheap labor’ to simply having ‘overseas employees’ – and that excites me more than words can express, I tell you.

I have one client who has now hired six VA’s through Virtual Staff Finder (Disclaimer: VSF is my match-making company), set them all up with their own computers, their own small ‘office’, at one of their homes (purchasing equipment, etc.) and now considers them very much part of his companies team – an overseas support arm, so to speak.

That stuff just gets my juices flowing!

Compensation – It’s Not All About the Salary!

Another thing thats changed quite a bit is the compensation that home-based VA’s are now getting here in the Philippines. Think about it logically, with demand comes supply – and the VA’s are not silly. They know that if they have the skills to help business owners (no matter where they are based in the word) help run, support and grow their businesses, they should get paid fairly for them.

The playing field is still very much ‘level’ in the grand scheme of things, of course. However, a VA that would have been a $350 monthly investment 3-years ago, is now earning $500 for a full-time role, per month (this is a salary example of a General VA with around 1-year working experience – check out my guide to paying home-based Filipino VA’s for more salary guidelines).

Everyone enjoys getting perks, right? If someone does a job well, if they perform above and beyond the expectations of their employer, they should be rewarded. Likewise, in an increasingly competitive market, if you want your virtual employee to stick with you, to be loyal to you, then you need to ‘look after them’ properly – above and beyond their monthly salary.

With this is mind, and based on experience in working with and training hundreds of VA’s – as well as hearing from virtual bosses and some of the benefits they give their VA’s, I’d like to present to you three great perks that your VA will go crazy over (in a good way!).

Perk #1 – Paid Holidays

Just because you pay your VA a flat rate every month (and no local taxes and benefits) doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t a) give them holiday time, and b) not pay them for it. The standard that I give my personal VA’s 5-days paid holiday in their first year (normal Philippine employer behavior) – after that you can decide what to do on a year to year basis. That means they can genuinely take the time off (usually when I am traveling so not to effect the flow of business anymore than needed) without worrying about the lack of income.

Because of your virtual set-up in working together, and the fact that your VA isn’t employed by a Philippine company, you are not ‘forced’ to pay the compulsory ’13th Month’ benefit, either. This is a yearly bonus that is paid in the middle of December to all Philippine employees, and is pro-rated back throughout the year. However, if you want to be a nice boss, and put a huge smile on your VA’s face just before the biggest holiday of the year, pay it. I always do and my VA’s are always super appreciative of that fact.

Perk #2 – Health Insurance

Remember, your home-based VA is working directly and exclusively for you. They are not being employed by a Filipino company, and that means they’re not getting their usual Philippine government mandated contributions and benefits, such as Social Security (known locally as SSS), Pag-Ibig (a local fund that allows Filipinos to get housing loans, etc.) and PhilHealth (local heath care payout in case they get sick / become hospitalized).

On the subject of health insurance, this is something that not many self-employed (like your VA!) Filipinos think of. And its a great shame. The great thing about your VA having private health insurance is that they can also include their dependents – such as children and parents (at an additional cost, obviously). You’ll find that most home-based workers in the Philippines will be the bread winner for the family. So, if they can get health insurance sorted out for their immediate family, along with being the main source of income in the household then they are even more of a superstar!

You can get your VA to arrange private health insurance (which goes well above and beyond the PhilHealth benefits) through a number of different Philippines-based health care providers (Maxicare & Intellicare) that have experience, and that are very dependable as a source of health insurance. It will cost you around $300-$400 a year to get your VA that piece of mind for the whole family, and you’ll be forever in their prayers.

All my employees have private health insurance set-up, and are very thankful for it.

Perk #3 – Incentives and other Bonuses

Along with holidays and health insurance (something that is very much the ‘norm’ in the western world), incentives and other types of bonuses are obviously always welcome.

Monetary bonuses are usually the first thing that pop into mind, understandably. I know that a lot of our clients offer bonuses for their VA’s for a number of reasons such as getting a product launched on time, or finalizing a design project. These are good ideas, however, personally I don’t like to overdo the cash bonus idea – plus, if you do it too often and your VA doesn’t get it at the end of one particular project, they will be a little upset.

I like to get as creative as possible with my bonuses and employee gifts.

In the past I’ve arranged things such as:

iTunes vouchers
Flowers and chocolates on birthdays.
Overnight stays on wedding anniversaries.
Baby clothes for a newborn.
Restaurant gift certificates.
Books arriving out of the blue from Amazon.

The idea is to motivate and reward your virtual employee so they work harder, become more productive and ultimately bring you the ROI that any employer wants – lets be honest – NEEDS to see, in their employees.

Get Creative and Build Culture

The perks mentioned in this article are not ‘requirements’. They are what they are – perks. Bonuses. Incentives. But, they are also highly appreciated and will, as the title of this post suggests, make your VA’s go crazy.

When I read ‘Delivering Happiness‘ by Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh it got me thinking about company culture. It changed the way I look at working with and caring for my employees so much that we ended up creating a whole new set of ideas and values. It also urged me to start a dedicated company culture website for all my employees, too. They love it.

Just because your virtual employees are that – virtual – doesn’t mean that you can’t create culture in working with them. I know of a few of our Virtual Staff Finder clients that use the private social media network, Yammer (its 100% free), to keep in touch with them in a way that really resonates with them – Facebook style. If you haven’t checked out Yammer, do so – your VA’s will love it, and its a great way to communicate with them and break down a few barriers brought about by the distance between you.

Keep an open mind, be a cool boss and try introducing a few perks to your virtual team – I guarantee they’ll thank you for it. And then, you’ll thank me!

Have you offered your VA’s incentives and perks before? How did it go? If not, why not? Are you a VA reading this and thinking ‘Wow, I’d love that!’, then let us know why! I’d love to hear what you all have to say on this subject below.

Ask the Readers: Is Social Media Getting Too Noisy?

Snapshot taken via Instagram, whilst in Hospital

I enjoy my social media action.

I have just as much fun enjoying interacting with friends online as I do in real life… And its a great way to get to know my community here better, as well as hopefully help as much as possible, too.

Not to mention building brands and marketing businesses, too. Creativity to one side – being active on social media channels has become the ‘norm’ in our very online world nowadays.

Tweeting is my favorite form of social chit chat. It’s quick, very mobile and above all, simple. Effective.

Twitter is also a fantastic tool for finding new, real time, business opportunities, too (which I regularly do!). But, thats a topic for a future post, perhaps.

And, in the News: Facebook Buys Instagram

I also enjoy taking photos. Instagram makes even the most inexperienced photographer ‘cool’ with its different filters, and sweet blurring effects (I’m sure there’s a technical term for that, but I’m buggered if I know what it is!). As of today, I have 711 people following me on Instagram, and I’ve posted 192 photos in the year or so that I’ve been using it. If you’d like to follow me – just search for ‘chrisducker’ in the app.

A couple of days ago Facebook announced that it was acquiring Instagram in a deal that would total one billion dollars (a mix of cash and stock).

Immediately a couple of quick thoughts popped into my head, namely:

Will I still be able to share my photos from Instagram to Twitter?
Will Instagram itself, as an app, be slowly, but surely incorporated into the Facebook app?

Fair questions to ask, and although Mark Zuckerberg says that the app will remain the way it is, I have to be honest, I doubt it will. I just don’t think that they (Facebook) will be able to help themselves, and eventually it will become ‘part’ of Facebook.

Social Media is SCREAMING at Us – All the time!

I also have to be honest when I say that I’m actually getting quite sick of all these different social media platforms.

The social media landscape is just too damn noisy for me now…

Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Four Square, Pinterest, Tumblr, and so on and so on. The old adage of “You’ve got to be in it, to win it!” is complete and utter rubbish, as far as I’m concerned. I only use a few of those and do quite well when it comes to building a personal brand and marketing my businesses.

I am contemplating making quite drastic changes in my social media interaction. I might even completely drop certain platforms all together.

I’ve started to dislike Facebook as it’s become more and more ‘complicated’ to work with and enjoy. Lets face it – did we REALLY need Timeline? I don’t think so. But, its hear nonetheless. Related Note: If you want a great tutorial on Timeline for Pages, then check out my buddy, Pat Flynn’s excellent post (complete with videos and templates).

However, I do enjoy the interaction on the VBL Facebook page, which currently has over 11,000 people who have ‘Liked’ it. Do so here if you want to be loved forever!

What says the VBL Tribe?

Are you feeling the same way as me….?

Or, do you love social media, in every way, shape and form?

Will Instagram be affected by this whole thing?

Are you finding yourself strapped for time when it comes to your Social Media playtime?

I’d love to hear your comments below…

Undergoing Invasive Spine Fusion Surgery, My Initial Recovery and the Future…

Me – Before Surgery!

You might have noticed that I have not been blogging all that much over the last two months. The reasons behind this have been two fold.

First up, Virtual Staff Finder was (and continues to) moving at a very fast pace in February and March and needed more of my attention as we not only ramped up our marketing, but also our team, too. We now have 6 full-time staff members to handle clients and VA’s respectively. We have always been the leader in this space, and will continue to be the GO TO GUYS for entrepreneur’s looking for dependable, experienced and qualified offshore VA’s to help them run, support and grow their businesses.

Pass the Scalpel

Secondly, I started experiencing re-occurring back problems from an injury I suffered several years ago. To cut a long story short, I opted to go under the knife and have a majorly invasive spine fusion operation to correct the problem. For those of you who sent well wishes through my social media channels during the period, I thank you. I’m still recovering and it will be a long, long time until I am back (pun intended!) to full health.

This post is actually being published from my hospital bed, as I continue to recover, 6-days post surgery.

The Future

With all this said and done, however, I am looking forward to the future NOW, more than ever.

Even though my recovery from the surgery will be long and hard with, no doubt, certain bouts of pain and misery, I know that when I reach the end of the recovery road, I will be stronger, smarter and more ready to rock ‘n roll than ever before!

I also have several projects up my sleeve which I will let you know more of in the coming months. The first of which I will discuss with you, here on the blog, next week – be sure to subscribe if you don’t want to miss out on what it is. Trust me, its BIG, with a HUGE opportunity for the right person.

So, again, thanks for all the well wishes, and I’ll be back to you again next week.

5 Secrets to Controlling Technology (and not letting IT control YOU!)

Note from Chris: I’m in the process of preparing for back surgery (thanks to all of you who have sent ‘good luck’ messages), so today I’d like to hand over the blog to the very capable and informative friend of mine, Phil Montero from The Anywhere Office. In today’s guest post, Phil (pictured, left) will provide answers to a few frequently asked questions about common pitfalls of a digital workplace. Something that, as new-age entrepreneurs, we must always pay attention.

Over to Phil…

Information Overload

Q: As mobile technology has transformed business and the workplace in the past few years, is information overload now a concern for businesses and their employees?

A: Yes information overload is a concern as we are exposed to much more information than ever before. Email, blogs, podcasts, social media, video, TV, newspapers, and other media can make it hard to keep up. It used to be there was a much smaller pool of information and it was mostly consumed in the workplace – but with today’s mobile tools we can access and consume this information from pretty much anywhere.

It is an advantage but it can also be a challenge to know when and how to turn it off and take a break without getting overwhelmed.

Hardware Convergence

Q: In terms of hardware we use multiple devices including laptops, cell phone, work computer, tablet, etc, and online people increasingly have several email accounts, twitter, facebook and so on – do you see this trend for multiplicity increasing in the years ahead, or would you expect them to converge and simplify – i.e. one piece of hardware to do everything, a unified online persona?

A: I see a form of convergence already taking place today. Many people use a laptop, but also a tablet or smartphone to access the same information when they are mobile. Thanks to cloud computing and the increasing inter-connectivity of software and applications there is already a lot of convergence. For example, I have helped clients move their calendars, mail, and document collaboration to the cloud allowing them to use any device they have to access that information without duplicating documents or messages. It is also becoming more common for a single programs to allow you to interact with Facebook, linkedin, twitter, and other social media sites.

RSS tools (like Google Reader for instance) make it easy to share information you find on any social media service, via email, or to programs like Evernote. I think there will always be multiple services but the hardware, software and services we use will increasingly allow you to combine that information into one central place or interface.

Timezones and Communication

Q: In a global workplace, do you think working evenings and weekends – especially to communicate between different timezones, is simply the reality now?

Yes, I do feel a reality of our more global workplace is workshifting – working from different locations and times. Smart companies will embrace this by allowing their employees greater flexibility in where and when they work. At first you might think having to work on an evening or a weekend means you never get to unplug and are simply working more, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Many companies are embracing what they call ROWE (a Results Only Work Environment), which essentially means your work hours are much more under your control provided the work gets done (your work is measured on deliverables rather than a set number of hours you work). With that type of philosophy, someone who needs to work during the night or on a weekend might not be working during the day so they can spend time with their family or pursue other personal development goals they have.

With the mobile tools and access to information we have today it’s possible to have a greater level or “work life integration”. You might do a bit of work during a vacation but in turn that might be a vacation you couldn’t have taken in the past because of that work. It is a new form of “work life balance” that I think has a greater fit with the way work happens today.

24/7 Contact

Q: How can firms ensure their staff are not put under more pressure from tools that are supposed to make their lives easier?

A: Companies can discuss what are on/off times for employees and respect that time. Just because you can send or reply to an email anytime doesn’t mean you should be expected to. I think setting up acceptable and open communications guidelines (i.e. turnaround time for voicemail/email, what times/days are you expect to be accessible) can go a long way toward knowing when it’s OK to turn off or unplug from your mobile work tools. Granted, there may be certain times during important projects that exceptions need to be made, but it’s important for these guidelines to be setup and respected.

Digital Disruptions

Q: What can individual business people do to sort their communication technology so they are not disturbed by non-essential or untimely interruptions?

One key to managing your communication technology is knowing how to use it. For example, with smartphones there are ways to turn off audible or visible notifications during times when you don’t want to be interrupted by them. On a weekend, or at night, do you really need to be alerted every time a new email arrives in your inbox? Someone else on your team might be working at that time but it doesn’t mean you need that notification right away. Part of your communication guidelines is not only setting up expected turnaround times for different forms of communication but also a priority level. So, for example, you might decide that voice calls are used for priority messages versus email or IM. That allows your team members and employees to “turn off” their email or IM during non-essential times, knowing that if something really important turns up they can still be reached.

The communication guidelines need to be discussed and preferably decided on as a group. They also need to be clear and open so that everyone understands and abides by them.

Chris: This article is seriously important to digest. There’s a lot of great stuff in here. I particularly liked Phil’s points on managing email, which I’ve gone into quite a bit of depth about before and the importance of work/life balance, too.

One thing is for sure, the importance of technology in business isn’t going to start slow down, if anything, we’re going to be more tech-savvy and sexy than ever in the coming years. However, as business owners and entrepreneurs that are wanting to remain (or even just become!) uber successful, its important that we appreciate technology and what it can do for us, but not become bogged down (or even slowed down!) by it. Switch off for a while, peeps. Enjoy the view – wherever you may be.

My thanks to Phil for a great guest post submission, and please feel free to post your own views on the subject, along with any stories, ideas and resources that you feel are relevant to what we’re all trying to achieve in our lives.

Attention Brands! Here’s a REAL Customer Service Lesson from Krispy Kreme!

Customer service is something that I’m well versed in. I own and operate a call center, after all. However, if there is one thing that I’ve noticed over the last few years, regardless of best-selling books such as ‘The Thank You Economy’, by Gary Vaynerchuk telling us how important it is to look after our customers – especially in the incredibly social, online world that we now all live in, is that it’s not a subject matter that gets any huge amount of ‘good’ press. It’s most ‘bad’.

Like the story of United Airlines breaking a guitar and not responding to millions of YouTube views on the subject until it was too late. Not to mention the fact that in a recent survey only 29% of consumers received a reply on Twitter, following a customer complaining publicly about an issue they had. Think about that – 71% of the companies / brands basically completely ignored a customer complaint. For the world to see!

It’s all quite pitiful really, isn’t it?

However, I’m here today to tell you that all is not lost. Seriously, it’s not.

Freedom Friday

As an entrepreneur, I’m lucky enough to have the freedom to set my own working schedule and for a while now, I’ve not been working on Friday’s (except the odd client call, or meeting). I’ve also been trying to come up with a regular activity that I can enjoy every Friday morning with my wife and our son, Charlie.

Last Friday I woke up with a hankering for coffee and donuts. That doesn’t happen often. So, when I get a hankering of such a kind, I usually act on it!

We jumped in the car and headed to the local Krispy Kreme donut shop. We’ve been there twice before, but never with the little one, who was simply told we were going to get donuts. He likes donuts (duh!?), but didn’t say much more than “I want a chocolate donut” on the way to our destination.

Good morning, Maam, Sir!

We parked, walked into the store to the usual Filipino greeting of “Good morning, Maam, Sir!” and approached the counter to order our treats!

As I sat my youngest at the table, I observed him getting comfortable – matchbox toy car in one hand, the other hand empty, ready for the battle that was about to commence!

His chocolate donut was placed in front of him (I’m an Original Glazed kinda guy, in case you’re interested!), he picked it up with his spare hand, and took his first, surprisingly large bite. As if it had been timed to perfection one of the young, female members of staff came over with a balloon, to his joy and amazement. Donuts AND a balloon? Surely this Friday morning can’t get any better…!?

For Charlie, oh yes, it can!

20mins, some fun and games – which included attacking a few unsuspecting patrons with his green balloon, and a few laughs later, Charlie had polished off his chocolate donut.

We’re on the verge of getting ready to leave and the young lady comes back to our table. This time, however, she brings a paper hat with her and squarely places it on Charlie’s head, asking him “Would you like to see how we make the donuts?”.

Being as inquisitive, but also as cautious as most other 3-year olds, he responds with “Can my Mummy come, too?”. Of course she can. At this point, I pull out my iPhone4s to capture the moment so that we can share it with Grandma and Grandad later on.

Here’s a 60-second clip from the video…

He was amazed by how the donuts were made. And when he came out from the preparation area, he ran up to me, to tell me all about it.

We thanked our ‘guide’, cleaned up the table and left the store with a smile on our faces, and full bellies. I honestly thought that our experience at Krispy Kreme that morning was finished there.

How wrong I was.

Winning a Fan for Life!

On the way home Charlie said “We sure had fun at Krispy Kreme, Daddy…”. Then he said it again a few minutes later. Then again. And… Then again. When we got home, we showed the video to his grandparents, which was accompanied with his running commentary of the event, which included the word ‘Awesome’ several times.

The sugar rush then came to an end, and he crashed. Literally. On the sofa, with his Krispy Kreme balloon next to him.

When he woke up, he asked to watch the video again. What ensued was another 10min conversation about his experience at the donut shop.

Charlie has not stopped taking about those bloody donuts all weekend! And I for one am very happy about it. Why? Because I’ve found that Friday morning activity I’ve been looking for.

What is REAL Customer Service?

Most people tend to think of ‘customer service’ as being a company taking care of a refund, or another sales related issue, or after sales ‘care’ of some kind.

However, we rarely see it as making an already good experience even better. Even more memorable. Even more enjoyable.

Would we have returned the the donut shop without this great experience? Yes, probably at SOME point in the future. But, not every week, that’s for sure.

Are we going to buy dozens of donuts every week, when we’re there? Probably not. But, I am telling all my blog subscribers, Facebook fans and Twitter followers about my great experience? Yes, I am. And will Krispy Kreme get some additional business out of it..? You betcha!

One of my fondest childhood memories is that of walking to the top of the hill in our town, with my Dad, every Sunday morning to get a newspaper. We did that together for years. I still remember some of our conversations from those 20min walks. Although, it’s the activity itself that I remember more than anything else.

Now, every Friday morning, when Charlie wakes up, he’ll know that we’re going to Krispy Kreme to enjoy some donuts. He might never walk around that prep area again (although knowing him the way I do, I reckon it’s more likely to happen, than not!), but he will enjoy the beginning of each and every weekend going forward and hopefully he’ll remember his Friday mornings with Mum and Dad for years and years to come…

Have you had a great customer service experience? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below. Let’s make each other SMILE at the start of the week and if you enjoyed this story, please share it with your friends, to give them a smile, too!

Inside Look: Behind the Scenes of an International Speaking Gig!

If you’d like to watch the video on YouTube, click here.

Late last year I received an invitation to speak at the Annual Business Blueprint Conference in Phuket, Thailand, which took place at the beginning of February.

I mentioned it on Facebook and was asked by several people to do a bit of an expose (if you can call it that!), on the subject of traveling for a speaking gig, the preparation I go through to speak in front of an audience, etc.

My first cut of today’s video was a little long, but to make it more digestible, I decided on a shorter version where I get to the guts and the glory, leaving out the flowery commenting!

I hope you enjoy the video.

Have you spoken at any international events? Would you like to? What did you think of this ‘inside look’? I’d love to know your thoughts, so please do feel free to comment below. Cheers!

3 Simple Steps to Maximizing Social Media for Your Small Business

Today I have a very sincere message for every business owner out there that is using social media to promote and market their business…

Stop having one night stands on your social media channels.

If you really want to utilize this medium to grow your business, then start getting married, instead.

Let me explain my thoughts further.

A short time back, I had marketing expert and world-renowned speaker, David Meerman Scott on the VBL Podcast. I’m a massive fan of David’s and literally read everything he puts out. The guy is my marketing Yoda, plain and simple.

The one thing that he mentioned that stood out, more than anything else, was that people have got to stop pitching and start engaging more, to be able to make social media work for them in business.

So, in reverse order, here are three quick and easy tips to start utilizing social media to help grow your business faster than you thought possible… The RIGHT way.

Tip #3 – Fill Up Your Social Media Calendar

At the beginning of February I had the opportunity to fly over to Phuket, Thailand and speak in front of 160 passionate entrepreneurs on the subject of boosting traditional / brick ‘n mortar success, by engaging the online world of business.

Throughout the course of the 3-day conference many successful business owners, myself included (duh!) presented their pearls of wisdom to the highly energetic crowd. One session was on the subject of getting your social media strategy in place – for the entire year!

The strategy is to post something, across all your channels every day of the week.

Its better to try and automate as much of this as possible, so you just have to focus on the interaction side of things, once people start replying, commenting and RT’ing your posts.

It included things like:

Video clips.
Links to blog posts.
Famous quotes.
Questions.
Useful resources.

Perhaps I’ll go into this strategy a little more in the near future, but the big eye-opener for almost all in attendance was that, with a little planning and execution, you can be everywhere, be engaging, helpful, resourceful and reap massive rewards through social media, in a non-spammy / sales-pitchy way.

So, get creative, plan your posting schedule (in the same way you would as a blogger), and then put it all on autopilot. Following this, all you have to do is pay attention and engage.

Tip #2 – The Twitter Tactic that has Transformed My Businesses

The one thing that I love about social media is that it’s instant.

Sometime last year I had issues with my hosting provider – our sites went down. I quickly went onto Twitter and discovered that there were a lot of people in the same boat, all using the same provider, just by doing a quick search.

This got me thinking. Surely if people were using the micro-blogging site to bitch and moan about problems they were experiencing, then they MUST be using it to find solutions, too.

I was bang on, right!

So, I immediately started stalking search.twitter.com, searching for people that needed help and support in my niche, and started reaching out – without pitching my company or services. I figured that if I helped them out willingly, that they would go ahead and visit my profile, click on my links and check out what I had to offer – when they were good and ready.

I was bang on, right – again!

Nowadays, I don’t do this searching myself. I leave it up to my VA, who manages all the searches via TweetDeck, and sends out pre-written responses that I produced in the course of my experimenting myself, as well as other types of interaction that she handles herself, too.

She does this with her own Twitter account, some company ones, and even sometimes using MY account, too! So, people think that they are chatting with me, as a thought leader in our niche, before they actually DO start talking to me. Smart so-and-so, aren’t I…?!!

For me, it works… Check out the tweets below, showing social proof.

Tip #1 – My Number One ‘Social Media for Business’ Tip

This is simple, yet so many people overlook it.

It’s time to minimize and simplify.

Having a presence on the major social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn is important (click at random to interact with me on these channels). However, being actively involved on them all is just unrealistic – especially if you want to make a major difference in your business and more importantly, genuinely help your customers and prospective customers.

So, stop chasing the social media dragon and start getting smart.

Pick ONE channel that you enjoy using more than any other, and then GO FOR IT in a major way. That doesn’t mean that you won’t utilize the other channels frequently (or even have a virtual assistant manage them for you), it simply means that this one channel will become your social media focus.

For me, it’s Twitter. I like to tweet because it’s quick, easy and very mobile (thanks to my iPhone4 and iPad). It also enables me to add images, videos and links to other cool and helpful resources for my list of over 40,000+ followers.

For my aforementioned buddy, Pat Flynn – it’s Facebook. Pat’s fan page is ridiculous – in a good way! The engagement he has with his fans is unlike any other Facebook page that I have seen. Why? Because he decided a long time ago, that this was the way he wanted to answer fan questions, help, support and interact with them, away from his blog. He does a great job of it, too.

I’ll leave you with this…

10 People Doing it RIGHT!

There are LOTS of people doing things right already. However, here’s a list of ten of them that I see using social media in the right way (consistently), as discussed above, to engage, motivate, inspire and educate (as well as promote their businesses!).

Check ’em out on Twitter, and emulate, people.

What are YOU Doing Right… or Wrong?!

What experiences have you had with social media in regards to utilizing it for building your brand and promoting / marketing your business?

I’d love to hear about the good, the bad AND the ugly in the comment section below.

Quick Request: If you liked this post and found it even remotely helpful, I’d really appreciate a quick share of it on your favorite social media channel. Here’s the URL, so you can copy and paste it quickly. Thanks in advance! – https://bit.ly/ygb0dO