Category: a slice of INSPIRATION

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Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Who is the hero of your brand?

Posted on by Maria Ross

How to be the Hero of Your Brand

You can always tell “ego brands.” They are the heroes of their own story, it’s all about them and they could care less about the value, satisfaction or delight of their customers or clients.

C’mon: I KNOW you’re thinking of an example right now!

Great brands like Apple, Starbucks (yes, despite my break up with them), Disney, Nike, Tom’s Shoes, Virgin America, Zappos all make the customer the hero. It’s about their needs, their experience, what the brand says about them as a person.

It’s about delighting the heroes of their story: their customers. (Tweet this!)

Good story structure always has a protagonist facing an antagonist to achieve his or her ultimate goal. Without the conflict, there is no good story. Who wants to read about Cinderella being this perfectly happy young girl who went to a ball and married her prince?

Yawn.

But throw in some mean stepsisters, a deadline of midnight and her unhappy life standing between her and her prince and – BAM – you get a riveting classic.

Your customer is the hero, the protagonist. Their pain points and unmet needs are all the conflicts they face. And your brand is the handsome prince. But never forget that the story is called Cinderella – not The Handsome Prince. It was never really about the prince. The story is about her.

How do you make your customers or clients the heroes of their own story? How do you solve their problems, remove the conflict and utterly delight and surprise them?

This post was inspired by a video I recently saw from Scotland’s Celtic football club – my husband’s favorite team from back home. This young boy is one of the team’s biggest fans and they have adopted him as their own, often having him in the team huddle (click here for the video plus full backstory). This moment will leave you in speechless tears of joy. The brand could have just celebrated its own win that day. But the team chose to share it with their biggest fan. This – THIS – is how you make your customers – your fans – the real heroes of the story.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

The Not-So-Secret to Brand Success

Posted on by Maria Ross

10.28 secret to brand marketing (blog)

There are no magical answers.

A few posts have recently emerged around this theme and when I start seeing patterns, it’s good to pay attention.

Too often, entrepreneurs, solo business owners – and yes, even large company CEO’s – think there is some magical cure to flagging sales, lack of brand awareness, or no clients knocking on the door. And so, they believe the claims like:

“Join my course and you will absolutely achieve six-figure success and prosperity!”
“Issue press releases every week and you will definitely get featured in The Wall Street Journa!l”
 “If you place one ad on my site, you will increase sales without lifting a finger!”
And often it turns out these courses, techniques, or masterminds are just fluff.
I’ve had enough. Haven’t you?

There are millions out there who will pay for a quick fix, an easy answer, a way to earn money without putting in the work. They claim it should be easy. Yes, it doesn’t always have to be rocket science, but when was the last time you saw someone achieve meteoric success without any real value, smarts, hard work or talent? I should clarify: lasting success because reality stars who are famous for being famous won’t (I hope) be here for long.

If you want to be a reality star, by all means, go ahead. Godspeed. I on the other hand prefer to use marketing for good rather than evil. I prefer to create marketing that delights, informs and tells the truth. I’d prefer to build a business based on real honest to God value for someone and if I do that for less people rather than duping millions, perhaps I’ll sleep better at night, knowing I created something real, good and valuable in the world.

Yes, your business should bring your joy. Yes, you shouldn’t have to slog if things don’t feel right. I’m all about only doing the marketing activities you enjoy (if they reach your target audience) or at least finding a way to make them enjoyable.

But I’m tired of the modern day snake oil salesmen, aren’t you? Tired of hyperbolic claims, tired of people charging thousands for something that won’t bring real value to a business. Of course, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. And you can only find value if you do the work someone ifsteaching you.

But I guess that’s my point. The not-so-secret to brand success? DO. THE. WORK.

Bring the value. Be authentic, be vulnerable, be unique but the most successful folks I know are finding joy in their business while also providing real value for their clients and customers.

Marketing is not about lying to people. It can be used for good rather than evil (Tweet this!)

Image credit to Jerry Swiatek via Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Raise the bar

Posted on by Maria Ross

10.21 raise the bar (blog)

It’s not about competing. It’s about ensuring there is no substitute for doing what you do.

Instead of “That’s not our policy” try “Here are some options for you.”

Instead of “We can’t help you” try “Here’s a few referrals for you so you can make things happen. I’m happy to make an introduction”

Instead of “These are all the reasons you didn’t get what you wanted” try “I am so sorry you are disappointed and I should have done better. How can I make it right?”

Instead of “I don’t accept comments on my blog because I only care about pushing out my ideas not how you feel about them” how about “Got feedback? Ping me on Twitter. Or Facebook or…”

Instead of “Here’s why your negative feedback is wrong or our actions are justified” how about “Wow! Thank you for taking the time to show us how we can do better. There must be others who feel like you do who’ve never said anything.”

If you want to create something irresistible, start with listening to what people really desire.

Raise the bar by delighting people in unexpected ways. (Tweet this!)

That’s how you raise the bar. That’s how you stand out. That’s how you create something you can be proud of.

What is one example of how you’ve raised the bar for your customers or clients? Please share in the Comments below!

Photo Credit: Will Clayton via Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

7 questions to help you ruthlessly prioritize

Posted on by Maria Ross

10-14-14 Prioritize (blog)

“Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today.”

How quaint.

I used to live by this mantra. But in today’s world of 24/7 smart phone access, juggling business/kids/relationship/self-care/community and an avalanche of data coming at us, it’s not really sound advice for staying sane.

As a new mama who owns her own business, I have graduated to a whole new level of “prioritization.” Whereas before I was overwhelmed by choices on when to write, create, strategize, serve clients, invent a new course, conduct a webcast…. limited pockets of time these days force the most basic decisions: Do I wash my hair or feed my son before daycare? Do I do a load of laundry, pay the bills, or finish that blog post? Do I eat or shower?

These days, you’ve gotta practice “ruthless prioritization.” (Tweet this!) Here’s how:

Something that has helped this Type A overachiever has been to ask myself 7 key questions before any task. Depending on the answer, you can decide to:

  • Do it right away
  • Do it by day’s end
  • Schedule it
  • Outsource it
  • Say no
  • Ignore it

When you’re having one of those crazy, busy, fire-drill days where it feels like your to-do list is as daunting as Mt. Everest, ask yourself these questions before doing each task. You may just feel lighter, less stressed and more in control:

  1. Is someone I care about depending on this and by a certain time? The key words here are “someone I care about and “depending.” This could be a client, a vital partner or a family member who truly needs you and needs you now. If you get asked for a favor by someone you barely know that will take time away from more important tasks, it can wait…or be politely turned down. When I choose to skip a shower on a crazy busy morning so I can feed my baby on time –  well, that’s  pretty much a no-brainer. The boy needs food. But please remember: often, someone else’s urgency does not constitute an emergency on your part – unless you choose to let it.
  2. Can I quickly deal with it and get it off my plate? When someone emails me for the name and number of that great designer I know, it takes me 2 seconds to send them the person’s contact card. Simple. Done.  If they want me to send an email introducing the two of them – something I may want to spend some thought on – well, that can wait until tomorrow.
  3. Does it generate revenue? We small business owners tend to waste time and energy on things that are not adding to our bottom line, which is sometimes totally okay. But on busy days, given a choice between updating a website page or conducting a paid client call….well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll take the money.
  4. Is there a point-of-no-return consequence for not dealing with this today? If a reporter from The Wall Street Journal asks for an interview today, heck yeah, make time for the call. You’re on their deadline and you could miss your shot at national press. If someone from a blog you’ve never heard of before emails you out of the blue and asks you to fill out a 10 question email interview?  You can schedule time to deal with that next week – and if they won’t wait, so be it. Other tasks in this category can include “Gotta pick up my only suit from the dry cleaner by closing time before my big meeting tomorrow” versus  “A colleague wants to brainstorm about a joint event that is not taking place for another 6 months.”
  5. Am I the only one who can personally handle this? Do you really have to be the one doing it? If not, give it to your virtual assistant, refer it to a colleague, or hire someone from TaskRabbit or Fiverr to deal with it.
  6. What happens if I say no?  Sometimes we think we have to do something when really, it’s just our own internal pressure.  I used to freak out if I missed a week of posting to my blog. But, really…is it a case of life or death if I miss a week to deal with something more important? Will my readers riot and take to the streets just because Red Slice did not post something new this week? The realistic answer is no. Everyone’s busy and while consistency is important, the sky won’t fall because my blog is not the most important thing in my readers’ world each week (but if it is, that’s totally cool…)
  7. Will it help me breathe easier? Sometimes, I choose to spend time catching up on email or another solitary project over the weekend simply because it takes a weight off my shoulders and allows me to relax.  So my husband and I sometimes schedule a “work hour” on Sundays and then put our laptops away. The payoff is an easier, breezier return to Monday.

So tell me: How do you manage your endless to-do list? What tips and tricks help you keep your head above water? Please share in the Comments below!

Photo Credited to Antoine Beauvillain via Unsplash.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Be interested to be interesting

Posted on by Red Slice

Here is the magical secret to creating an irresistible brand, business or piece of art.

Ready?

Be interested in order to be interesting.

If you’re not interested in selling sweaters, no one will be interested in buying them

If you’re not interested in defending people in court, they won’t be interested in hiring you to represent them

If you’re not excited about your book, passionate about your products or if you don’t create your art with a joyful heart, no will respond any differently.

When you’re not interested in what you do, no one will find your work interesting.  (Tweet!)

As purveyor, inventor, entrepreneur or creator, you have to care the most.

It’s charming to say, “I hate self-promotion,” but, really, if not you, then who? If things are a grind for you, why should they magically transform for your audience?

I’m not saying hard work is not involved. Late nights. Panic. Stress. Fear. Sacrifice. Plain old bad days.

But you are Customer #1. And if it’s not interesting to you, others will simply follow your lead.

Photo credit: Great images available at www.123rf.com 

What are YOU most passionate about in your work right now? Please share in the Comments below or Tweet me about it!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Bring it on: Why you need to ask for criticism

Posted on by Red Slice

A guest post today from the lovely Betsy and Warren Talbot, writers, dreamers and global nomads of Married With Luggage (a business I proudly helped name). With the launch of their latest book, they shared some great advice on why and how to ask for constructive criticism and how it makes your business, brand and project shine in the long run. More on them at the end. Enjoy!

My husband Warren and I recently published our fourth book, Married with Luggage: What We Learned about Love by Traveling the World. Over the years we’ve learned a lot about what works – and what doesn’t – as both business and romantic partners. And one thing we know for sure:

If you can’t take constructive criticism, you won’t ever grow to your highest potential. (Tweet this!)

If we don’t pay attention to how our audience wants to receive our story, how to make it compelling and relatable to their own relationships, and using words that matter to them, then all of our experience and wisdom aren’t worth a penny of the $15.99 price tag of the book, because no one will buy it.

We asked trusted advisors, our own audience, and random strangers within our demographic to help us get this one right, and with their constructive feedback, I think we nailed it.

How We Solicited Feedback

Before we ever wrote one word, we talked about our idea with mentors and peers we trust. The feedback sent us in a direction we hadn’t considered before (memoir vs. self-help). We also dropped the idea of making this a course first. Smart friends counseled us to use the book’s popularity to create higher-priced courses later. Already, our project was off to a great start and we saved a ton of time.

If you’ve done the work of building a great network, don’t forget to use it. (Tweet this!)

The next component tested was the title. We came up with 20 variations of titles and subtitles, swapping them around until we had 5 good choices. Then we sent it out to three sets of people: casual followers on Facebook, serious followers on our email list, and total strangers in our demographic through a site called Pickfu.

The title we ended up with is not the title we would have chosen ourselves. We also discovered several words we were using that were off-putting to our market. Imagine if we had used those words out of ignorance and then wondered why no one ever bought the book?

For the book cover, we put three very different cover ideas out for a vote via email list, Facebook, and Pickfu. Again, the cover we would have chosen was not the one overwhelmingly picked by others. In fact, our favorite came in dead last.

After writing the first draft, we sent it to a professional editor for restructuring. We were too close to the project to see the gaps and overlaps, so we trusted someone else to show us the way. We then created the second draft based on this feedback.

Then the scariest part: sharing it for review. First I read the book out loud to my husband, awaiting his response to the story we scripted out months ago. Did he like it? Not always, and that was sometimes hard to take as a wife. But his feedback was invaluable in tightening up the storyline and highlighting our message of partnership.

Five people were sent second draft copies to provide detailed feedback. These five people are my trusted sources, the people who will tell me when something is not good. And boy, did they.

Finally, the book went back for professional line editing, a polish that I couldn’t do on my own. Packaging is as important as the message within, because if a reader can’t get past a crappy cover or terrible editing, they’ll never get your message.

How Feedback Helps

When I look at the finished product, I can only marvel. It is so much more than we imagined, a book that shares our experience and wisdom in a way our audience wants to hear it. And we could have never done that without asking for feedback up front and listening to what our audience needed.

We separated our egos from our work product, and the result was was a healthier self-esteem and a better product.

ABOUT BETSY AND WARREN:  Betsy Talbot and her husband Warren are the authors of Married with Luggage: What We Learned about Love by Traveling the World. Through their popular books, engaging weekly podcast, and revealing Sunday emails, they share the unconventional wisdom they’ve learned about living, working, and traveling together since 2010. Find out more about modern love and partnership at Married with Luggage. (Photo credit: Married With Luggage)

Are you asking for constructive criticism in your business? How? Where? From whom? When did such feedback save you from a major fail? Please share in the Comments below!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Is accountability dead?

Posted on by Red Slice

Sometimes, it feels like our world has turned into a giant game of tag. People and organizations are constantly pointing fingers to blame mistakes, gaffes and actions on someone else. The ink barely dry on headlines, and people are shouting, “Not it!” in an effort to get the spotlight off themselves.

Consider:

  • GM uncovers ignition flaws on their Cobalt years ago, but instead of fixing the problem at the time (too much money and time) or recalling the vehicles immediately (or even now, doing a full recall to ease public concern, they blame the drivers:  “… the Cobalt and other recalled small cars were safe to drive as long as drivers used only a key and not a heavy key chain.” (WSJ)
  • Retailer West Elm backorders my table by over 2 months without notifying me. When I email to complain after checking my order status, there is no apology or offer to rectify – it’s simply “the manufacturer’s fault.”
  • An overnight dog boarding facility skips my dog’s dinner which I discover due to food being left over upon pick up. While they investigated the cause, the response? “We’re sure he was fed but it was probably another dog’s food.” Which is also not a good thing. No apology, no mea culpa, no offer to make it up to us, compensate us a free stay, etc.
  • An intern fails to report status of the work she’s doing. When asked to correct this going forward and work on improving her communication skills, she responds with, “But it’s not my fault. You never asked for a status update.”

Is apology a dirty word? When did accountability go out of style? Whatever happened to “The situation is what it is, for whatever reason. How can we now make it right?”

When it comes to your brand, how you respond to crisis says more about you in a louder fashion than the thousand heroic acts you may do when things are going right.

Explanation is not a substitute for accountability. Make things right to protect your brand. (Tweet this!)

It may indeed be factual to blame someone or something else for why you’ve disappointed your audience, client, or customer. Traffic, lost shipments, sudden illness a personal emergency that distracts you. All valid, all believable, all true.

But that doesn’t give you or your brand a free pass to disappoint and go back on your word. I can’t even count how many virtual assistants or interns I tried to hire who had something interfere with doing what they said they were going to do, leaving me and my business hanging.

Responsibility is defined as: the state of being the person who caused something to happen. Accountability is defined as: the quality or state of being accountable, especially :  an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions

Simply put, you may not be responsible, but you need to be accountable.

Hey, I get it. Life happens. Believe me, I know this better than anyone. I was in the middle of a client project when I had a brain aneurysm.  The firm under which I was subcontracted immediately sent in one of the principal partners to replace me so the client would not be left in the lurch.

I once gave an overseas client back a non-refundable deposit and lost money on the deal – after delivering all the work promised in the contract that she (allegedly) read and signed-  simply because she abusively claimed it was not at all what she needed or asked for. English was her second language, so I think there may have been a major communication gap. But at the end of the day, in her mind, she did not get what she asked for and it was not worth it to me to argue with a crazy person. So I took a loss: I still had to pay my subcontractor who did her part. I wished the client well and told her to use the work we’d delivered if she wanted.

You can be creative. You can find solutions. You can ask for patience as you honor your commitments. You can offer an alternative or line up a replacement. Or like a dedicated writer I know, you can go a night without sleep to deliver what you said you would if someone is counting on you.

What can you do to make things right? What can you do to turn disappointment into delight? What can you say to make the person feel heard and appreciated? It’s not enough to say, “Well, this is why it happened. So deal with it.” It’s YOUR responsibility to turn the situation around as best you can.

Epilogue: After a tweet, West Elm told me to contact elevated support, the woman personally located a comparable item from a sister company, credited me back the difference and added a 15% discount on top of it all to boot. Nice. I told her my biggest frustration was the cavalier attitude conveyed in the initial email exchanges. True, I didn’t get this service level until I took to Twitter to complain (that should not be the case) but in the end, she turned around my negative experience. It was not “Judith’s” fault this happened. It was not even West Elm’s. But they are the face of the transaction and they (finally) took care of it. Nice.

When have you bravely taken accountability for disappointing a client or customer even when it was “not your fault?” Would love to hear your heroic story in the Comments below!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Beneath the bling: Can you back up your “brand goods?”

Posted on by Red Slice

We all know bling when we see it, right? It’s shiny, sparkly and distracts the eye from a person’s face, outfit or arrogant scowl (talking to you, Tabloid Divas). Crafters love the Bedazzler because it turns ordinary white t-shirts into dizzying love fests of color and light, temporarily blinding people as they walk past you on the street.

We can also use a little sparkle and fairy dust now and then. Hey, I love diamonds, too.

But sometimes brands get a little crazy with the Bedazzler. Instead of fixing their product or service flaws, they hide behind new bright shiny logos, cool websites, clever packaging or slick ads. Or their sales landing pages scream with neon arrows, BUY NOW! blinking icons and 80-feet of testimony and schmooze.

Why?

Maybe they think we’ll just tire out and click Purchase. Maybe they hope to distract us from their horrible customer service or cheaply made goods. Maybe they don’t really know the “10 Secrets to Creating a 6-Figure Business” and feel that with some shouting, sparkle and spitshine, they can fool us.

I don’t know. What I do know is articulating your brand strategy helps you make smarter design, messaging and yes, even packaging choices that promise to the right people what you can authentically deliver. I’m a HUGE fan of clever design and cool concepts. But as Jay Baer states in my upcoming 2nd edition of Branding Basics for Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget (coming Apr 1, by the way – don’t forgot your Launch Week Goodies!) “Polish is the enemy of scale.”

If you have real value to offer and know how it needs to look and who really needs it, you can get away with filming useful and entertaining social media tip videos in your office like Amy Schmittauer (another expert in this new edition). You can publish a neat, well-written Word document turned PDF rather than an overly designed, fancy 90 page interactive worksheet if you can deliver the goods. You can skip the expensive Herman Miller conference room chairs if your tech start-up team is focused on building the best damn product under the sun.

Don’t write a brand check your business can’t cash. (Tweet this!) Instead, focus on continually delivering the right stuff to the right people with the right message and the rest will take care of itself. Bling or no bling.

Photo credit: Brandon Baunach, Flickr

Are you signed up?

My FREE teleseminar 5 Clever Ways to Boost Your Brand Online has limited lines so hurry and snag your spot for Wed, April 2 at 10 am PT/1 pm ET. By attending, you’ll be eligible to win a free signed book, or one of three FREE Brand Bootcamp digitial courses. It’s all part of the Launch Week Frivolity for Branding Basics for Small Business, 2nd Edition, coming next week. And don’t forget all the Digital Swag Bag launch bonuses you can get to boost your business if you purchase the book before April 7. Can’t even tally what it’s all worth!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

In memoriam: A man behind a brand

Posted on by Red Slice

The trouble with taking on clients you adore is that you care for them as friends, not just business associates. This leaves you vulnerable and shocked when they are suddenly gone.

Last week, one of my favorite clients, Jack Leary, passed away without warning from a heart attack. We’re all still stunned and my prayers go out to his friends and family. As CEO of Intersource, LLC, a boutique technology consulting firm, he and I had worked together a few years ago to clarify his brand and positioning and develop break-out brand messaging. It’s one of the proudest projects I’ve had the good fortune to work on.

Jack faced a challenge common to many founders. How do you take your personal values and parlay that into a company brand that can scale and “live on” without you? We spent many hours talking through his mission and values. Jack, a former Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy, embraced honor, integrity and teamwork in a way that would put many of today’s young, arrogant tech CEO’s to shame. These were not just words to him: they were the way he lived his life, treated his team and served his clients. With a twinkle in his eye and a straight-shooting passion for life, Jack made me believe that passion and profits really could co-exist. His success as a senior executive at many top tech companies, as well as in his own business, proved it.

We were in the midst of another project to bring his brand story to life through video. “People don’t really understand the Intersource story unless I’m delivering it in person,” he lamented. “I’d love to share it with them in a unique, interactive way that not just tells our story but screens out those who are not a good fit.” The man understood that brand is about who you are and not about pleasing everyone.

Intersource’s case study is included in my upcoming 2nd edition of Branding Basics for Small Business (due March 2014). He passed away just at press time, but his story will live on: he was so excited to be featured in the book. I’ve included it below as an inspiration to your brand and a tribute to a man I admired, one who did not at all think that spending hours discussing the nuances of the words “integrity” and “honesty” was a waste of time. To him, it was values like those that made his company. Made his brand. Made the man.

So this is my tribute to Jack Leary: that you may know who he was and what he stood for. Thank you, Jack, for crossing paths with me. The world is a sadder place with one less ethical and honorable business leader like you in it. You will be missed.

BRAND AT WORK: Intersource LLC (excerpt from Branding Basics for Small Business, 2nd edition, launching March 2014)

Technology consulting firms often appear similar, using the same meaningless jargon like “best of breed solutions” or “maximize ROI.” How can a firm with a unique approach and steadfast values stand out from the competition? Jack Leary, CEO and founder of Intersource LLC (www.intersourcellc.com) in Seattle, Washington knew from the start that the firm he built was different from the rest. He just needed a way to articulate that difference to his prospective target market: innovative companies looking to change, challenge the status quo and offer amazing products and services.

“In every project, we’ve delivered success based on not just what we do, but who we are: committed, experienced, honor-bound people,” says Jack. “We measure success by our level of impact…period. It’s not about overpromising, staffing sub-par resources to save money or making clients pay for things they don’t need. But I knew we were being lumped into the same old ‘staffing shops’ that simply offer interchangeable consultants who often lack the right experience.”

Jack worked with Red Slice to articulate messaging that made their brand stand out and convey the unique principles on which he founded Intersource. The result was a technology consulting firm with a voice unlike any other: frank, honest, jargon-free and – on occasion – a bit cheeky. A website visit instantly shows prospects and customers that they are dealing with a different type of firm: one where “straight talk meets straight tech” to get you where you want to go. Minimal color and “fluff’ combined with bold typography choices further demonstrate the firms commitment to an honest, courageous and unvarnished experience.

“We wanted people to know that our expert consultants don’t hide behind fancy words or trite methodologies. Doing this through approachable language and an uncluttered site helps them immediately trust us to solve their market-changing challenges efficiently, honestly and creatively”

Jack, a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy felt strongly about conveying the firm’s values upfront: honesty, integrity, discipline, wisdom and creative thinking. The messaging is hard for competitors to copy because it is authentic to his personal values, which are now baked into Intersource’s own brand fabric. More than just words, the values convey the very manner in which the company partners with clients. They are one of the few technology consultancies with such a Philosophy page on their website and these values inform everything from how they hire to how they speak.

Much of Intersource’s messaging is written to sound like you are talking directly to the man who started it all. No gimmicks. No facades. Just honor, integrity, results and a bit of wit. And that’s just the way Jack Leary likes it.

 

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Got goals? 6 resources to get your butt into gear this year

Posted on by Red Slice

Hello, 2014! How the hell are ya?!

Now that you’re emerged from your eggnog-induced haze and dusted off the last of the New Years Eve glitter (why does that stuff always seem to stick around for weeks? It’s a mystery…) you are ready to tackle the new year. Right? RIGHT?!

But what does that mean, to tackle the new year? Sounds so adversarial, as if the new year is waiting to mug you and steal your wallet.

We’ve all done the rounds of “New Year Planning:” resolutions, goal setting, visioning, action plans. I used to go into each year with a set of goals organized by topic: Fitness, Career, Writing. That worked for a while….until the year I had major health issues. And then New Year Planning became much airier and flexible, which made me happier. I started thinking about only 2-3 big goals. Things I wanted to accomplish rather than do. Last year, I went a step further and simply picked 2 themes to guide my year, and I mapped every activity to them,

As you get this year’s  goals into gear, here are 6 resources that will add some awesome sauce to your big plans. Remember, any dream starts with a single small step. (Tweet this!)

Goal: Get my book written and published, damn it! Got a book inside you yearning to burst forth and illuminate the world? A book is always more than just a book. Much more. Writing a book could direct the course of your career for the rest of your life. It could lead to infinitely important connections, multiple revenue streams, spin off products, international relations. It could start a revolution. You need a plan.  YOUR BIG BEAUTIFUL BOOK PLAN (Click on Shop when you get there) is a digital program to get tyour word into the world — where it belongs.

Goal: Simplify and declutter my physical (and mental) life. Check out The Declutter Clinic from Married With Luggage. Warren and Betsy ditched their urban corporate life, sold everything they owned and now travel the world writing books, blogging and speaking about how to live your dream. The first step? Ditch the clutter. Get practical and fun strategies to organize, store and sell your stuff, breathe easier and make room for growth – whether you want to travel the world or simply create a more open environment.

Goal: Have an awesome website, blog and (sensible) social media plan that attracts mad traffic: Run, don’t walk and hire Sarah Von Bargen for a Clever Session or a souped-up Solution Session. This woman attracts tens of thousands of blog readers each day. She’s fun. She’s practical. And she’ll show you time-saving tips and tricks to make you “awesome on the internet.” Yes, I’m biased: she’s my writing partner in crime, and I also took a session myself.

Goal: Write better emails. Articulate everything better: Alexandra Franzen, self-expression guru extraordinaire, has got you covered. Sign up for her I Heart Email course starting Jan 10. Or if you want to just generally articulate your life/business/mission/manifesto in a clearer, juicier way, take one of her Write Yourself into Motion workshops (tour schedule coming soon, but get on her email list to find out first!)

Goal: Create an irresistible brand and marketing strategy for myself, my business or my cause: Put that donut down and get your business and brand booty in shape this year with my digital self-study MOMENTUM Pro. Through fun playbooks you can do at your own pace, I’ll walk you step by step through defining your mission, your target market, your messaging and your value.  All so your marketing efforts work. 

Goal: Create goals with soul and get more of what I desire: Turn goal-setting on its ear with Danielle LaPorte’s fabulous resources for living the life you want to live. The Desire Map (Click on Shop when you get there) is an interactive experience that maps your core desired feelings first and then informs how you plan your day, year, career, holidays and life.

Photo credit:  Es.mond on Flickr

Your turn: What are you “tackling” this year? Goals, visions, themes, desires? Please share in the Comments and I’ll share any resources to help you. Hopefully, others can chime in, too!