I'm Still Here

I know I haven't blogged for a while, but I will, soon. #holidays, #sick, #overworked.

P.S. Did you know that Moms DO get sick sometimes? But unlike when our precious children blow their nose for the first time, we ignore it for two weeks before dragging our tail to the family doc at which point a simple virus has progressed into a full-blown bacterial infection requiring two expensive pharmaceuticals and ample rest time. As if.

Control Queen: Part II

My puppy died a few days after writing that last blog post. I have stopped feeling sorry for myself and asking why (a control queen characteristic) and starting to accept the outcome. He must've been needed somewhere else, for some purpose forever unknown to us. We loved him for a few very short and blissful weeks! God bless you Parker. Now you are a sweet puppy angel, with no suffering.

The Control Queen

It is time to admit that I have inherited certain traits that are not entirely pleasant. Shocka! I loathe uncertainty, and suffer from a tooth-grinding need to understand that things are headed in the right direction, at all times. Never mind that this is a rather unrealistic approach to life, which rarely works out in favor of the controlling personality—it's how my brain is wired.

On the other hand, an individual with controlling characteristics can be highly organized, productive, and handle many responsibilities at once. They can also be annoying to themselves and others and create unneeded stress by sweating both the small AND the big stuff.

We adopted a yellow lab rescue pup a few weeks ago, and despite being the cutest furball on the planet, he has come with a very high price tag. He's been in and out of the animal hospital with serious infections from the first day he entered our home, and was unfortunately diagnosed with distemper. This nasty virus apparently kills half of dogs that contract it -- and we are in the gray area for a few more weeks.

Sweet little Parker has finally overcome his pneumonia and respiratory infections, but lately has developed a twitch, accompanied with heartbreaking whimpering. Is this the beginning of the end? I cannot know. We are doing everything we can for this dog -- lots of love, an aggressive treatment regime, high-quality food, a comfortable bed, fresh air and the best of veterinarian care. The vet bills are now taking place of a possible beach vacation for us next year, but I don't care if he can just survive. I worry incessantly. The Ambien is out of the medicine cabinet again. Will he make it? Is he in pain or just annoyed when he whines? These are the worst kind of unknowns. I'm going to have to just let it go -- even though letting go is definitely not my thing. I come from a long line of hard-charging matriarchs who don’t accept no for an answer!

Our need to control must relate to the fundamental fear of something bad happening. It's not as if nothing bad has ever happened to me, right? I'm still here. If I can tone down my control queen tendencies, I’m sure I can deal better with any outcome and the journey, too. What do I need, people-- more yoga and green tea, or a psycho-therapist?

Social Media: a Waste of Your Company’s Time?

By Polly Traylor

There's a wealth of content on the Web about how to maximize your social media presence and gain the most from this exciting new media. But wait: should your business spend much time on social media in the first place? For small companies, the ROI can be tricky. You probably have a small marketing staff, and it's unlikely you can dedicate even one person to a social media program. Despite popular messaging from social media pros on the ease-of-use and affordability of social media, it's actually a time-consuming and increasingly complex marketing vehicle. If you want results, you'll need to spend time on quality content, regular updates, community interaction and integration of your social media pages with SEO and overall marketing strategies. You've also got to keep pace with new features and privacy issues of top social media channels. Can you justify the time?

The first determination is whether your customers are hanging out on social media -- and on which sites. Do your targets regularly use social media for researching products and services in your space? If you're not sure, you'd better find out.

Secondly, you need a distinct plan and a strategy. Most marketing experts don't advise ad-hoc social media posting. How will social media fit into your overall marketing program?

Thirdly, you have to measure social media marketing efforts regularly. This is usually not expensive -- but it does take time and diligence.

Recently, I wrote an article for Business on Main, a Sprint-sponsored community for small businesses on the MSN network: "Are You Wasting Your Time on Facebook and Twitter?”. The story was an attempt to shatter a few myths about social media marketing. Here’s an excerpt:

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"The cost issues are critical for a small business," says Paul Verna, senior analyst with eMarketer. Larger companies can afford to hire an agency or even a team of people to handle the time-consuming chores of creating content, making regular updates and monitoring corporate social media pages. A small company may only have a part-time resource. “Even having one person dedicated to your social media profile better have an intense payoff at the other end," Verna warns.

It's no wonder that a recent Hiscox survey of more than 300 participants found that just 12 percent of small companies described social media as a "must" for their marketing and promotional strategies, and nearly 50 percent of respondents aren’t using social media at all.

"Most people go on Facebook to connect with people like family and friends or to play games, and they really don't care about your ball-bearing company," observes Mark Schaefer, a blogger and consultant in social media marketing. "At the end of the day, you have to go to where your customers are.”

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While social media can be a useful investment for many small businesses, Facebook and Twitter aren't always the top choices. Twitter is an excellent vehicle for science and technology companies and communities. Facebook can be fantastic for consumer goods and services. But don't forget: there's also LinkedIn, YouTube, Yahoo and AOL communities, your company's blog, industry discussion forums and local social media sites. As Facebook and Twitter grow larger, their steady flow of new features may be overkill for small businesses. This article on Social Media Today does a nice job of outlining the issues with Facebook, and offers some helpful alternatives.

Before jumping into social media, understand your choices, customer preferences, and if social media is likely to meet company goals. If it still seems worthwhile and you know which sites will resonate with customers, start small. Once you start posting regularly and develop a community of followers, you have set an expectation for activity.

Getting Outside of the Box

How many times in your career has someone asked you to step away from your desk and… "Think Outside of the Box!" I've always hated that phrase. Who says I'm in a box, anyway? I like to call my life a cruise ship -- although it's not always as much fun. There's a full agenda on my ship most days: meetings, appointments, errands, social gatherings, work deadlines, after-school activities, homework, housework, volunteer work, and yes -- even exercise. It seems to never end. Yet at the same time, sometimes I think my thought patterns are in a rut. It's easy to find yourself feeling as if you’ll be doing the same damn thing for the rest of your life.

That "same damn thing" might be raising your kids, helping elderly parents, or maintaining a career track that you've been on forever and which would be way too difficult (expensive, time-consuming, stressful) to change now. Take heart: life does change, and usually when we least expect it.

But you have to rock the boat a little bit, once in a while. This fall, I started coaching an after-school girls running program called Girls on the Run. The program (a national non-profit) targets third to fifth-grade girls, who might find themselves stuck in the "girl box."

The girl box is a nebulous concept but it contains anything yucky: kids are saying mean things to me on the playground; I don't have the cutest, latest clothes; my teacher gave me a dirty look; my best friend is playing with someone else this week; I am the worst kid at soccer during P.E., and a million other reasons why, sometimes, it's hard to be a girl.

Talking to these young girls about their "girl box” issues makes me think about my own box: I’ll never have time to write a book, I will never be a good cook, I am too hard on my daughters, I am not positive enough, I am a nagging wife… the list goes on.

I'm beginning to think that this community service coaching gig is going to help me more than the girls. They’re funny, they smile a lot, and with a little encouragement, they'll try just about anything.

If that's getting outside of the box, I think I can handle it.

Crowdsourcing: Outsourcing on Steroids

Recently, I wrote about crowdsourcing for one of my clients, a small business-focused site called Business on Main, on the MSN network. It’s fun for me to write about how the Internet continues to change everything including business models and how work gets done. Crowdsourcing isn't for every business, but it does seem to apply to many diverse business tasks.

I answered a question on the site about how crowdsourcing can help a small business, which I'm reprinting below. I'd love to learn more about how small businesses, even consultants like me, are using crowdsourcing:

• Is crowdsourcing appropriate for activities such as PR, marketing communications, and even, journalism? What cool examples have you seen?
• Is the crowdsourcing "member" (a.k.a. worker) getting screwed financially from these arrangements?

It seems hard to believe that some of these contractors aren't losing money -- but others, if they are smart, might be getting more volume in exchange for a lower project fee, and coming out on top.

 If only I could use crowdsourcing to get my house in order and laundry done every day.

 Anyhow, here is how I responded to the Business on Main question. What do you think?

 [Reprinted from MSN Business on Main]

Sites such as CrowdFlower, crowdSPRING, Trada and uTest enable a business to complete projects using the collective intelligence of a knowledgeable and skilled community. Instead of spending hours finding the right contractor to do a job, such as designing your website or translating copy into Japanese, post your project on a crowdsourcing site and then review the bids from people who have been pre-qualified.

Crowdsourcing can save you time looking for skilled workers, and may be more affordable, too. “It is usually cheaper, up to 30 percent less than offshoring,” says Matt Johnston, vice president of marketing and community at uTest, a site for software testing.

Companies often find they get as good or better quality results with crowdsourcing. Depending on your needs, you may have a virtual team of people working for you on one or many projects. "Crowdsourcing allows you to tap into the creativity and diversity of an entire community," Johnston says.

Sarah Harris, marketing manager for Norman’s Rare Guitars, says she had mediocre results with freelancers before using crowdsourcing. She used crowdSPRING to source a logo design and Web design project, and was delighted with the result and the service. “I had a lot of revisions for the designers and they were all receptive and completed everything so quickly,” she says.

As crowdsourcing has evolved, there seems to be an unlimited number of ways a business can use it. Beyond Web design, marketing and software development, companies are using crowdsourcing to make videos, do fundraising, conduct market research, transcribe audio files, take customer orders and provide customer support, and even to solicit ideas for new products and services.

Crowdsourcing is a novel and efficient way to hire experts for short- or long-term projects. Give it a try, but don't shortchange the processes you use for hiring contractors on your own. Provide ample guidance up front about your business and goals when requesting bids for a project, says Niel Robertson, CEO of Trada, a site for paid search advertising experts. “If you frame the problem better, you can get much better results," he says.

The Home Office: Haven or Hell?

You happily left the serenity of your air conditioned office to work from home, so you could have more quality time with the kids. Now instead of the boss, the little monsters are yanking your chain. Did you make a big, sticky mistake?

Today, my friend Howard shared with me a San Jose Mercury News story about the challenges of stay-at-home working parents. I don't know why he thinks I would care -- after all, it's not like I work at home and have two loud youngsters or anything. Oh, wait. It was the dream I had two nights ago about working in a quiet office wearing grown-up clothes that was untrue.

On most days, I wouldn't give up my situation for anything. Instead of spending two hours a day dressing, primping and driving to and from an office, I maximize time with my kids. I get to go to their swim meets and baseball practices and help them with homework after school. I save money on gas and nice outfits. I am my own boss and for the most part, set my own schedule. I almost never have to attend a useless meeting instead of working out.

Even so, summertime has reminded me how distracting and unproductive working at home with kids can be at times -- even, or perhaps because of, hiring babysitters. Here's an interesting quote from the Mercury News article: “A recent study by TheBump.com and Forbes Woman showed that, while 92 percent of working moms are stressed out, 89 percent of stay-at-home moms feel the same way. Parents say much of the stress comes from trying to give both work and kids enough time, especially when children are used to getting attention when mom is around.”

Kids find you like a heat-seeking missile when you least expect nor want them. They are genetically wired to interrupt you during an important business call or deadline with a screaming crisis concerning misplaced items or a dessert emergency. The worst arguments between siblings always seem to happen when you're swamped. Babysitters are by and large inept at keeping children occupied with acceptable activities and out of parents’ offices, unless they are over the age of 25, and with significant life experience. Good luck there! Grandmothers are often not much better. The smart, creative, nurturing, patient and highly responsible babysitters are usually former teachers and you can't afford their (deserved, granted) astronomical hourly rates. To be blunt: sometimes it's a real pain in the ass to work from home.

Sadly, I have no advice to share about this, after five years of doing it. But if you're a parent and thinking about giving up the office job for the blessed home-office gig, think twice. Do you have the balls to maintain discipline, clarity of purpose, and when needed, install and use the lock on your office door? Can you discover a coping method for the madness of working when the kids are home, other than twisting opening a bottle of Jack?

If so, enjoy the ride. It's fun, rewarding, and challenging to work from home -- but it's rarely smooth.