5 Empowering truths about your business

  1. It’s your business. And that means you have total control.
  2. Your business results are a reflection of your decision-making. If you starve your business of the resources it needs, it will struggle. If you decide to give your business the resources it needs, it will thrive. It’s always your decision.
  3. Any time you choose, you can improve your strategy. You can replace activity with productivity. You can stop dabbling and get intentional.
  4. A great strategy won’t work unless you do. Do the work. All of it. Not just the 90% you find comfortable.
  5. There’s no need to wait for the economy to pick up. Remember point number one: You’re in control. You can begin the process of improvement today. I mean, literally, right now.

So, stop worrying. Just give your business what it needs and it will give you what you need.

5 Facts to focus on when your business is struggling

Here are 5 facts to focus on, when times are tough for your business.

  1. You are one idea away from a life-changing breakthrough. Just as you were the last time it happened.
  2. You are one email away from a great client enquiry. Just as you were the last time it happened.
  3. You are one phone call away from converting an enquiry into your most valuable client ever. Just as you were the last time it happened.
  4. You are one decision away from an amazing opportunity. Just as you were the last time it happened.
  5. You are one conversation away from your largest ever order. Just as you were the last time it happened.

Keep moving forward. Because your greatest success is, literally, one step away!

Blogging from your phone? Maybe you should. Here’s why!

I did some testing earlier and wanted to share my experience with you.

There’s a key area, where WordPress lagged behind social networks and services like Tumblr. I’m referring specifically to posting updates direct from your phone.

It has always been technically possible. However, the experience was horrible. So, earlier today, I decided to see if the the WordPress iPhone app had improved. I wanted to know if adding links, formatting text and inserting images had improved.

It has. A lot

I last checked it out around a few years ago. Back then, WordPress via the iPhone was fine for writing draft posts. But they would need to be edited and tidied up on a larger device. And adding links to text was, at best, really frustrating.

Today, it’s extremely easy and user friendly. None of the old issues are there.

No, it’s not a full desktop blogging experience. I never expected it would be.

But it works! It’s a breeze to use, too. In other words, it’s easy now to blog “on the go” straight into WordPress.

And that’s what many of us have been waiting for.

Now that blogging on WordPress is truly mobile, I’ll look to incorporate it into my weekly blogging. I’ll let you know how I get on.

More importantly… if you haven’t checked out the WordPress app for iOS or Android in a while, take another look. You too may be pleasantly surprised.

And yes, this post was written and published, from scratch, in about 25 minuets using a Phone.

Overcoming loneliness

Social networks and mobile communications are connecting people like never before. This begs the question: Why does study after study confirm that loneliness is at an all time high?

I don’t have the answer. But maybe it’s because people are replacing face-to-face interactions with virtual ones?

Think about it.

 We find out how the people in our lives are doing on our main social app, without actually meeting them. We can shop from home, without having to visit the local store. We can watch a movie on Netflix, without leaving our home. And many of us can go to work, without actually “going” anywhere.

There are many, many other examples. All of which allow us to live our lives, with an absolute minimum of human contact.

I thought I’d test my theory. Here’s what happened

Around 18 months ago, I decided to get out more and meet more people. I wasn’t feeling lonely. I have a great family and I’m blessed with many good friends. But I knew I wasn’t meeting new people like I used to. So, I decided to make some changes and see if it improved the quality of my life.

Here are a few of them.

  • I swapped an exercise bike for an outdoors bike.
  • I swapped a treadmill machine for walking around the village where I live.
  • I swapped working exclusively from my home studio, for working a few hours, twice a week, from what Andy Ihnatko calls field offices.
  • I swapped texting my friends for having a coffee with at least one of them every week.

The difference this made was huge. Way bigger than I could have imagined. I now see my friends more often. I’ve also made a lot of new friends; people I’d never have met, without the changes I made. Plus, it has massively improved the quality and volume of my work.

In short, I feel so much better in every area of my life. That’s despite having not actually felt lonely before. I can only imagine what impact this approach might have, for someone who is feeling lonely.

I honestly have no idea if sharing this will help anyone else. But spending more time with people offline has been transformational for me.

The simple experiment that expanded my mind

Around a decade ago, I decided to try something. It’s allowed me to have a far more balanced view of the world and also, helped me understand people at a way deeper level.

And today, I’m going to share it with you.

How I expanded my mind

I decided to leave my echo chamber.

Here’s what that means: Instead of subscribing to websites, social media accounts, magazines, radio stations etc., which shared my point of view… I threw it open. I started to also pay attention to those, with completely opposite views to myself.

Initially, I planned to do it for 7 days. But before the week was over, I found myself able to better understand why people had different beliefs to my own. I also found that many things I assumed were right, were, at best neutral. And in many cases, I found my long-held points of view were totally wrong.

Perhaps more importantly, I was able to empathise with people at a more personal, less biased level.

Note: This doesn’t mean I agree with everything, everyone thinks. It does mean I can understand WHY. It let’s me appreciate their point of view, without having to hold their point of view.

I’ve done this ever since. And it’s improved my life in many, many ways. So, maybe you might want to give it a try?

Just for a few days. Follow politicians on your main social network, who have opposing views to you. Listen to podcasts or radio stations, that support something you currently see no value in. Read a newspaper, that’s biased against your current perspective.

And see what you can learn.

How to deal with trolls

It seems social networks are either unable (or unwilling) to stop trolling. And this is bad news for anyone with the guts to express an opinion.

So, what’s the answer?

Don’t worry. Fred Wilson has you covered.

Over on his blog, Fred gives some very simple advice on how to handle trolls. It consists of 6 steps. The first 3 steps are pretty simple. The final 3 steps are tougher. But all 6 are essential. Go and read them now!

Fake News needs our support

The fake news phenomena really interests me. And with hindsight, I don’t know why it’s only become a mainstream issue in the past 10-years or so.

After all, everyone can be a publisher these days. And most of us are. Billions of people have social accounts and hundreds of millions of us have newsletters, or podcasts, or YouTube channels or blogs too. In other words, we’re all equipped to spread whatever information or misinformation we choose.

I was thinking about this recently, when my friend told me about the challenge he had, helping his daughter with some school work. He explained that time and again, it was easier to find low quality “content” than expertly-crafted articles. For instance, Google regularly ranks Pinterest posts above museum articles, when you’re looking for a reliable source of historic information.

The answer?

Technology certainly has a huge role to play. And the tech companies who have profited mightily from fake news need to start taking it seriously, rather than offering platitudes.

But I don’t think technology is the answer by itself.

Ultimately, the solution to the fake news problem has to be education. More specifically, education on how to discern between reliable or credible sources and those that are not. There needs to be a clear message, that just because an article is ranked highly on Google, or a Bluesky post has a ton of likes, it doesn’t mean the source is credible or the information is reliable.

We’re part of the problem

That’s because search engines, social networks and our friends can’t be fooled without our help.

Here’s why.

  • When we link to a fake news story, it’s almost like voting for it. Each link sends Google and the other search engines a signal. And the more links a story gets, the higher it will rank in search results.
  • When we like or share a video, or Instagram post/reel we give it added visibility and increase it’s social proof.

Thankfully, this also means we can become part of the solution. We can choose to ensure we check the source of information, before we link to it or share it.

And we can ask our friends to do the same. Like I just did.

I screwed up. Not her!

I was contacted by someone last week, who said she wanted to know more about working with me. I could tell after 15 minutes of speaking with her, that she was just trying to score some free marketing advice. I gave her some ideas, then politely ended the call.

After the call finished, I felt frustrated with her for being so selfish. I was annoyed with her for wasting my time. And I was wrong!

It was my free choice to speak with her. She couldn’t have wasted my time, without my active consent. Had I been a little more careful, I’d have known she was a time waster before speaking with her. All the clues were there. But I dropped my guard. And I paid the price.

Here’s why I’m sharing this with you

Ultimately, we all choose where we surrender our time, attention and energy. It’s our decision.

Whenever something like this happens, I’ve found that the best thing to do is:

  1. Quickly accept responsibility.
  2. Look for the lesson and learn from it.

This approach means that my time waster wasn’t a time waster. She taught me a lesson and also gave me something to share with you. That’s not a bad return, for a 15 minute investment.

How to have massively more energy and focus

One of the most valuable business tips, isn’t.

That’s to say, the tip doesn’t appear to be business related at all. It has nothing to do with customer service, marketing, cash flow, logistics or any key business activity.

Yet it has everything to do with your business.

Ideas and actions

A business is always a reflection of the ideas and actions of the person or people directing that business. The quality of your ideas and your commitment to take action are everything. And these are directly linked to how you feel mentally and physically.

An average diet, coupled with too little exercise, leaves you operating way below your potential. It leaves you with foggy thinking and a lack of energy. People tend to confuse this with low self-motivation. They’re often wrong.

Most business owners are motivated people, but it’s hard to keep pushing forward when you lack clarity and energy.

A healthy diet and regular exercise is the answer. Avoid foods that are processed, foods that are high in bad fat and foods that are high in sugar. And walk. Walk daily for 30 minutes. That’s every day. Yes, even when it’s raining. The key is to move your body regularly.

Obviously, before you do anything, speak with a medical professional. They’ll be able to put you on the right track, based on your current health and fitness levels.