Small Business Beginnings: An Interview With Michele Jackson

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Recently I spoke with Michele Jackson, founder of Lotsa Luck Design about the entrepreneurial spirit running in families; taking the leap into entrepreneurship and how small business owners can market themselves online.

MICHELE’S STORY

Her story actually starts with her mom.  Michele’s single mother worked at a magazine for the retail ice cream industry and knew there were ways to improve it. So she purchased the magazine right before her daughter went to college; which was a risk.  This entrepreneurial spirit left an imprint on Michele.

Michele’s own entrepreneurial journey began 8 years ago when she was laid off after having her first child. She worked for agencies doing graphic design and marketing strategy a few days a week and filled in with some of her own clients around the agency work.

I asked Michele how she made that transition and what advice she would offer to entrepreneurs.  The first thing she mentioned was…

TAKING THE LEAP: BUILD A SUPPORT NETWORK

Someone told Michele it would take about 6 months for things to “start kicking in”; and they were right.  What did she do during those 6 months of lean time (and after for that matter)?  She got to work on building a support network. She says “Other people are going through the exact same thing that you are; you can help each other out”.

If you want to build your own support network here’s a few tips:

  • Tell as many people as possible 1) what you do, 2) how you do it and 3) why they should work with you – and tell them in as many different ways as you can.
  • Remind people that you’re there.  How?  “Pick up the phone and say hi”.  This sounds simple but how many phone calls do YOU make each day to reconnect with key people in your business life?
  • Find networking groups within your niche – then make your presence known; tell people specifically what you need, who you need to know AND how you can help them.

While building her support network Michele continued working for agencies and started taking on new clients in the arenas of web site design, marketing collateral design, branding and email & social media marketing.  From her successes in these areas she shared…

MARKETING TIPS FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Entrepreneurs, especially new business owners and startups need to be very aware of their brand and what “they’re putting out there” when it comes to online media.  Michele says “You wouldn’t go to a networking event in flip flops and ratty jeans, would you?  Then don’t do that online either.”  If you want to be more effective online and get more clients here’s a few actionable ideas for you:

  • For Facebook: Put up a clean logo for your company page (if you have one) and a clean profile pic (that actually looks like you).  Pick a photo for your timeline that says something about your brand.
  • For email marketing: Our attention spans are getting shorter; make sure that every marketing piece you send out has a clear and concise call to action.  What do you want people to do after reading your email?  Tell them exactly what to do (visit your site, download a free ebook, call you, etc).
  • For everything: Create a marketing calendar.  Decide what topics you’re going to talk about each week and month. Think through the next 3 months based on who your target market is and where they are online (Facebook, Twitter, etc) – then talk to them.

HELPING OUT AND MAKING CONNECTIONS?

Want to make a new connection in your professional life and a few introductions?  Here’s how you can get to know Michele.  Right now she wants to meet:

  • Entrepreneurs and small business owners that need help with marketing; maybe they don’t have the time to “do it all” or they need someone to create a strategy and brand for them.
  • People who run entrepreneurs groups (both online and offline).
  • People who work with entrepreneurs such as: Lawyers, accountants, insurance professionals, business coaches and other trusted advisors.  Michele can also help YOU connect with these people!

Michele’s passion for entrepreneurship started with her family and now she’s sharing with her communities; including Big Ooga.

What new marketing practice will you put into place TODAY?

Who will you reach out to and connect with TODAY?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mark J. Carter helps 1) authors & experts build their businesses by discovering their stories and then creating their brand marketing campaigns & 2) creates game-changing experiences for corporations, nonprofits & organizations through events & cause marketing.

Want Carter to help you discover your story?  Contact him here and mention “Big Ooga Storytelling”!

Do Only What is Necessary Day – This Entrepreneur’s Life

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Reading, Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Stanier, the book challenges you to observe how much, bad, good and great work you are doing currently and charting how you spend your time.  To know how to categorize your own work, here are his abbreviated definitions peppered with my observations.

Bad Work – A waste of time, energy and life (this is the work that sucks the living daylights out of you, has you wondering what you did all day, leads to procrastination and brain freeze, keeps you stuck and has a negative zero net gain giving you a new reason to recover from yourself)

Good Work – Familiar, useful and productive (this is work you do well, do with predictability, do it because it must be done.  It gives you a sense of accomplishment, quiet satisfaction and if you’re in Bad Work Recovery Mode – a sense of jubilation that you didn’t screw yourself – boo yah!)

Great Work – Meaningful, makes a difference, inspires, stretches, provokes and is the work that matters (this is the work that dares you to make stuff up and believe in it, to say, “Things must change and I’m going to change them!” This is the work that makes you look nuts to the rest of the world, allows you to think deeply and act in accordance.  Great work is equal to great purpose whatever that purpose is. It is the total permission to be yourself and actually do IT, whatever IT is.)

According to the book, great work is often done imperfectly with imperfect skills by people working at the edge of their competency.  Some years great work is creative thinking, gathering and laying the groundwork and other years great work is the actual work.

So today after reviewing my own pie chart of Bad, Good and Great Work the single greatest takeaway for me is to proclaim today  – Do Only What is Necessary Day.

But I’m going to extend it to everything – to work, to life, to food and fitness, to money, relationships, input and output.

Doing only what is necessary is going to force me to be more conscious of the hundreds of decisions I make or don’t make each day and act in conscious accordance.  It is going to make me more responsible for my behavior and ultimately that equates to my destiny.

So here’s to launching, Do Only What is Necessary Day! If it has the impact I think it will, it will be the first of many more focused and aligned days (done as often as possible and imperfectly).

SOBcon – Walking Among Beacons and Beams

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SOBcon comes to Chicago in May and I go because it allows me to work beside and learn among the luminaries and pioneers of the digital vanguard. And what’s so great about being in the company of Beacons and Beams is that we all sit at the same VIP table.

In an immersion of quantum leadership we collectively and individually share our bodies of work and works in progress. We openly sojourn as pioneers and pilgrims through the soul, exhilaration, despair, courage and wisdom of the entrepreneurial experience.

To prepare you for next year, I’d like you to know some of what is inside the culture of SOBcon.

Everyone is outrageously human, magnificently imperfect, a little bit wonky, intellectually evolving and not afraid to be who they are. They revel in shameless individuality and embrace and encourage the same.

Ditch your pitch because nobody cares.

Bring your heart because you’re going to be sharing it.

Prepare to make an impact on the world, however you define that world.

Prepare to be humbled and in the same breath expanded.

Expect to make friends..the take home to dinner, call into a project, invite into inquiry, last a lifetime friends.

Mack out your style. As long as you’re showing up make your most meaningful wardrobe selection comfort in your own skin. There’s a lot to learn. Your brain will get crowded, your confidence will get rocked but your ambitions will ignite so you might as well wear the shoes of your future.

And most importantly don’t forget to Love.

Because it’s all about the people and what we generously share.

SOBcon is a weekend that lasts a lifetime. But it’s nice to know it will be back next year..because who can get or give enough good JuJu?

Victory! The Illinois Healthcare Cooperative Can Be Formed

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The ability to form an Illinois Healthcare cooperative has just become a reality. Here is the email I received last night from the President of the SBAC detailing the process and victory.

Hello Board Members, Policy Committee, Membership Committee and Interested Folks:

It is my sincere pleasure to report that today, we were advised that the Illinois Department of Insurance re-assessed their position and came to the conclusion that no legislation is needed in Illinois to form self-insured cooperatives for small business owners, their employees and entrepreneurs. This is a huge victory for small businesses throughout the State of Illinois. Just as importantly, this could not have been done without your efforts.

To briefly recap:

- Our efforts began last year when we formed a coalition of business organizations for the purpose of passing legislation allowing small business owners to form self-insured cooperatives. It had been the position of the State that this legislation was necessary to form these cooperatives. Despite our efforts, we were unable to move this legislation through the Senate Insurance Committee.

- We re-drafted the bill and went to work this session. It was not easy. Our lobbyist, Dan Johnson, fought for the bill. Ken Olson became involved and offered strong support for the legislation. Steve Banke led the charge. Amy Masters got the word out. Blanca kept things together.

- SBAC members went to Springfield on multiple occasions to lobby for the bill. On one occasion, Steve Goldberg and Ken Olson testified with Dan Johnson in favor of the bill. So many of our members worked to bring legislators on board, and business groups into our coalition, it is not possible to mention you all in this e-mail. While I cannot thank you all individually right here (the e-mail would go on forever), you know who you are.

- Through the efforts outlined above, we were able to move the bill through the House Insurance Committee and yes, the Senate Insurance Committee. Shortly thereafter, the Illinois Department of Insurance determined legislation was not necessary and a self-insured cooperative could be formed under Illinois law that will allow us to compete in the free market with the large insurance companies that presently dominate this space.

- We will now begin working with multiple players and a coalition of over 11,000 businesses and entrepreneurs to build and populate a health insurance cooperative to stabilize the costs of health insurance and bring transparency to the process. This victory came through the power of critical mass, coupled with the incredible efforts of our members and partners.

More to come and once again, thank you.

El

Elliot Richardson
President
Small Business Advocacy Council
20 S.Clark Street, Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60603
Office: (847) 990-7909
www.SBACIL.org

Way to go! I knew we could make the change and make the change we did!

This Entrepreneur’s Life – The Irony of Uncertainty

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In the process of producing an event around the topic of uncertainty, we tried something totally new and it’s only with perspective that I’ve realized the irony.

The Challenge: After meeting Jonathan Fields, author of Career Renegade and Uncertainty – Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance I wanted to bring him home to Big O to speak. Navigating uncertainty is more important than ever and I found his wisdom illuminating.  Since he lives in Manhattan we decided to wait until he was already here so we could time it to one of our meetings.

The Solution: Since I don’t like waiting I began noodling another solution and in the process we built a relationship.

Then it hit me – why not invite him to do a virtual Keynote LIVE, a Skype call-in that was broadcast on a large screen? Add a Tweet Chat to that and invite an even a larger audience?  It would be almost like he was there.

I ran it by Jonathan and he said yes.

I ran it by the Ranch and they said yes.

Had I done either?  No.

Did I know someone who did this stuff? Yes.

Did I know what was going to happen or if the audience would even like it? No.

But if it worked..the world would open up. Thinkers of relevance from all over the world could now beam into Big Ooga and share their knowledge.

The upside was thrilling. The down side not so risky. If the night was a bomb, there would be other nights.

Did it even occur to any of us to rehearse prior to that night?  No.

We all just saw it in our minds eye.

And then reality hit.

It was an hour and a half before show time and we had decided this was the perfect time for the run through. Mark Carter was producing the Tweet Chat and I figured the Skype call was a no brainer.  As far as I was concerned everything was in order. You flip the switch, it goes on.

“Lennie, what’s your Skype address?” Mark asked.

“I don’t know.” I answered.

“Um, what were you thinking about the call?” he said.

“That we’d work it through the Ranch.”

“Did you bring your lap top?” he said.

“You mean my net book?”

“Tim McDonald is on his way in with a laptop. No problem. I got this covered.” (To himself so I could hear. “And you’d think I would have asked her this in advance.”)

That Mark is being considered to produce the next TED, puts this into perspective.

A flurry of activity: screens, cords, hook-ups, computers, Tim McDonald arrives, Avery arrives, Ranch tech on deck, people testing, texting, speakers are brought in, solutions are flying.

“Mark,” I said, “Jonathan’s waiting for the run through.”

“Let him know we’re almost there.”

THERE was 15 minutes to zero hour. But Jonathan was cool because he IS the Uncertainty guy.

And then..just as we’d all seen it in our heads, it worked.

The Virtual Keynote and Tweet Chat took flight.  People loved it, asked for more like it and stayed in their seats discussing, exploring, contributing and responding to each other. We were traveling together in a beam of new thinking and it upped everyone’s game.

Here are some pearls of wisdom to help you move through your own Uncertainty and use it to fuel your brilliance.

1. Know that we are all moving through uncertainty and that the brain is wired to run from it.  If the natural response is to avoid it, you can elect another default setting with conscious choice.

2. Up your concentration. Work with a 90/30 rule and you’ll get more done with more focus.  Spend 90 minutes at your desk with complete focus and break for 30 minutes so your brain can recover. If you can’t do 90 or 30, adjust to 60 and 15, or any increments that you can handle as long as you disengage.  By training your brain you’ll be able to up your times of real concentration, creativity and flow. When you are in flow, you are literally in uncertainty and it feels wonderful and exciting. The more you experience the wonder the more you are going to immerse in it.

3. Turn off distractions.  Research proves that multitasking will diminish your capabilities and you will get less done more poorly.

4. Remember: Anything worth doing requires uncertainty, but you must decide and act in the face of it.

5. And this one is for Carol Roth, evaluate your risk.  You may not know what will happen but if the upside is glorious and the downside is a speed bump. Leap!  Trying something new makes you new and contributes something new to the world.

postscript:  We’re doing this again with Steve Farber so get your copy of Radical Leap or Radical Leap Re-energized.  Radical Leap is among the 100 best business books of all time. And then we’ll discuss it with him.