Really, I am. I thrive on love in all forms. Online love. Offline love. Love for my work, love for other people’s work. Love is my favorite.

I think we’re all little walking love machines. It would be cool if we had glowy hearts on our chests that we could push to disseminate and receive the love we need. When we’re feeling low, our glowy heart would be dim. And then everyone would fill us up until we were day-glow bright again.

Gwen Bell posted this video a few weeks ago, and it’s one of those that I’m finding myself going back to over and over.

If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, pay attention to 9:22 to 14:45. It talks about how technology has moved our society to a place where we’re seeking trust, meaning, and quality of life over our previously-held values of privacy, constant availability, and ease of use. Our use of technology has made us feel isolated and alone (our glowy hearts are dim!), and now we’re using it to foster meaningful connection.

So what does that mean for us?

I’ve been a pioneer in content-driven websites. Now that people are starting to get that, I’m paying attention to new practices that are solving some of the challenges we face with the content-driven model. It’s not good enough to be a pioneer. You have to know where things are going.

I like to watch people who have been online for a good while to sense the direction of where things are headed. When we’re new to working online, we tend to over-indulge in all of the candy. (But the candy! It might disappear! Must. eat.) But the more seasoned folks among us have over-indulged, under-indulged, and eventually come to a point of investing their time in the things that have longevity. Things I’m noticing now:

• A general repulsion for the exploitation of relationships. We’re funny and real and so transparent. We’ve gotten rid of the corporate lingo and have become comfortable being ourselves. Which is great. But if that becomes another marketing gimmick, we are sickened beyond belief. Which makes sense, given our society’s deepest needs are for trust, security, and meaning. Bad things happen when our deepest needs are exploited.
• Stepping up what we publish. Sick of excessive information and searching for real meaning, we are starting to take our content more seriously. Makes complete sense, and I’m glad it’s happening. Sometimes first drafts are okay to publish, but what would happen if we treated our work as art? What would happen if we polished and shimmied and shined everything we put out there, even to the detriment of frequency?
• Respecting when people disconnect. Our technology-free days are becoming intentional. We do not lose credibility when we disappear to work on our art. Rest is beginning to be respected.
• Instantly recognizing marketing cliches. Remember your favorite English teacher’s definition of cliche? Anything you’ve heard once. And it’s becoming even truer in online marketing. It is now so important to put on our horse-blinders and create strategy that is just ours.
• Having launch fatigue. Marissa Bracke wrote an extremely timely article on this last week. When our relationships with people online become 85% about what we’re launching or what other people are launching, we’re bound to get tired of all of the launching. It’s starting to happen, folks. Which is another reason to put on those blinders and do something no one else is doing. Including launching like no one else is launching.
• Appreciating the chopping block. We are tired of sifting through information. We want carefully edited direction. Instead of googling, we ask people on Twitter for their recommendations. When we visit a website, we don’t want everything in the sidebars — just a selection of what’s most important and useful. Instead of an exhaustive list of books on marketing, we would rather have Ted’s top five. It’s not enough to be simple. We want hand-picked. If you build a reputation of hand-picking the best stuff and chopping off the rest, people will come to you as a trusted resource.
• Going back to professionalism (a little). When we tossed out corporate crap, we tossed out a lot of…crap. But there was also a lot of good stuff that went out with the trash. Like quality. Just because it’s personal, doesn’t mean that we can shill crap (read Amy Hoy’s excellent article on this…and don’t worry. She informs me that it’s Nutella.). We need quality photography. Quality writing. Quality packaging. Quality products. If we’re going to continue to flourish in the online space, we can’t become known for over-priced, over-hyped crap.

So that’s what I’ve been thinking about while I’ve been being quiet. Love, crap, and sandwiches. Also, that LiteSites are back from vacay. And I’ve hired two people who I love and who you will meet very soon. And also that I need to hire a third, but I’m not a fan of being too big for my britches.

Love. To you.

I think I’m going to call this the year of the breakdowns. I feel like this has been a recurring theme in my life and in my writing lately — breaking down. And it’s embarrassing, really. But I have to write about it. Because I can’t write “Top 10 Ways to Fix Your Blog Posts” when I’ve just gotten down off of a two-hour crying jag.

And I am realizing that I’m not the only one. As I’m reading through all of your submissions to my question last week, I’m discovering that we all have hurts and pain in our businesses. We all have stuff that we struggle with. Maybe that’s uber-obvious to everyone, technically, but when you start reading real stories about real stuff that’s happening right now, it all becomes much more…real.

The pursuit and the prize

Starting a business — especially one that’s gorilla-glued onto your life’s passion — is a love story. In the beginning, you’re feverishly trying to catch their attention. You’re doing anything you can (and you’re doing most of it wrong). That part is painful enough in itself, but you just keep doing it, and eventually you do get some sort of attention. And maybe it works out. Maybe it’s a long-term, forever kind of thing.

Now you can go in one of many directions. You can delight in being together. Savor long dinners, bring flowers, relish the companionship. Always looking for ways to bring more joy and fullness to the relationship, but being comfortable in what it is now.

Or, you can start getting afraid of losing this great thing that you’ve got. You might start smothering your companion by being there every minute of the day, wearing yourself out in the process. Or you might start enviously checking out other, prettier people who walk in the room. You might start to try to keep up with them. Or worse, out-do them in your lover’s eyes.

Or maybe you finally got the guy or gal, which was going to fix everything, and then you realize that it absolutely doesn’t. And it was your only hope and now what?

It’s all ick. And it’s all based on fear.

The one thing I know

I’m secretly terrified that by writing posts like this, I’m going to be shouting into a cavernous, echo-y hole of “Oh crap. That sucks for you.” I’m scared that I’m going to end up branding myself as “that web person who cries all the time.” Or worse, “the whiney girl who got what she wanted and then started complaining about it on the internet.” So not professional, right?

But I believe in confession. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but I do. I believe in bringing things to the light and watching magic happen. And mostly, I believe that I was meant to be here, doing this, now. Maybe not the cry-in-public part. But the passionate, love affair with my work part.

I’m going to continue accepting your confessions for another day or so — if you get this by email and you couldn’t see the form last week, you’ll have to click through. It’s all anonymous. My hope is that when I publish some of the answers, it will help give us all some perspective on the holes that maybe we can help fill.

Whenever I launch a new product or service, there are bunches of people emailing me about why they are so excited, they love it, and it’s perfect for them. But then there’s also bunches of people emailing me about why it’s not what they need, but man something in their biz sucks right now, and if only they could get over that thing, then all would be right in the world.

This is the hurt. This is the need that wants to be filled.

One thing that frustrates me so much about big-box advertising and the state of commerce is that most companies with a product to sell tend to look at the hurt a little too late. They look at it in the marketing phase rather than in the product-development phase. In the product-development phase, they’re focusing on current buying trends. What products and services other companies are effectively convincing us that we need. What they can profit the most off of.

And then when they’ve figured out what they’re going to sell us, their marketing departments tap into the hurt to drive those sales. (Or they tap into the pleasure, which is still just the flip-side of the hurt.)

When you listen to the hurt before you develop your next big thing, a lot of stuff gets easier. Deciding what to do next, for one thing. Actually meeting your sales/booking goals, for the other.

And bigger than that, your product or service becomes something that improves the fabric of the world. And that is a really, really cool thing.

How is your business hurting right now?

I’d like to know. And not for my own needs, but for yours. I’m creating a this-is-where-i’m-hurting piece, and I’m going to publish it here. For you. For me. So that all of us can meet each other’s needs where we’re at right now.

There. I just sent mine.

(Submissions are completely anonymous. If yours doesn’t need to be, go ahead and send it to sarah AT sjoystudios DOT com or leave it in the comments.)

P.S. Lots of people have been asking how many people are signed up for the gold-digging excursion. There are currently 43, and I’m leaving it open to 7 more people. Just two weeks left…woohoo!

Note: Today’s post is a bit out of the ordinary for me, but it’s what came out of a terrible, head-pounding day. We’ll get back to our regularly scheduled strategy-talk on Thursday.

Today was awful. I can actually say it was the worst day in the history of my entrepreneurial career. One of those days where the clouds are not only falling from the sky, but they are on fire.

It wasn’t any one conversation or thing-that-went-awry. It was everything. And it made me realize how dangerous it is to associate your sense of self so closely with your business. Because when those flaming arrows come falling from the sky, you have no helmet. Not even knee pads.

I’m not proud to admit it, but today I cried. Torrentially. (I think I just made that word up.) Despite the fact that Chris Brogan and my buddy Sparky Firepants think I’m doing it right, despite the fact that everyone is being so darned supportive and awesome, there are a few people who think I’m doing it wrong. And I don’t know why that sucks so bad, but it does.

Maybe you’ve had a day like that?

This is for you if anyone’s ever thrown flaming darts at your head (and yeah…this is for me)

• You are doing it right.
• If someone throws darts at you, don’t throw darts back. Even if it’s practically necessary, or if it’s just a subtle bit of sarcasm or eye-rolling. Darts are like boomerangs and eventually come back to poke the thrower in the eye.
• It’s good to look for the truth in criticism, but if there is any, and after you’ve extracted it, don’t dwell on it. Ask yourself what’s the best thing you can do now, and do it.
• “I don’t want to disappoint people” is not a good reason to say yes. YOU are worth saving from disappointment.
• You can’t run your business for everyone else. Even though you thrive on letting other people benefit from your super-powers and keeping things humming with integrity and style, you’ve got to ultimately meet your own needs first.
• Don’t give up on people. If you spend your life mis-trusting and second-guessing those around you, you’ll soon be throwing flaming arrows of your own.
• Leaps are always worth the jump. Especially if you’re leaping from a burning building, and even if there is no (visible) net.
• The pain that you’re feeling now is real, but subjective. Go watch Cinderella Man or read The Diary of Anne Frank one more time. Perspective is good.
• Struggle is necessary for the growth of your character. So rejoice in the struggle — character is priceless.
• All is well, and all will be well. (My favorite phrase on the planet.)

I can’t say I feel a ton better after writing that, but tomorrow is a new day. And I’ve still got our gold-digging excursion to look forward to, so I’m beyond excited about that. Thanks guys, for all of your shout-outs and encouragement this past week. I’m excited that you’re excited; we’re going to have a grand old time.

And now back to the steak and shrimp stir fry that John made for me…maybe “eat a good meal with people who adore you” should have been on the top of that list.

I love old people. There’s a lot of freedom that comes with the experience of living for a long, long time. It’s fascinating how time changes us.

Web design is notorious for changing every 5 minutes. But there are some principles of effective web strategy that I’m still going to be rallying around when I’m 92 (unless we’re using pure telepathy by then; in that case I would hand my mic over to the dude with the shiny purple turban).

1. Effective web design is not nearly as much about aesthetics as it is about achieving a desired result. Design for design’s sake does not work on the web. If your goal is to impress the ten people who end up somehow finding your award-winning site, bravo. You did it.

   But I’m betting you had different reasons for wanting a fabulous-looking site. Things like building up a list of people who adore you. Getting email inquiries by the bucketful. Selling your incredible creations to people who appreciate them deeply. Remember: A pretty site does not a successful online venture make. (Although ugly is definitely worse.)

2. The most effective web strategies are the result of a first creation. Back in the day when Stephen Covey was the only productivity guru I’d ever heard of, I used to mull over his idea of the first creation — this idea that everything involves not one, but two creations. The first being the intentional in-your-brain/on-paper creation that determines the second actual/in-real-life creation. Remember: A lack of the first always leads to a lack in the second.
3. Today’s never-fail attention-grabbing strategy is tomorrow’s invisible dog. My childhood best friend (whose name was/is also Sarah, resulting in me being called “Sarah Joy” for the second six years of my life) used to have one of those leashes that had an invisible dog on the end of it. I thought that was the coolest thing. And that’s what your web strategy looks like if you’re doing the same things you were doing a year or two ago. Except not as cool. Remember: Keeping people’s attention requires constant innovation. No laurel-resting allowed.
4. If you’re noticing that everybody’s using a particular strategy, it’s probably on the down-swing. Web strategy needs to be constantly applied in new ways that run against-the-current. They must be tailored to you and your particular brand of awesome. Most busy online entrepreneurs simply adapt what others are doing and call that their strategy. And while that may work for a while, the results will be a watered-down version of what you could be achieving. Remember: While there are tricks and principles to tattoo in your brain, there are no cookie-cutter solutions.
5. The most successful and enterprising people online make themselves their own best client and customer. Hat tip to Men With Pens for talking about this yesterday. When your business explodes, it’s really hard to keep this in the forefront of your business practice. If anyone knows this, it’s me. But it’s got to be said…hiring strong people to help you is better than crippling your growth. Remember: If you put your business’ oxygen mask on first, you will be better able to serve the world. And oh yeah, define life on your own terms.

These are the reasons I’m launching the Gold-Digging Excursion today. Because there’s something missing in our web presence — it’s the first creation, the strategy. It’s the know-how to actually make our dreams come true. I want you to be equipped throughout your online adventure to make stuff happen in a big way. (And also…gold mining! How fun is that?!)

Holy crap, this has been a long series! This is part seven (and final!) in a series on changing your online image. If you haven’t read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth posts in the series, you might want to check them out for full effect. Also, everyone who joins in on the discussion will be added to our marvelous Twitter list so we can keep up with each other. Onward!

As promised, my wackiest (whackest?) launch ideas ever, brought to you by a can of Dr. Pepper and one Cadbury egg. Clearly, an overdose of sugar is required for this. (By the way, the launch sprinkler system is for showering your wonderfulness throughout the planet. These sprinklers are really big and require light to moderate stretching before exerting the effort to turn them on.)

1. Create something really cool for every online publisher that you adore. Preferably revolving around your craft or trade. And exhibiting your One Thing (because everything does now, right?).
2. Send a Cadbury egg to every one of your readers. Preferably when it’s cold outside so that they don’t melt. In my experience, there are only a few valient people left on this earth who can resist Cadbury eggs.
3. Create a video of you attempting to break a Guinness record related to your One Thing. (Not the beer. Though there might also be a record for that.)
4. Go on a reality TV show for the sole purpose of waving hi to your readers. Anything except Wife Swap.
5. Create a dinosaur puppet alter-ego. (Dang it. That’s already been done.)
6. Write love notes to random clients and customers. With real paper and ink. (A stamp would also help. And maybe perfume.)
7. Do something that only your re-launched self would do. For example, if your One Thing has something to do with outdoor adventure-seeking, make a video documentary of you going on a white water rafting trip. Have bonfire epiphanies and experiment with original S’mores recipes.
8. Find a mascot. (Dibs on Penelope the Empathetic Monster. You can have Monty the Fox.). Take pictures of it doing fun touristy things.
9. Publish a comic book series starring yourself doing the death-defying things that you do on a typical day.
10. Do a farewell phone interview with your one of your old branding assets.
11. Instead of giving away a free e-book when people sign up for your newsletter, give away something way more interesting. Like a coloring book.
12. Give away awesome t-shirts to random readers.
13. Do a traveling blog series that’s kind of like a traveling circus. Bonus points if you can somehow incorporate seals or lions.
14. Make a totally amazing, irreverent FAQ page.
15. Take someone hostage. For example, if your business is to photoshop people’s photographs, take all of their blog pictures hostage and completely re-do them. Require a ransom for them to get them back.

I am a HUGE fan of doing things differently. And the cool thing about being online is that everything that has been done offline for years and years is fodder for doing online and being completely new and awesome. Everything old is new again, so turn on those launch sprinklers and shower us with your brilliance!

P.S. Have you heard about the upcoming Gold-Digging Excursion? I’m taking a group of people on a month-long mining trip to make their websites more profit-friendly. Join the pre-launch daisychain to find out when it launches before anyone else. (If you’re even half-thinking of going on the excursion, you want to be on this list. Promise.)

This is the second part of a series on rocking your audience at whatever stage you’re at. As we go through each stage, I’d love to discuss it like crazy and do some q&a before moving on to the next one. So got comments? Leave ‘em. I’ll be adding everyone who participates to the Twitter list so that we can keep up with each other.

It seems like I’m a magnet for database freakishness and server issues recently. (My mantra this week: I SWEAR I DIDN’T TOUCH IT!)

I’ve been so intrigued by all of your stories and different POVs about what being a peanut means. In a lot of ways, I’m still a peanut. I don’t have this huge readership or paparazzi or anything. I’ve been part of some higher-profile webby-ness in the past, but this here…this is kind of my secret hang-out. Ya’ll are in an exclusive club of “People who know who Sarah Bray is”. Secret password: “traditional websites don’t work” (and then knock three times followed by a whistle).

So just to clarify, there is nothing wrong with peanut-hood. Having a giant fan base also means that you have a large base of haters and complainers. I don’t know how the two get so intertwined, but it happens. You also have more to lose if you’re not “edgy” enough or if you don’t come up with enough (seemingly) new ideas. When you don’t follow your own advice, you have thousands of people to tell you exactly when you failed and at what time and how it interrupted their breakfast. So…it’s good to have a secret-ish hang-out. Some business models don’t need a herd of followers to make them work.

Those types of business models (ahem…mine) also require a lot of personal investment. They require you to give a lot of yourself in return for your livelihood and work-life satisfaction. So sometimes they’re difficult to sustain past a certain growth point. There’s just not enough “you” to go around.

(Aside: I know some of you are thinking, that would be a DREAM COME TRUE! And you will get there. Publish awesomely and steadily. Make friends. Charge enough. Tweet. Stand out. Look the part. Do every single thing with the utmost of professionalism — which is not at all the same thing as being bland and boring.)

And when you get there…

Once you get to the “wowza-this-thing-has-exploded” point, you start getting pickier about who you work with. You don’t accept every project on legs. You raise your prices as your work (and demand for it) improves and increases. You learn to say no. You learn to say NOT ON YOUR LIFE.

But the problem is, if you’re not growing, you’re shrinking. You want to continue to grow but in a way that is physically and mentally sustainable.

The answer is not to skip straight to world domination and then try to turn your whole venture into an e-book selling business. There are two problems with that scenario:

1. You have a slim chance of going from being a peanut to being Mr. Peanut fast enough to transition instantly to a successful product- or subscription-based business model.
2. If your immediate goal is to work less, forget it…at least for the short-term. Most people think information product sales is a type of “passive” income, but it certainly is not. It’s just a different type of work. Writing sellable content, amassing an audience large enough to sell to, mastering the art of the launch…it’s a different (and maybe one day bigger) pile of beans, but it’s still beans.

But don’t throw out the beans with the bean water just yet.

A better approach is to figure out who your audience is made up of. Develop some character-types of the types of people that represent your fans, and then figure out which of those people you are currently serving as clients — and more importantly, which you are not. In a nutshell, it’s time to brainstorm how to serve the un-served.

One-on-one you-time is not for everyone. But there are people who can’t schlep the cost who will love you for the rest of your life if you offer group sessions.

Some people can’t do time-constrained stuff because of their day job or kids. A workbook and video course might change the course of their life.

Crowds of people live with their iPods/iPhones surgically-attached. A telecourse might be just the thing to get them moving toward their dreams.

And yes, the delightful e-book also has its place. Just make sure that it’s awesome, or I will personally give you the most piercing glare of your life (my vengefulness against crappy e-books is only matched by my abhorrence of violence and confrontation).

PLEASE don’t stop there

Those are all ideas that have been done. I am a cheerleader of new. And with the internet, everything old is new again. Take something that works brilliantly in person (in or outside of your industry), and do it online. With the right technology and implementation, odds are it will work even better than its real-life counterpart.

I am not without awareness that I’m preaching to myself here, too. And it is happening, though not as fast as I would like. Killing myself is pretty low on the priority list. But making you happy and sharing life-changing, work-changing flow is extremely high on it.

So where are you at with this? Are you working on serving your people better? How do you adjust your old workflow to make it work?

If you’re not at this stage yet, are you offering the kind of help that your audience is looking for? Sometimes a gentle switch in the direction your audience is in will cause a chain reaction that will make your business take off like a rocket.

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know that I’m into useful content. I don’t post crap that’s not going to directly help, inspire, or promote you and your Big Dream. So most of what you read here is about “How to use your website to quit your day job” and “How to scale your business to reach the online masses”. Stuff like that. I’m like your own personal superwoman on steroids. Kinda gives you the impression that I know everything there is to know about everything.

But no. In fact, I have a kryptonite. (If I have any enemies, you can stop reading here.)

<Suspenseful pause.>

It’s the hiring thing. It’s the “How to build a rocking team” thing. It’s the (ugggh) delegating thing.

The truth about my amazing project manager, husband, and sharer-of-last-names

When John left his job this summer and started officially helping me out, I had no clue what he could actually do for me. Up until a month ago, I was barely letting him do anything. Finally, I started training him to do project management. I held my breath, showed him the ropes, and let him do his thing.

A cool thing happened — he is awesome at this stuff. I used to have to put new projects on my to-do list to be set up in a day or so when I had a couple of free hours. Now I just send him an email. He draws up the paperwork; creates the checklists, design briefs, and forms; loads it all up; sends out the client’s login information; and gets the project set-up in the invoicing system — all within hours of me emailing him. He is INCREDIBLE. I’m going to nickname him The Flash.

Why I need him (and others like him)

There are several projects that I’ve been waiting to unleash on you guys — stuff that’s going to help solve this online business puzzle for you. I’ve also been mapping out a plan to serve my clients even better. Upgrades all around…hurrah!

But I’m sorta committed to keeping my sanity. My usual 8-10 project average has turned into a whopping 22 (with several more on the way). I could not be more thrilled. I seriously love these people that I’m working with right now. LOVE. I am not exaggerating. The fact that I get to work with them is insane. Pinching myself over here.

So my two goals are: more time with them and more time with you. Overall, more time creating stuff that’s going to make a difference.

My first tentative step into the world of team-building

I know a girl who is a rocking communicator. She is both genuine and freaking smart. I’m going to start training her to respond to email inquiries in the new year. I’ll be able to answer my own emails more thoroughly when I don’t have 3 hours of it every day. No more emails where I forget to answer the second or third question that the person asked (I used to hate it when people did that to me, and now I find myself doing it constantly).

So…what do I need to know before I jump in? What kind of stumbling blocks should I avoid? How do I weave someone else into this fabric of web-happiness?

…as opposed to people who suck the living soul right out of your body. I spent about an hour yesterday thanking God that I don’t have to deal with bad clients like this anymore. It sparked a huge amount of gratitude that I work with such amazing people.

If you are still dealing with difficult clients, let me just take a minute to say that I am so sorry. Seriously. It’s easy for some people. They let it roll right off their back. My best friend’s from Jersey, and that kind of stuff doesn’t phase her. She just yells at them in Portugese and it’s all good.

But if you’re anything like me, you experience this awful, gut-wrenching feeling when someone is using you as their personal dart board. Whether they’re natural complainers, cynical know-it-alls, whiners, nit-pickers, or power-trippers, it all sucks. Bad customers eat away at the fabric of what you’re trying to build, and you do not have to work with them.

The makings of a bad client

Bad clients are usually just people who don’t know or trust you. They don’t trust your competence or they don’t trust your integrity. Maybe they don’t trust that you know their vision. Or they don’t trust you to care more about them than your own personal ego or agenda.

Building in the much-needed trust factor

To a great degree, establishing trust is on your shoulders…not theirs. You’ve got to earn it. Here are a few ways you can start:

• Price your services right. People believe that they get what they pay for. If you’re cheap, they’re going to think there’s a reason for it. And they’ll unwittingly work hard to justify that belief.
• Don’t be a robot. If you’re just a person behind a faceless corporation, you’re giving yourself permission to be treated like crap. Tell your story so that potential clients know there are real people behind your organization.
• Take a stance. Don’t be afraid to take sides on what’s happening in your field. What are you for and what are you against? When you take sides, you band yourself with like-minded people who will back you up in any situation.
• Share your knowledge. Find a way to share your stance in a way that directly benefits your clients or customers (as opposed to sharing it to benefit your colleagues — there’s a difference). You’ll attract people who appreciate your particular viewpoint and who are excited about the possibilities working with you will bring.
• Don’t be pitching yourself into a hole. Be honest about your strengths, but stop with the hard-sell stuff. Even if you’re “slipping it in” in a way that feels unnatural, don’t do it. The intelligent people that you want to work with spot that stuff a mile away.
• Uncover your successes. Make sure it’s abundantly clear that you are a regular winner at what you do. Don’t assume that people can tell. Spell it out. Show that you’re active and involved and solving problems.

When you’ve done your part

After you’ve done everything you can do, sometimes you’ll still get a gut-check about someone who wants to work with you. There are people who simply mistrust everyone around them. There’s not much you can do for this type of client except to repel them. Here are some things to try:

• Don’t twist their arm. If someone gives you a list of reasons why they don’t want to hire you, then just let them walk away. You don’t want their doubts to be the foundation for your work together.
• Use your writing as a point of entry. If someone clearly has not read anything you’ve written, have them start there first. Until they know your viewpoints and how you work, they are not in a position to trust you.
• Publish your prices. I’ll say it again. And again. And again. Even if your service is very customized, there are elements that you offer to everyone. Price them out so that people get an idea of the cost. It’ll weed out the people who don’t understand your value, and it will give people who can’t afford you (yet) something to shoot for.
• Don’t advertise on Craigslist. I love Craigslist. But that’s the place you go when you want a steal. You don’t want clients whose biggest criteria includes getting the cheapest thing whatsoever. Ironically, they’re usually the most demanding.
• Follow your gut. If something nags at you in your conversation with a potential client or customer, don’t assume it’s just you. Take a time-out and evaluate what is bugging you.

I promise, there is a greener pasture on the other side of your beady-eyed panicky client base. A little trust-building and a little weeding and you’re there.

During the time that I like to call “the week of the dead” — when comments were broken, posts could not be uploaded, and everyone thought I dropped off the food chain — I got a bunch of emails. A bunch bunch. Lots of questions about some of the stuff I’ve written recently.

Havana was one of the people who tried to leave a comment, but was thwarted (sorry, Havana). Referring to this post, she said:

Found you through the fabulous Danielle Porte. Good points about going global! I wondered if you could expand on how you made the transition from local business, though. How did you go from marketing locally to reaching out in the super competitive world market? How did you get your first few non-local customers?

Good question.

Clearing the air about our super competitive planet

Once upon a time, there was an ant named Sophie. She was born into a really dysfunctional ant family. She didn’t get to choose her family, and it sucked. And then one day, she went to school.

At school, there were all sorts of people to choose from — maybe a hundred. Out of those hundred people, two of them were her kind of people. That was really cool. But she had a passion for dancing while wearing hats. Nobody in her school had that same passion. It looked like her hat-dancing days were numbered.

Then she found the internet. She started a website for people who liked to dance while wearing hats. And HOLY COW, there were hundreds of them! What the heck? So she started a business selling dance-worthy hats and music that hat-dancers like to groove to. Happily ever after, the end.

The point

Really, this super competitive global market is not all that competitive. The difference is the way you approach it. In the local scene, you set up your shop on the corner, hoping to draw a crowd with your fancy balloon-man in the sky. The people that come to your store are vastly different, so you do your best to appeal to a broad demographic.

Online, you set up your website and make it awesome and sticky. Then you go out and make friends with people who you’d pick to be in your family if you could choose. (Emma Alvarez Gibson has a really good post on that). And amazingly, people who are exactly right for you start to come and hang out and let you serve them. It’s the coolest thing.

How I made the transition

Back in the early days of business, I thought that I needed to do traditional market-y things to get business. Flyers, direct mail, Google ads, things like that. It worked okay. I got some clients. But they were clients that did not get me at all.

They were “Buy this now!” and “Last chance!” kind of people. I am a “Is this going to help reach your goals?” and “Would we work well together?” kind of person. They were Steve Jobs, McDonalds, and QVC. I am Apple, Craigslist, and HARO.

So I added a blog to my website [envision "traditional portfolio site with a blog attached"] and tried to attract people that way. You know, by posting studio updates and stuff like that. Business-related stuff. Because I was a professional ferpetesake.

And wow! 10 subscribers after six months of blogging! Was it this hard for everybody or just me? I was commenting on other people’s sites and everything. I was even hilarious! I repeatedly felt like a loser.

And then I started getting on Twitter (hoo-rah!). I got my head out of the sand and realized that traditional marketing doesn’t work for the rest of us. That small- to medium-sized organizations (whether in thought or deed) don’t play the same game that McDonalds does. It was a revelation. And I dug in with all my might.

I ditched my old marketing efforts and started over. I branded myself how I wanted to be branded, and not with what I thought would appeal to “professionals”. (Did you know that professional organizations are made up of real people? Yep, it’s true.) I did things that would appeal to those real people. And it freaking worked.

How to get your first non-local customer

Take your web presence seriously. Immerse yourself in the online culture so that you don’t stick out like an alien in a foreign land. Listen to what people need and want before you try to solve problems that you think exist. Solve problems that actually exist instead. Don’t do sleazy stuff that makes you feel wrong on the inside. More specifically:

• Publish your prices. I don’t care what industry you are in, people are the same. One of the first things they want to know is how much it costs. Whether or not you think you’re a bargain at any price. Whether or not you think it will drive people away. It will drive your wrong people away. But it will attract your right people, saving you a TON of time writing proposals and giving quotes.
• Make your site content-driven. That means that the information on your homepage is constantly fresh and updated with useful stuff. And by useful, I mean useful to them. Them trumps you any day of the week. The sweet spot is where it’s useful to the both of you at the same time.
• Stick to a publishing schedule. I’ve written about this before. When you don’t publish on a regular basis, you lose credibility. It’s like not coming to the office…people think you’re not working. They secretly think you suck.
• Ditch Google Adwords. As targeted as people think these ads are, they are not. Unless you’re selling something very specific (costumes for Little Orphan Annie, perhaps), you are going to be paying to bring people to your site who are not your right people. And at $1-$5 per click, it is not worth it. Instead, get involved in places where your customers live online. If it’s Twitter, use Twitter. If it’s Facebook, use Facebook (but please don’t annoy the heck out of your friends on there…they are not your target customer).
• Keep a lookout for testimonials in-the-making. I am so bad at this. I’m finally starting to keep a list of nice things people say about me. Don’t make people write stuff for you — most of the time it sounds like “Sarah Bray delivers exceptional world-class website design with very exceptional customer service!” Does that persuade you at all? Of course not. Watch out for those natural moments when people compliment you on your service or style.
• Always have stuff on the books. Busy people get work, simple as that. Make it abundantly clear that you’re a busy person.
• If you’re really struggling to get your first client, hold a contest. You’re not working anyway, right? Give away something awesome for absolutely nothing. Don’t make them tweet or facebook something like “You too can win a session with Joe Brown!” in order to enter. First of all, that makes a lot of people feel icky and they won’t do it. Second of all, it makes you look like a chump. Come up with something original that your customer would benefit from just as much as you.

Sadly, the same thing doesn’t work for everyone

That’s why a lot of marketing advice sounds so general. It’s like asking your grandmother who you never see which outfit to wear to the party next weekend — What party? Who’s going? What message do you want to send? (A ‘hey baby’ message will require quite a different outfit than a ‘losers, stay away’ message.)

But if you’re doing this yourself, looking for patterns and understanding the overall culture will help you land that first customer and send you on your way to having an international reach. There will be some trial and error on the way, but at least you won’t be headed to Alaska when you meant to go to Detroit.