Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel

As promised, BusinessWeek Columnist, Christine Comaford answers the questions you posed in the comments section of my post on Monday. After reading the answers to your questions, Christine has yet another give-away for you. Both Christine and I hope you all have a great weekend. Her note is below:

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Hi Everyone,

WOW. What great questions you had. I wish I could answer them all!! Here’s a start. See my ideas for next steps below.

Many social networking tools blur the line between business and play. Where do you think that line should be?

First, we need to chill out on our use of social networks! Too many people are living online instead of “in person.” Get out from behind your PC and connect with human beings physically. Have dinner with friends. Go to a conference. Ok, end of rant! I separate my use of social networks as such:

• LinkedIn for business connections that I personally know and feel comfortable endorsing. This is for credibility boosting (via LinkedIn Answers) and finding biz connections I seek.

• Facebook for social connections that I don’t need to personally know. This is for self-expression, connecting with anyone who is interested, saying what I am up to.

That’s it. Yes, they blur sometimes. But our lives blur. We are human beings having a variety of experiences both biz and personal. It’s key to be authentic in both realms.

With the downturn in the economy, businesses are cutting budgets. How can a B2B service provider ensure that business proceeds as usual?

You can’t SAVE your way out of a recession—all you can do is SELL your way out of it! If you are constantly building relationships, providing valuable info to your clients and prospects (via white papers, etc). practicing “palm up” networking (giving first, getting second) you will persevere. BUT you need to develop new marketing strategies to reach new prospects in parallel markets, need to consider rolling out new services that are more accessible, and need to productize your services so you won’t be so people-dependent. BTW, business is not usual right now. That’s why it’s essential to shake it up, get a new mentor/sounding board, try new things.

What is the biggest challenge that faces small businesses in the next 5 years?

Survival. Since 50% of small businesses fail in the first year, and 95% fail in years 2-5, and the numbers aren’t getting any better, small businesses need to take survival far more seriously. You have to survive before you can thrive. Every small business needs to figure out their ideal end game—where do the want the business to be in 3-5 years. Do they want to one day sell it? What are the founders Conditions of Satisfaction (how many hours of work per week? Employees or contractors? How many direct reports?

Revenue required to make it worth the effort? Sell direct or use third party channels too? Etc). So many small businesses fail because they don’t know what their CoSs are, they don’t have a mentor who has built businesses successfully and repeatedly, they don’t have a senior level sounding board, they don’t have their priorities straight. Mentors are what it is all about for surviving, then thriving. You wouldn’t climb Mt Everest without a guide.

What are key indicators that you look for to know you have found a great business opportunity?

Business that is the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the market wants.

You must be able to explain your business in a concise and compelling way to get others excited about it, to see the value of it. Your business must remove or reduce a key pain. People buy to make money, save money, reduce pain. People want power. How does your business give it to them?

Dumb it all down for those small and med. sized business owners who are interested in making money but need to know what are the steps that they can take right out of the blocks to give them a fighting chance in today’s economy.

1) Get a business mentor.

2) Invest at least 1 hour per week learning key business essentials (the 3 things you must know/do for sales, marketing, operations, finance, team building, etc).

3) Invest at least 1 hour per week getting mentored or coached. Ideally alternate coaching one week, mentoring the next.

4) Follow your mentor’s advice.

5) Be accountable to your coach—make commitments and follow through.

What is the greatest lesson you have learned from mistakes you have made in developing and starting new businesses?

Not having a mentor! Would’ve saved me years and hundreds of thousands (or more) dollars!
We all know that the soft skills like EQ, communication skills, leadership, personal branding are CRITICAL to business success – why then are they not taken seriously?

Because results are what matters most in business. And people devalue the above topics because they think they don’t generate results. Which is wrong! They DO. So I like to use these techniques, deliver great results, then keep quiet about how I got those results. The world is becoming more open-minded, but we aren’t all the way there yet. Keep the faith, and “wrap” these techniques in a results-focused casing!

How do you apply Buddhist principles to your professional life?

Compassion is the biggest one. Compassion for myself and others. Also forgiveness, again for myself and others. The biggest challenge for people seems to be they see themselves as 2 people: 1 in their biz life, 1 in their personal life. I am all for being professional in work situations, but you MUST be authentic. You must be human, genuine, humane. Hey, I get irritated, I can be curt with people. Then I have to go back and make amends and clean up the mess I made. Taking 100% responsibility is what it’s about. Being kind. Seeing the divine in everyone. Because it is there. Sometimes you just have to look harder.

*Next steps*

Since you all clearly are passionate and committed to taking action (my favorite combo) my team and I would like to offer the first 10 people to sign up a free strategy session. On this call you’ll talk privately with one of our team. Together you’ll strategize and determine how to take your business to the next level.

Go to www.StrategySessionNow.com to sign up.

Thanks, and let’s make your venture MIGHTY!

C