AnywhereMan

X – X – Y – Y – X – X – Y … What comes next? A “Y”, right?

I stopped home for lunch earlier this week and my wife was working with our five year-old daughter on some homeschool stuff. They happened to be working on patterns similar to the one in the first sentence. As I watched her analyze each pattern and anticipate the next character, I realized how vital the skill of recognizing patterns can be.

When I spend less time checking emails each day I get more done. When I get more done I have more money and more time.

My high-paying clients are usually more trusting of my opinions than most low-paying, DIY clients.

Any opening tag in HTML requires a closing tag.

Earlier this year, I recognized a trend where some potential clients needed a simple website but couldn’t afford my base site development price. I tapped into this trend by launching TweakMyTheme.com specifically for them.

Lately, I’ve noticed how inefficient my sales pipeline process is. By detecting patterns in the questions potential clients ask, knowing which potential projects are high-priority, and developing a standard follow-up process, I’ve developed a new, improved system for my business.  I’ve started using Capsule CRM to manage my entire prospecting and sales process, and I continue to use Freshbooks for my invoicing and time-tracking.

If you can recognize patterns in your career, you’re going to succeed. Learning, business, investing, education, relationships…so much of what we do is dependent on finding patterns.

I used yesterday, July 5th, as a chance to make some serious progress on the new version of my Lift Development website. I built the original about 3 years ago and my business has evolved quite a bit since then. I’m also moving forward with some new branding so everything (business cards, apps, website) needs to be updated to reflect this change.

Using everyone else’s day off gave me an excuse to devote the day to my own project. Whether it’s a holiday or a weekend, sometimes that’s the only way my in-house projects make any progress. However, if I would simply commit an hour here and there to my stuff…as in actually make time on my schedule…I wouldn’t need to cut into time that might otherwise be used for relaxation and recreation.

My point is this: Treat yourself like a client as much as you can.

Set deadlines and goals for your own stuff. It’s important! In the case of my website, it’s one of the first points of contact I have with a potential client. Therefore, it’s as essential as anything else that I do. I need to treat it as a high-priority task.

What are you working on in-house that may need to get bumped up the priority list a bit? Can you devote a few hours a week to it? Make an effort to schedule it: write it down and add it to your calendar.

I’ve been reading Seth Godin‘s “Linchpin” at a surprisingly slow pace. It’s not because it’s a bad book, it’s just because each little section in it is just so good and I’d be missing out on so much by reading it too quickly. I’ve got this book earmarked all over the place!

In the book, Godin discusses the idea of the resistance. This includes habits, emotions, and other barriers that keep us from truly becoming more than just a cog in the corporate machine. Today I talk about one of those barriers: fear.

So, what are you afraid of?

A big thank-you to @MichaelHyatt for the book!

My wife Sarah has been doing some part-time photography for the past few years. She does it more as a hobby just because she really loves taking pictures, but it’s nice that she can actually generate some income for her time as well.

We had a conversation this past weekend about how she feels like more and more folks in our area are getting into photography and offering their services for hire as well. With so many options, why would anyone hire her for a session?

I thought about that a little bit and even compared it to my freelance web business. Why would someone enlist my services when there are so many other folks doing what I do?

I think it comes down to differentiation. There are little things about working with me, or having my wife take your pictures, that are unique. We all do things in our own way and the method to our madness is what sets us apart in a couple of ways.

Differentiation From The Amateurs

We’ve all probably run into this one, and I think Sarah sees it too when people find out what her rates are and convince themselves that they can do just as good of a job on their own, for free. This attitude used to drive me nuts but honestly if you are dealing with potential clients that have the cheap DIY attitude, you’re best to let them do their thing without you. Chances are if you did work with them you’d regret it.

Here’s the thing: It’s true that technology is amazing. Anyone has the potential to create amazing websites, photos, articles, or apps. But there’s still a learning curve. The last time I checked, our camera didn’t tell me what direction to face, the angle to hold the camera, how to position the subject, and how to get everyone to smile at the same time.

It still takes practice. And because you practice your craft on a regular basis, you have differentiated yourself from the amateurs.

Differentiation From Your Peers

Notice I didn’t use the word “competitors.”  We’re all freelancers, and we’re in this boat together. And this isn’t a little tiny life raft; It’s a cruise ship. And it’s a cruise ship that is headed out to sea to rescue survivors from the Titanic of corporate America.

I think people love working with the little guy and are fed up with the bureaucracy of large firms. That’s the advantage that we have. I really do think there’s enough business for most of us. A lot of times we can even collaborate. I emphasized this to Sarah as we were talking about her photography.

However, you still need to define the specific reason someone might choose you over one of your peers. The more and more we do what we do, little things start showing up that define the way we approach our craft.

As an example, Sarah is phenomenal at photographing kids. She captures moments in a photojournalistic, real-life manner that a big studio probably wouldn’t be able to easily do. She also has a specific style and user-experience unique to her approach. And I think that’s why people hire her.

Practice Makes Art

Knowing and developing your style is what’s going to differentiate you. Not only that, but it’s going to help you identify the type of client that fits your style, thus helping you market yourself more accurately as well. The more you are out there practicing your craft, the more you’ll be able to build an experience and product that has your fingerprints all over it.

Once people know what makes your brand unique and expect it, you won’t have to worry about amateurs or peers.

The eternal “underdog” Minnesota Twins have made the playoffs five of the past eight years, recently signed arguably the best hitter in baseball (Joe Mauer) to a long-term deal, and just played their first regular season game in their brand new ballpark, Target Field. I’ve been a Twins fan all my life and looking back at their history, specifically the past 10-15 years, a person can learn a lot about what it takes to succeed.

1) Success doesn’t happen overnight

Obviously. Most of us realize this.

While the Twins achieved something that may appear to be success by going from worst-to-first in terms of being horrendous one year and winning the World Series the next (1987 & 1991), their overall success as an organization and business was just not there. After a few slumping years following the ’91 Championship season, talks of contracting the team began heating up. It didn’t help that they played in a bubble (the Metrodome in Minneapolis).

It’s only been through a commitment to build their team from within, spend within their means, and exercise patience in the face of criticism that the Twins organization has now become a success and powerful brand.

2) Flirting with failure makes success that much sweeter

The very-real possibility of contracting the Twins organization at the turn of the century is what makes their story so great. While the outlook on the business side wasn’t good, the team continued to focus on trying to win…on a budget.  They opted to develop solid everyday players through their own minor league system instead of spending big money on established stars, and it started to pay off. They started to win. They started to make the playoffs.

They continued to win. People started attending more games. They started building a reputation as a team that played baseball “the right way.” And in the long run, they were able to establish their business so much that the public voted to help them build a brand new, outdoor ballpark which will allow them to be even more successful and profitable.

I can only imagine how good it must feel to go from folding altogether to becoming what people are calling the “model team” in baseball.

3) Trust your instincts

In 2001, coming off an awful 69-win season, the Twins had the first overall pick in the major league draft. With that pick, they chose local high-school hero Joe Mauer and sent him straight into their minor league system to develop. The Twins had an excellent track record of developing talent, and developing Mauer would be no different.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs had the second pick and chose Mark Prior who rapidly established himself as a dominant starting pitcher. Critics constantly harped on the Twins for choosing Mauer instead of “overnight” star Prior.

Fast forward nine year to the present day, and Mauer is coming off of his first AL MVP season, won his third batting title, and has two Gold Gloves to his name.

Mark Prior? He’s battled injuries throughout his career and has never had a season as good as his rookie year. His most recent contract was a minor league deal and I’m not sure if he’s even playing or not right now.

The Twins trusted their instincts and refused to listen to critics, and it paid off big-time.

4) Luck happens to those who work hard

When the Twins eventually started posting consistent winning seasons in the 2000′s, it wasn’t due to power hitting or a dominant pitching staff. It was due to playing small ball. Picking up hits here and there, moving runners into scoring position with bunts and bloops, or simply taking runs away from the other team with incredible defensive players like Torii Hunter.

And sometimes, they just got plain lucky. However, I’ve noticed that often people that experience the most luck and the people that consistently work hard and do the little things that make a difference.

5) You can use your status as the “little guy” as an advantage

This is directly related to your status as a freelancer: Being the “little guy” is not a bad thing – it’s an advantage.

While other teams spend millions more to build their teams for the short-run, the Twins have spent less and gotten much much more over the long-run with the players they’ve developed. Even with the huge long-term contract awarded to Mauer last month, the Twins still aren’t spending like Boston, New York, or LA.

And that’s why they are popular. People LOVE cheering for a team that has been built, developed, and continually has an underdog feel to them, even if they have a very strong roster.

Likewise, I think people love entrepreneurial spirit, and I think people love working with a freelancer who has developed their skills and turned down full-time positions with established companies. I think it’s the go-getter attitude of freelancing and lack of a corporate safety net that gives us an advantage.

Go Twins!

Lately, the virtual version of me has been hanging out on a few other sites. AnywhereMan.com is my main blogging/video home, but in the past few weeks some very exciting opportunities have been presented.

First, I am on a month-long trial as a contributor for a popular web app/software website called MakeUseOf.com. The site has lots of tips, tweaks, and reviews and I’ll be writing there a few times as they test me out (i.e. until they realize I’m just a wannabe blogger!). My first article was published this past weekend and was entitled “3 Ways To Use Google Reader As An Online Archive.” It’s been a fun experience thus far. I mean, I’m writing about web apps and even getting paid to do it. Perfect!

Next, you’ll recall that last week I did the first AnywhereMan interview with Lisa Kanarek. It was a blast! Much of the process of setting up the interview and recording it was made known to me through Andrew Warner at Mixergy.com: home of the ambitious upstart. Andrew’s a great and super bright guy, and my wife and I were lucky enough to spend some time with him when we were at BizConf last summer.

Well, Andrew took a look at my interview with Lisa and the next day one of his guests was unavailable at the last minute. He graciously invited me on his live program to discuss my interview experience and use it as an opportunity to emphasize to his audience the importance of doing interviews. He gave some awesome tips and I learned a lot from him describing some of the things he’s observed. You owe it to yourself to follow Andrew and his future interviews. He’s interviewed some amazing guests like Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss…and he’s just getting started.

Thank you, Andrew, for the opportunity! Folks, stay tuned for a future AnywhereMan interview with Andrew as he is definitely a fellow AnywhereMan (He’s currently doing all of his interviews from Argentina). Here’s my appearance with him last week:

Here is part two of my first “Startup Saturday” in which I built and launched a new business/site in a day. That site is TweakMyTheme.com.

Please note that some of the steps in this process are simple enough for anybody who has the ability to place orders online to complete, i.e. ordering a domain, ordering a hosting account, etc. You’ll see me flash a link in the video, but here’s a link to my exact steps for launching a theme-based WordPress website fast.

Amazing enough, I just publicized this launch for the first time yesterday and I’ve already gotten an overwhelmingly positive response and some potential business.

What kind of business are you thinking of launching? Would the ability to get it off the ground on a single Saturday motivate you to pursuit it?

I love throwing new business ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.This mentality has led me to practice something I call “Startup Saturday” where I essentially launch new web business ventures in a day. Here’s part one of the vlog for my latest launch: TweakMyTheme.com.

TweakMyTheme.com is a WordPress theme customization service. I’ve customized quite a few WP themes in the past, so the service itself is nothing new. However, lately I’ve felt that it’s important to package certain skills into “products” and give them their own website. Sometimes listing everything I do (design, ASP.NET programming, video, SQL design, etc) on a single site results in a watered-down offering. Maybe I should just focus on one of those skills altogether, but that’s another story…

I spent a Saturday a few weeks ago putting the site, plan, and content together. To further complicate my life, while working on the TweakMyTheme site I also came up with two more startup-in-a-day ideas, so I’m already looking for the next free Saturday to launch another one. It’s a lot of fun and I’m getting good practice, if nothing else.

Am I off my rocker? Is it better to launch a lot of “small” businesses and see what works, or do you think one well-planned venture is more powerful?

“It’s not a pink slip. It’s a blank page”

Last night I finally sat down and watched “Lemonade,” a documentary about several different advertising professionals who were laid off by their respective agencies and used the opportunity to focus on turning their passions into careers. The 35-minute film itself was produced by one of the professionals in the film.

If you have any entrepreneurial spirit whatsoever (which I think many of you do), you need to see this film. Whether or not you have a job with an employer, the spirit and passion that these people used to turn a seemingly negative situation into motivation to succeed at their own venture is incredibly inspirational.

It’s a quick film (35 minutes), but it packs a lot of punch. It’s almost like watching a film version of Gary Vaynerchuk‘s “Crush It,” which is a short book but really pumps you up to chase your passions. I think there are so many different stories in the film that you’re bound to relate to at least one of the featured individuals. The guy who created the film itself started a blog/job board for laid-off advertising pros called Please Feed the Animals, and I found myself really relating to him. Now, I haven’t been laid off before, but I am passionate about blogging and video.

My Response

One thing my wife and I discussed after viewing this: People with a marketing background definitely have a leg-up when it comes to starting their own venture and making it known to the world. Many of them are web-savy and know how people respond to various approaches of advertising. Many times the business ideas are the easy part. It’s getting the ideas/products out to the general public that takes the most creative muscle.

With that in mind, one of the things I’ve recently started doing in my spare time is starting “mini-businesses.” These are basically products/services for which I can create an entire web presence in a day or less. I’m also looking at offering this type of service to clients (especially startups like the folks in this film, but not necessarily advertising pros) through yet another mini-business.

I’ve been doing some video documentation on this process, so be sure to come back soon for details on how I’ve been starting these mini-businesses in a rapid deployment manner. I’m a big proponent of throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks. This is my attempt at forcing myself to do it on a regular basis.

Two Thumbs Up

I definitely recommend seeing this short film. In fact, you can watch in right now, right here! Here’s an embed of the full-film from Hulu:

Take the time to watch this film, be inspired, and then report back with your thoughts. If you’ve seen it already, what did you think?

SPOILER ALERT: One featured individual used his layoff as an opportunity to turn himself into a woman, but I’m guessing most of you won’t go down that path.

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• Lemonade: a short film about creative unemployment (core77.com)