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    What CaboPress has to do with Cartography

    Recently I found myself thinking about early Cartographers and how they managed to create accurate maps. They’d use rudimentary tools, landmarks, and their own observations.

    In-fact, distances were often estimates due to lack of accurate measuring tools. That caused a lot of problems for travelers, would rely on those distances and measurements to get to where they wanted to go.

    As we know today, being slightly off over a long distance could land you in a dramatically different place. Just ask Christopher Columbus.

    Today, of-course, we don’t have that problem. With most of the world mapped out, and those maps accessible at any moment with real time directions, accurate maps are commonplace. Modern cartographers are focused on creating advanced, interactive digital maps.

    It’s not that simple when you’re starting your own business. Sure, you might have a rudimentary map. But there’s no set of directions you can follow to have a successful business…despite what Twitter bros tell you.

    That’s why you need a great cartographer for your business — someone (or a group of someones) who can use their observations and experience to help you create the map that will get you to where you need to be in your business.

    Chris Lema, CaboPress, and all the great people I’ve connected with there have been those cartographers for me.

  • The Importance of Positioning

    I just saw a commercial for Just for Men Beard and Brows.

    This is mascara. But Just for Men knows that men (especially men concerned with grey in their beard) won’t buy mascara because it’s not masculine, so they’ve positioned it as a totally new product to help you hide grey without dying your hair.

    This is this power of positioning.

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    How My Toddler Taught Me to Sell Results not Features

    Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.

    Yoda, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

    That quote is from Master Yoda, as he’s trying to help Obi-Wan Kenobi try to find a missing planet. Obi-Wan let his assumption (“that’s impossible because only Jedi can access this data”) get in the way of the actual answer — which was given to him by a young Padawan.

    Similarly, my son Louis, who’s 2 and can only say a few words and sentences, helped reinforce a very important sales lesson for me:

    Don’t sell features. Sell the results.

    See, I was trying to get my son to abandon the wide-open world of the front yard (and active road), for the safer, albeit less exciting back yard. First, I ask my son if he wanted to go to the backyard (or the platform/product). He said no. What can the backyard offer him that the front yard can’t?

    So then I ask if he wanted to go on the trampoline (a unique feature of the platform). Again, he said no. Perhaps he didn’t realize what the trampoline was, or what it can do for him.

    Finally, I asked him if he wanted to bounce (the results of using the feature), and he said yes.

    Don’t sell your product or service by talking about features (or worse, how you made it). Sell what your product or services can do for your customers.

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    What Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know About Understanding Their Customers

    My daughter is 4 years old and loves Rita’s “Water” Ice1. In the beginning of the school year, we’d celebrate making it to Friday by going there and getting a treat. Of the times we went, there were two that really stand out.

    See, usually I come with my son Lou (15 months) in my arms, holding Teresa’s hand, up to the register. I order 3 “water” ices: a kid’s for Lou, a small for T, and a medium, sugar-free, for me.

    The first time that sticks out in my mind, the younger woman (I’d guess college) hands me all 3, no tray, no lids, 2 kids in tow. I ask her for a cup holder. She gets it. I ask her for lids. She gets me 2 that don’t fit on the 3 “water” ices. So I struggle holding everything, trying not spill it as I make my way back to my car. I left pretty annoyed because I thought it was clear that carrying literally anything else would be a struggle.

    The second time it’s the same situation, except the woman who took my order is around my age or older. She hands me all three in a cup holder, with lids securely fastened to the cups. Getting to the car was MUCH easier this time. I left much happier, because the woman took the time to make sure I wouldn’t struggle.

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    Do we REALLY Need to Own Our Platform?

    Last week’s Facebook outage brought the onslaught of common takes we hear when something like that happens. Calls to go outside, read, achieve world peace — you know, the standard responds. But in the WordPress space, there was also the predictable platitudes about how you should own your own platform. But my question for those people, and something to consider: do we really need to own our own platform?

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    How Skip the Grind Showed Me to Focus my Business

    A common question I get is, “What exactly do you do?” Generally when I answer, I get a response of, “Wow! You do a lot.” Even my wife says, “I’m not really sure how to answer when people ask me what you do.” That is awful for a business owner.

    It’s easy to think doing more = more revenue. But that’s usually not the case. It’s usually the opposite. You’re not focused, you’re trying to promote too many things, and you lose prospects because they aren’t sure you really know how to solve their problem.

    This is why I knew I needed to focus my business, and why I signed up for Skip the Grind. I was not disappointed.

  • Serve Your Customers to Help Yourself

    I’m a big fan of automations. Generally, they are “set it and forget,” and I don’t have to worry about them working. When they break, I spend a fraction of the time troubleshooting that I would performing the task manually. A great, easy automation for anyone is post new content to Twitter. And while there are a TON of WordPress plugins for this, I thought the simplest solution would be an IFTTT1 integration. But when something didn’t work, they decided they’d rather use the opportunity to advertise themselves instead of serve the customer.

    Read More “Serve Your Customers to Help Yourself”
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    Why Your Contract Should Have a Project Kill Switch

    A lot happened between 2019 and 2021. I launched a new service that I originally called “Ship Your Podcast” – a done-for-you Podcasting service. I’ve since folded it under the Podcast Liftoff brand. But I also started doing a lot more video work…and that was the bell of the ball when I met with people at WordCamp US 2019.

    I signed on clients to both services. Contracts signed. Deposits deposited. Then the pandemic hit. Two clients completely disappeared. One seems to have completely moved on. The other came back 14 months later…

    Read More “Why Your Contract Should Have a Project Kill Switch”
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    Design Pickle and Cotton Bureau: The Easiest Way to Create a T-Shirt Shop

    Back when I was in college, making t-shirts was all the rage. College kids, like conference goers, love t-shirts. I figured I could get in on the action and make some money. But my only semi-successful t-shirt was one friends and I made for Scranton’s Parade Day. So why did I fail every time I’ve tried to sell t-shirts? There are a few reasons, but the main one is if you don’t have the 5 skills needed to make and sell shirts, it’s too hard. Luckily, those days are over.

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    What Prepared Plumbers Can Teach You About Winning Business

    Recently, my wife and I noticed our faucet was leaking. Now, I’m not a DIY guy. I’m thankful that computers exist because I can’t do anything with my hands. But I decided to try to fix it myself. Long story short…it didn’t work. I brought the faucet neck to Home Depot and they were less than helpful. So we called two plumbers. One was the clear winner, and here’s why (and what you can learn from them).

    Read More “What Prepared Plumbers Can Teach You About Winning Business”