Virtual Moxie - The Cure For The Common Virtual Assistance Practice

I'm Not a Bank: Dealing With Late-Paying Clients

(Image Credit: 123RF Stock Photos)

Molly wrote to pick my brain:

"I have a client I really enjoy working with. Unfortunately, she sometimes pays late. It’s getting to be more often, too. Whenever she has to pay late, it’s because either she didn’t bill her clients on time so her money didn’t arrive soon enough to use it to pay me, or her clients are late paying her and she doesn’t have it to pay me on time. Usually, it’s the second scenario.

In my agreement with her, I say that work will stop when an invoice is five days late.

She’s ok with stopping.

I feel like something’s wrong with this scenario, but I can’t put it into words, much less figure out how to talk with her about it.

Any light you can shed on this would be wonderful"

There are a couple of things going on that I can see. Maybe other readers will have other ideas—if you do, please be sure to share with us in comments!

1. You put the clause in your agreement about stopping work when invoices are late to protect yourself from being screwed. Smart, that. But what you didn’t think about was the client who wouldn’t mind stopping and picking up again when she’s able to pay. What you meant to do was create a disincentive. What your client sees is a way to keep her place in your practice even as she’s not honoring the agreement to pay you on time. She really shouldn’t be able to have both.

To shift this, consider changing your standard to include a consequence to stop this from happening. For instance, it might be that if you have to stop working for non-timely payment more than twice in a six-month period, you’ll stop working with the client all together.

You're not hard-hearted. Everyone can run into a snag. But....

2. You’re not a bank. Working but not being paid on time is tantamount to floating the client a loan. You can’t really afford to do that.

You want to work with clients who can easily afford your fee and who can reliably pay you each month. On time. Clients who are living as hand-to-mouth as your client seems to be can’t do that. And, in the general hierarchy of life, you will always be one of the last to be paid with whatever the available funds are. First will be her shelter, then food, then any services to keep life and work going that she can’t do without, and somewhere below that is you.  I do realize that problems flow from one person to the next, but they don't have to flow to you. It's your choice to not allow this on a regular basis.

To shift this, consider creating a standard that says that you only work with clients who can easily afford your fee. They exist--I know because I am one and I know plenty of others.

To discern who can and cannot pay you reliably, you’ll need to have a fairly direct conversation with anyone you interview. You might consider saying that you need to know that you’ll be paid on time, and want the client to understand that your being paid cannot depend on her being paid. Ask what kind of cushion the client has to maintain cash flow or deal with tight money situations that will prevent paying you late. Then only work with clients who answer the question to your satisfaction.

With regard to this client, you might just say the truth: “I really enjoy working with you, and I can’t afford to be paid late any more. My invoice needs to be paid whether or not your invoices are paid. What other arrangements can you make so that this doesn’t happen again?”

Then only continue to work with her if her answer is satisfactory to you. Otherwise, let her go and create room for someone new who can afford to work with you and will pay you on time.

Good luck, Molly!

Stay or Go--Two Options For a Client Who Wants a "Break."

Another fine Pick Anastacia’s Brain question! This one is from Lisa, who wrote:

"Last year, I had a client take a one-month sabbatical away from her business so she could participate in a work-study program and try to figure out what direction she’d like to take her business. For the time that she was away, we suspended her retainer since I also took a two-week vacation during that time. When she returned, she told me she could only afford to do a 5-hour retainer with me (rather than the 10-hour retainer she had been doing before her break, and had agreed to by signing my contract). I told her I only do 10-hour retainers, so we parted ways in October.

This experience led me to think about adding some language to my New Client Orientation about a break in service. Below is a clunky draft of said language:

Break in Service

Occasionally, circumstances may arise that require you to take extended time away from your business. If you foresee an interruption in our retainer arrangement, it is your obligation to notify me at least one month in advance of your anticipated leave. A break in service of longer than one month will terminate our current agreement. If, upon your return, you decide that you’d like to continue working with me, it will be at my discretion to admit you back into my practice – dependent on whether I’m accepting new clients at the time of your return. If I do bring you back, we will need to negotiate a new retainer agreement at that time.

I would welcome your sage advice and input about how best to word what I’m trying to say."

Giving my usual disclaimer about no rights/wrongs, or VA cops who will clunk you on the head for doing it “wrong,” here’s what I think.

Part of the reason she has you on retainer is to guarantee that you’ll have a certain amount of time available for her in your practice. If she takes a break of any duration, she fundamentally ends your agreement.

I think a client who wants to take a break (even for a month, and even if you’re going to be on vacation) should be given two choices:

1. Continue to pay you to hold the space in your practice

2. End the relationship with you

The point is, the client cannot walk away from your practice, not pay, and expect that you’re not going to fill that empty space with another client, sitting idly by, earning less income than you want/need, in order to hold a space for her. That’s crazy.

The language I suggest would go like this, “I completely understand, Joan, and you know I want what’s best for you. As far as our working relationship, though, taking a month off isn’t an option. If you’d like to make sure that there’s a space in my practice for you when you’re ready to resume, you’ll need to continue to pay my retainer. If not, then we’ll end our work together now. If/when you’re ready to resume, we can explore possibilities that may exist—depending on whether I have space to add an additional client at that time. Which would you prefer?”

If she continues to pay your retainer, great. If she doesn’t care to do that, let her go, and move on. Do not leave the space open for her—even for a month. That’s like sitting around waiting for a boyfriend to come back after he’s said he “wants to take a break.” Don’t go there, girl. Not to mention that you learned another valuable lesson that many girls waiting for boys learn: they don't always come back, and if they do, it's just not the same as before they left.  So I'm all for giving them a chance to choose to stay... or letting them really go. :)

A client who takes a break loses the space in your practice. Period. And you, then, go find another. If/when the client comes back, you can decide whether to engage her in a conversation about working together again—based on whether you have space, and want to work with her.

If you would rather go in your original direction, consider going only with this part of it:

Occasionally, circumstances may arise that require you to take extended time away from your business. If you foresee an interruption in our retainer arrangement, it is your obligation to notify me at least one month in advance of your anticipated leave. A break in service of longer than one month will terminate our current agreement.

Leave out this part: If, upon your return, you decide that you’d like to continue working with me, it will be at my discretion to admit you back into my practice – dependent on whether I’m accepting new clients at the time of your return. If I do bring you back, we will need to negotiate a new retainer agreement at that time.

In my view, it’s not especially gracious, and it’s not something the client will ever remember if she decides to try to come back to you—so saying it at the beginning is somewhat pointless.

Plus—it’s always at your discretion, anyway. You don’t need to say that. Your biz—your discretion about who to work with. Heck, it’s even at your discretion about whether to TALK to someone about working together again!

The other change I suggest is to this: “…it is your obligation to notify me at least one month in advance…” Leave that out. It just makes a reader want to say, “Or what?” I mean, what would you do if the client doesn’t give that notice? “Force” her to pay you? How?

It’s language with no real body under it because, as a practical matter, you’re unlikely to sue her for it to “force” her.

Instead, make a request, and hope for the best: “If you foresee an interruption in our retainer arrangement, I’d appreciate as much notice as possible.”

It’s more gracious, and it also, without saying it plainly, indicates that you know you can’t force her to do anything she’s unwilling to do. There’s a surrender… a zen-like quality… to asking for what you want and detaching from the actual outcome.

I hope this helps, Lisa… I look forward to hearing back from you after you read it!

As for you, dear friends, what would you do if a client wanted to take a break from your practice? Would you hold the space or fill it?

What Goes Around Comes Around

Starting the New Year off strongly, a Pick Anastacia’s Brain question from Brandy, who wrote:

LOVED your Moxie Tip this morning (#93—Who Defines You). I’m wondering about something, and I know you’ll set me straight. I’ve listened to you, and don’t want to let clients call the shots for my business, but every single prospect I talk with really tries hard to do that. Frankly, it pisses me off.

After reading Moxie today, my husband pointed out to me that when I moved my domains away from Go Daddy last week to apply pressure on them to back off their support of SOPA, I was doing exactly what the PCs were trying to do to me. Basically, he was saying I’m no better than they are. That pissed me off, too, but I’ve been thinking about it, and would love to hear your thoughts. I can’t seem to find clients who don’t want to push me around. Could this be a case (for me) of do as I say, not as I do?

Ding, ding, ding… we have a winner! Give that girl the big purple unicorn!! And give your husband a huge smooch on the cheek from me for calling you on what he saw. :)

I’m glad, truly, that you’ve been listening, Brandy. I’ve taught so many times over the past 15 years that VAs, as business owners, have the right and the responsibility to make decisions about how they run their businesses. This is an across-the-board reality; they get to decide their fees, how they expect clients to pay them, when they work, what happens when they need to be away from the “office,” and quite literally everything else about how things go.

All of that, in combination with who they are, as much, if not more so than what they do, is what attracts ideal clients to them.

Clients not attracted by something about how VAs’ businesses are run can choose to leave the relationships, or not get in to begin with, but they do not have the right to try to pressure or coerce their VAs into changing business standards to suit them.

You get that—yet it’s who you attract.

And the reason? At least in part, it’s because you think it’s ok to do that to other businesses, as proven by moving your domains to pressure GoDaddy. And frankly, you’ve confused the Universe. You can't "do as I say, not as I do." That only works on kids--and usually not especially well because even little kids know, deep inside, that the double standard just isn't "right." :)

I watched, this past week, as customers put pressure on Verizon Wireless to reverse a decision they’d made for their company with regard to a fee they wanted to charge. In the same week, 70,000 domains,, yours among them, were moved away from Go Daddy in an attempt to get them to change their stance on the SOPA legislation. Earlier last year, customers pressured The Gap into ditching a new logo with threats of never shopping there again.

Like your prospects, every one of those customers had the right to take their business dealings elsewhere if they didn’t like whatever the company in question was doing, but none of them were entitled (and I use that word pointedly because that’s how they behave) to vocally and publicly apply pressure to the companies to get the companies to do as the consumers wanted them to.

So yes; when you join the mob to pressure other businesses to change to suit what you think they should do, while expecting that clients will not do that to you, there’s a disconnect you’re living with. You can’t behave one way while expecting the Universe to bring you the opposite.

Decide where you stand on businesses and their leaders making decisions.. And then behave accordingly across your life and work. We all know what they say about karma… right? :)

Higher Standards Without Perfectionism or Burnout

In October, I was delighted to participate in my friend Molly Gordon's Self-Employment Telesummit. Because I wasn't available during the live sessions (I was traveling), Molly and I did an interview that was then offered to telesummit participants.  

During that interview, Molly asked me to tell her more about my oft repeating of "Your standards can always be higher," and to say more about how one might raise standards without perfectionism or burnout. It was such a great question, and I wanted to write about it.

There's an amazing quotation by Eden Phillpotts: "The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."

Standards aren't about perfectionism. They're about fit. Your standards need to fit you now. And as you're a growing being, as you grow, so should they. As you grow, your wits sharpen, life changes, and so should your standards in business and life.

For instance, I lead a particular retreat I love. It's called What's Next? It gives women the space/time to get out of their lives and work on whatever's "next" for them (which could be anything from the formation of a new company, the starting of a book, or even taking the very next three steps needed to grow a current practice). It's always a small retreat, and so it's very important that the women fit with one another.

My standard around choosing participants used to be to rely on the idea that the women attracted to the retreat would likely be similar in many ways, and probably a good fit, so I'd say something like, "Ten spaces available, and when they're gone, they're gone!"

And I got gobsmacked by the inclusion of one who was the polar opposite of a good fit. The lessons were big and painful. I came home with sharper wits, and upgraded the standard to, "Ten spaces available, when they're gone their gone, and you have to apply and tell me why you want to come."

I got gobsmacked again. And with still sharper wits, I upgraded the standard to, "If you'd like to come, please apply, and we'll talk." I had big conversations with the applicants. I explored why they wanted to come, what they wanted to work on, all sorts of things I'd not done before.

And the last What's Next retreat I led was beyond awesome. The group was perfectly matched. It was beautiful, powerful, fabulous... I can't say enough about how well it went or the magic that was created by them when they were together.

We outgrow clothes, shoes, relationships, jobs, houses....so it makes sense that we outgrow our standards. My saying that standards can always be higher is my way of reminding people to check in with their own, to see if they've been outgrown and need adjusting.

In my view, that shouldn't cause burnout. Maybe doing it once each year is enough. Or maybe, if you're like me, it's easier to be awake and aware and adjust things as you go, with one over-arching review each year.

The review, like the standards, has to fit you. Just be sure you make the time and take the time to review and upgrade in order to have greater ease in your business and life!

"Affording" Time Away is All In the Numbers

One of my fondest desires is that Virtual Assistants be profitable in their businesses.

To be profitable means that the business pays you, pays expenses not passed through to clients for their own work, and has a little left over.

When I hear people talking about VAs “underearning” as a platform for telling them how to make MORE, my first thought is, “First you have to teach them to know if what they have NOW makes them profitable. From there, they can decide if they want MORE.” Not everyone does, you know. Some people really want enough.

Either way, making sure that your business is profitable is important.

And I’ve been sharing a formula that objectively tells you whether that’s happening or not, for nearly 15 years. I’ve posted about it on Moxie, most recently here.

What I’ve realized recently is that part of the way I’ve talked about it is unclear. And I say that because I’m realizing that many people who share the outcomes of their formulas do not do this piece—the piece about adding in time off as an indirect expense.

So I want to see if I can clarify.

Let me start by saying that some indirect expenses are easy to see, and therefore, to include when you're listing expenses. You get a phone bill. You have an internet access bill. You know how much that new printer cost.

But it’s the cost of the things that you can’t see—or, maybe better—that you don’t see all the time, that seem to get people all ajumble. Things like time off. Or making a contribution to a retirement account.

When you were an employee, back in the day when such things were provided, you had paid time off, and possibly a match of funds into your retirement account. Now you have to be thinking about replacing those “benefits” on your own dime. And the reason so many VAs say things like, “I can’t afford a vacation,” or “I can’t afford insurance,” or “I can’t afford continuing education” is because they didn’t add it in as an indirect expense which is then covered by their fees.

‘Cause if it’s in your fee, you have the money for it.

Ok – so to revisit the formula, in the post referenced above, it looks like this:

1. Billable hours/week X 45 weeks/year (or however many weeks you plan to work) = billable hours/year
2. Annual indirect costs divided by billable hours/year = hourly costs
3. Hourly costs + hourly pay + 10%-30% profit = hourly rate

And I counsel VAs to take more time off than they ever had working for someone else. You need it, trust me on that.

I'm happy to say that most VAs I know are taking some time (I still think they deserve and need to take more!), but they’re not compensating for it in the formula, so it’s not “paid” time away. No wonder they can’t “afford” it. :)

Here’s what it would look like (roughly) without compensating for the time off:

Suzie is an AssistU-trained VA with three years experience FT in her business. She plans to work 45 weeks/year, and do 25 billable hours each week. She does high-end client work, plus was an EA in the corporate world for 15 years, so she’s claiming $23/hour as her hourly rate. Her indirect expenses are $35K/year, and she wants a 20% profit. She’s been through the Authorsmart program to help her with her niche working with best-selling authors, and she’s an AssistU Certified Professional Virtual Assistant. This year, she’s attended/ing two high-end multi-day seminars by esteemed teachers, so she figures the increase in her skills will be worth $15 more per hour.

25 X 45 = 1125 billable hours/year

$35K/1125 = $32 (rounded) hourly costs

$32 + $23 + $15 + 20% = $84/hour = the fee Suzie needs to charge her clients to be profitable in her business. To break that down a bit more…

• $32 pays her expenses (including time off, insurance, and a portion of her retirement savings)
• $38 goes in her own pocket, free and clear (although taxed, of course!)
• $14 is profit for the business

Awesome. Except that those seven weeks she’s not working? She earns nothing, nada, zilch.

And that’s ok, if that feels like what you want to do, but I think you deserve to be able to “afford” to do it, and most people will never be able to unless they are compensated for the time.

So if our pal Suzie wanted to cover her time away, here’s how that would look:

7 weeks off x 25 billable hours/week = 175 hours

175 hours x $23/hour = $4025

Going back into the formula, adding that amount into the indirect expense:

$39K (rounded)/1125=$35/hour costs

$35+$23+15+20% = $88/hour instead of the previously thought of $84/hour.

Who knew that four little dollars more per hour would amount to $4K over the cost of a year?

Your numbers will obviously vary because they’re your numbers, and every person’s numbers are different,, but work them. To be paid, cover your expenses, and have a bit left over so that you can say you have a profitable business and speak the truth about it, work the formula--the numbers don’t lie.

Your turn: Run the formula… where are you?

Moxie Tip 58: Response-able

If being responsible comes, in your thinking, with being blamed, shift it. Think instead that it means being response-able….able to respond, help and find solutions when there’s a need, and regardless of how the need came to be. There's plenty of time to figure out the "why" later. 

 

 

On Trains, Goats, Eagles, Social Media, and Not Jumpin' on the Crazy

Aha! Another question from Pick Anastacia’s Brain, the service where you get to ask me anything for free, if I can use it here on the blog...or for a very small sum of money if you'd prefer to do it privately. :)

Monica wrote:

Years ago, being a VA was generally about administrative tasks; coordination, newsletters, travel, research, proofreading, a bit of ghostwriting, etc. I’m now finding that prospective clients are expecting VAs to be experts in marketing (specifically social media) and techie skills (i.e. shopping carts).

I’m not sure if this is just because of the types of clients I see that are getting that info via recommendations from internet marketers or because business owners are generally turning away from the brick and mortar business model.

A couple of years ago, I would hear the term “techie VA” thrown around would say to myself “well, I’m not a techie VA… I have no intention of being an IT person or a VA who sits and processes technical stuff all day… I’m more a VA strongly geared towards project management” and now I’m starting to feel like I’m going to get squeezed out of the industry if I don’t step up to the plate with more technical and social media skills. I’m working on improving my skills in these areas, but it does leave me a bit concerned about “being left in the dust” when it comes to my techie skills.

A fine time to share a story that many of you may not have heard me tell before, as a preface to my answer:

Once upon a time, in a beautiful land, there was a farm on which lived a farmer and his family. Also on the farm lived some animals. An eagle watched over the land and the animals that lived there. With her great flying skills, she would soar over the land all day, and with her keen vision, watch out over everyone and everything, making sure that it was as it was meant to be, so the farmer and his family could be happy and safe.

She could see the owls in the trees, the squirrels scampering about looking for nuts, the duck with her ducklings on the pond, and the goats chewing grass in the pasture. And when something wasn’t as it should be, she'd do her best to make it right. Just this afternoon, for instance, duckling wantered out of the pond and his mama didn’t see, and the eagle swooped down, and with a great flapping of her wings, ushered the duckling back to where he belonged.

The eagle was an amazing swooper and usherer. :)

Every so often, the eagle would take the time to fly down and sit on the pasture fence and visit with the goats. The eagle found them fascinating because they were so very different from her.

While she could fly high above the land, they had to stay on the ground. While she had keen vision which allowed her to not only see out over the distance but also with pinpoint accuracy, their own vision allowed them to see only four feet in front of their faces. And while she was meant to make sure that all was right in the land, their sole job was to eat things put in front of them—like grass, tree bark, and even the occasional tin can

Indeed, the eagle found it fascinating.

She always enjoyed visiting with the goats, but at the end of the visit, she’d have to fly away; to go back to the sky where she belonged. And although she was always sad to leave the goats, she'd do so willingly because she carried with her the sure knowledge that she and the goats were exactly who they were meant to be, doing what they were meant to do! 

The End.

I wrote that story (sappy though it is) to illustrate the distinctions I’m seeing in our industry. By and large (and I realize that’s a sweeping generalization) VAs with any degree of longevity in our world end up either resonating with the eagle or the goat.

Either, a VA wants to help with the visioning and watch out over things for the client, or she wants to be fed tasks—happy as a clam to sit and do all day long.

And in truth, clients need both an eagle to watch over things, AND goats to do the work.

But in the same way that some clients want VAs to be expert in things that really aren’t theirs to be expert in (PR, for instance), some clients expect a VA to be both eagle and goat (manage/watch over the business/hold the vision, and make appointments/set up a cart/build a Wordpress blog/________ <---everything-under-the-sun goes here).

More, clients expect VAs to know it all and do it all.

Add to that that Internet Marketers, running tiered coaching and mentoring programs designed to help people grow their businesses, tell their clients that they need a bevy of services and products to grow their businesses that they often don’t yet actually need (if you don't have a list, you do not need Infusionsoft!), and we’ve got ourselves a bit of a pickle.

To answer your question, Monica… yes; you’re seeing more clients who want techie work. But many of them (in fact, the majority that I have seen) have vastly unrealistic expectations—both in terms of what they think they need to grow, and what a VA “should” be able to do for them. It’s all a bit crazy. They’re a bit crazy.

And you…fabulous Monica, there’s nothing wrong with your deciding that learning techie things isn’t for you (for whatever reason). Based on what you wrote, I’m betting you resonate with the eagle in the story. If I’ve gotten that right, then it makes even MORE sense that the idea that you might have to learn the techie tools doesn’t jazz you.

I have three ideas for you:

1. Don’t change who you are for anyone. Learning skills that you know aren’t a good use of your time and talents and that don’t lead to work that lets you be happy is a sucker’s game. Don’t play it.

IF something needs adjusting, it’s likely to be how you position yourself from the get-go with the potential clients you talk with. Make sure the story you tell about yourself is clear and in alignment with both who you are and what you do.

2. Figure out what your real work needs to be. If you resonate with the goat path (as I call it), to be the best damned goat anyone has ever seen, you need to learn far more things, and learn them at the hands-on level. If, on the other hand, as I imagine, you resonate with the eagle path, you need to learn ABOUT all the same things, but instead of the hands-on level, you need to learn about them with the 10,000 foot view. You need to know what things are, how they work, what “lingo” is inherent to what, and what’s available in the market to handle whatever your clients want to accomplish. But you do NOT need to be able to do the tasks work—that’s why there are goats.

3. Figure out who your perfect market is and connect with them. It's not the unrealistic ones. But who is it? Check in with your heart--it knows.

I realize that all of this may require some educating of clients (although probably less than you're thinking when you find your perfect market). All of it requires you to stay grounded in who you are and what you love to do, and to let your work speak for you as you model for clients how much they need both eagle and goat support.

But don’t you jump on their crazy.

As for social media, three years ago, I said, for the first time, that the social media train was leaving the station and anyone not on it would be left behind. Being late to the train station myself, I could absolutely see the writing on the wall: social media was changing and would continue to change the way people connect and communicate.

I didn’t and don't now mean that Virtual Assistants need to get on the train from the position that they need to learn social media strategy to manage their clients social media initiatives. But I did mean that VAs need to use social media because the world uses social media. Clients use social media. And where do smart Virtual Assistants want to be? Yeah…where the clients are.

To not be there, using it at least for yourself, is to be like the person who refused to give up her IBM Selectric when the PC showed up at the office. We all know how that turned out, right?

I hope that helps, Monica!!

What's Your Permission Level?

As a Virtual Assistant, one of the things it’s important to know is what your level of permission is at each point along a client’s journey with you:

Lead -> Prospect -> Client -> Long-term Client

For instance, when you first encounter a prospective client, you have next to no permission to do anything or share anything.

When that PC moves into the consultation/interview stage with you, you've been invited in in a different way, and inherently have a higher level of permission, especially as it pertains to asking probing questions, and sharing what you see going on in the client’s business as you’re talking with her.

When that PC becomes a client, you’re invited more deeply into her life and business, and have even a higher level of permission to ask of her, to share with her, and even in some respects, to do on her behalf.

The longer you work with that client, the permissions will grow even more deep and broad as trust grows between you two. In the best client/VA relationships, you’ll reach a point where you won’t even wonder what you can share and what you can’t, because you’ll know that you have blanket permission to contribute. What a sweet spot that is!

The more you work within your business, the more keen your sense of permission will be with any person, at any moment  But until you develop that, I find that the place where it’s hardest to know what’s appropriate is that middle place—where you’re doing the consultation/interview.

For instance, in preparing for that type of  conversation, say you saw five things that, if changed on the PC’s site, might improve her conversions, or get people more engaged. Would you feel free (feel permitted) to step up and tell her what you noticed and what you think can be done about it? Or would you shy away from that—not certain that she’d appreciate your input?

Newer VAs most often censor themselves, sure their ideas won’t be appreciated, or at least unsure that they'd be welcomed. Far more experienced VAs don’t censor. They know that they have the unspoken permission to talk through things at that level. And, they’re unwilling to step over talking through what they see, in part because the feedback will tell them something about the client—especially as it deals with the client’s view on partnership, and letting the VA contribute at a higher level.

I think that when you censor what you see or believe or know to be true, you rob the other person of a different perspective, a fresh idea, or maybe the validation of the client’s own unspoken ideas that she was thinking might be crazy. I think that instead of wondering if it would be appreciated and stepping back from the share, you should step into your expertise and give her the gift of that.

And if you’re genuinely not sure where your permissions lay, ask. It’s never wrong to say something like, “Jane… when I was looking at your site, I saw some things I think might help you. Is it ok if I share those with you?”

99.9% of the people will likely sing out in the affirmative, happy for you to contribute. The rest will shut you down. Either way, you’ve not shut down your gift (there’s just one you, and it’s important for you to be willing to share yourself!!), and you’ll learn (as I mentioned before) more about the client. Awesome reasons, both, to do it!

Your turn, my friends… in what way(s) do you (or don’t you!) censor yourself in your work? No need to censor here with me… I hope you know that!

Big thanks to MaryJo McCann for sparking the idea for this post!

What Preparing For Irene Can Teach You About Your Biz

As many of you know all too well, the east coast of the United States just lived through one of the biggest, baddest hurricanes to ever make landfall here, and it came on the heels of a not-insignificant earthquake. Did I ever think I’d really experience something like this one/two punch from Mother Nature here in Baltimore? Nope. This stuff really doesn’t happen here. So did I know what to do to keep myself as safe as possible? Nope. Didn’t have a clue.

I still don’t have a clue how to keep myself safe in the case of an earthquake. That’s in part because we didn’t have any warning or time to prepare, and part because almost as soon as it was over, we were faced with Irene. But you can bet your life that I’m going to learn what to do in case of an earthquake now that I know, first hand, that it can happen here.

As for Irene…Saturday night, when the storm peaked for us, it was pretty scary—and I’m a full 15 miles away from the Chesapeake Bay, so I can only imagine what it may have been like for people who were closer to the bigger dangers the storm presented. As I sat in my office Tweeting with others in the thick of the storm, the rain was pounding, the wind was gusting, the trees were bending, and the lights were flickering. And the only thing that made it easier for me was knowing that I had prepared for it.

I’m not a hysterical person. Not by a long shot. Yet, when we were heartily urged to do certain things—just in case--by experts with far greater experience in dealing with hurricanes than I have, I did them. I bought water and food enough to last five days--for us and the cats. I made sure I had flashlights (not candles—burning them during a dangerous storm, I learned, creates more danger) and plenty of batteries. I bought matches to lite our stove if I needed to. I had tarps and duct tape to cover broken windows. I had a great first-aid kit. I even had safety pins, which were on the preparedness list, and I still don’t have a clue what good they would have done me. I did my laundry in advance of the storm, and stowed away all the patio furniture, bird houses, and wind chimes. I located our non-electric land line back-up phone, made a paper list of emergency numbers, charged cell and laptop batteries, backed up computers, and emailed clients to let them know what was going on and what my plan was if we lost power and services for an extended period of time. I filled my car with gas. Oh, and I found a battery-operated radio. Just in case.

Some of my friends scoffed at what I did. But me? I felt better in doing it. And isn't that the reason we do anything we do? It's the reason we buy insurance. It's the reason we pack extra underwear when we travel. It's the reason we continue to market even when we have full practices. We feel better when we're in action, and when we feel prepared.

I believe it’s better to have and not need than to need and not have. And I don’t believe in screwing around with my life. I’m 48 now and know I’m not invincible.

My point for telling you all this (and there was a happy ending, btw… we were fine, here in the Brice household, when all was said and done, although more than a million people in Maryland didn't fare nearly as well) is that while it was smart for me to do what I did while others thought it was ok to not do it, it's the same in business. Some prepare for the possibility of their having problems, and some don't.

Some buy E&O insurance, and some don't. Some create strong standards, and some don't. Some know where they're going, and some don't. And some prepare for a business loss by creating a business disaster recovery plan, and some don’t. Those who do do so to feel more certain and safe. And those who don't don't—because they believe themselves to be invincible/don’t believe a loss can happen to them, or because it simply takes too much time and effort.

No one is invincible. Not personally, and not professionally. As for too much time and effort to take care of yourself and your business? It takes a boat load of each. I admit that. But I can only imagine the time and effort it would take to try to recover from a loss one wasn't even remotely prepared for.

While I was concerning myself with preparing for the hurricane, I took great comfort in knowing that, among other things, because I have a business recovery plan, I didn’t have to also worry about what would happen to my business as a result of whatever happened here because of Irene.

My wish for you is that you should know such comfort.

Be smart and plan for how you’ll take care of yourself and your biz in the event of something happening to you—regardless of the cause. Truly, it’s not as unlikely as you might think. And, as we learned when we were caught unaware by last week's earthquake, trouble can be on you before you even have time to blink--much less have time to figure out what you're going to do.

Your turn...are you as prepared in business and life to weather whatever trouble comes your way? Or do you not feel that's necessary?

Getting to What Matters Most by Focusing on Return on Intention

It’s my experience that most people look at ROI (Return On Investment) primarily with an eye toward the almighty dollar.

And while money is a very important thing to all of us, I think that looking at investments in that singular light is shortsighted. So I also like to think about the “I” as meaning “intention.”

Not all intention is focused toward the buck. For many people, money comes after other things, as a result of other things rather than before other things or as the fundamental cause of other things.

For some people, money simply isn't the Holy Grail.

I teach a very popular and successful marketing technique that allows people to reach out, with pin-point accuracy, to folks who fit (as far as anyone can tell from a distance) their ideal client profiles. I teach two versions of it; the first is a straight-up marketing version.

When sent, the only possible answers from the people who are the recipients of this targeted approach are "yes," or "no." If it's a "no," the door closes--probably forever. So someone with the money view of ROI would be all about sending these—and the more sent, the better, because the greater the possibility of making some money by getting more clients.

But the second version is about connecting--with no other agenda. The possible answers to this approach are almost limitless--and some of them may be good—amazing, even, but not lead to doing any business. I absolutely favor this version of the technique because it's not limiting by any stretch of the imagination.

Traditionally looking at ROI with regard to that second version, you'd have to say, "If none of the X (some number) people you targeted ended up doing business with you and putting new money in your pocket, your ROI was really lousy." And, you'd be right. Investment looked at that way, with zero return, is lousy.

But if you think of it as Return on Intention, and your intention was to connect with some number of people, and you did that, then you had a great Return on Intention and Investment. If the client chooses to do business with you and puts money in your pocket, it's the icing on the intention-built cake.

Perhaps, if your sole reason for being in business is to make money, then that is your intention, and you handle both with whatever you’re currently doing and how you see ROI.

But for me, and probably a big bunch of you, that’s simply not the case. And the good news is, it doesn’t have to be.

This week, first set your intentions before you worry about anything else—especially making money. Then make your actions fit your intentions. And let me know what happens when you do.

I’ll be listening closely!