What To Do When You Accidentally Chase Away Your Muse

The past several weeks have found me displaced from my home on more than one occasion, living in local hotels and working in cafes rather than in my cozy home office.

Everything is fine now, but the situation that forced me and my son out of our home was, um … stressful, to say the least.

(Yes, there are crazy people involved. No, it’s not one of those ‘ex’ situations. And yes, that’s all I’m gonna say about the whole darn thing.)

The reason I’m writing to you about it, though, is because I realized something super important during this time.

As I was darting about town trying to find suitable places from which to keep things running in my business (and a quick hallelujah! is in order here for the fact that most of my work is done from my laptop), I realized that:

:: I couldn’t keep up the pace I’d been working at before.
:: I didn’t wanna keep up that pace.

Turns out, my creative zip had been zapped by my overworkaholicism.

And after being forced to take a step back from my schedule, I realized that a little scaling back was just what I needed in order to peel away a little corner of the curtain hiding my shy muse.

And then I began to think about other times in my life when I’ve badgered my muse into hiding— like a crazed lover demanding to know why you haven’t returned my 68 text messages, dammit!

And I remembered one of my favorite tricks for leaving my poor muse alone and getting back in touch directly with my Source.

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the bizarre boss in charge of your business (no, it’s not your customer)

Imagine that you as a business owner have a bizarre boss. 

She calls you each day and leaves a unique message.

Some days it’s, Hey there! Just wanted to let you know that you rock! You totally crushed it during that client meeting today.

Other days it’s more like, Why are you still here? Didn’t I fire you a long time ago? You aren’t even worth the paper your paycheck is printed on.

(‘Boss-y Dearest’ much?)

Ridiculous, right?

And yet what if I told you that it’s absolutely true?

That you DO report to this boss, and she controls:

:: How much you can charge for your products and services?
:: How many clients or customers you can have?
:: How big an impact you can have in the world with your work?

FACT: This bizarre boss is alive and well and in charge of everything you do in your business.

Her name?

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The RIGHT Way To Influence Your Customer (5 Questions You Must Ask)

I never really wanted it, I explained to the Nordstrom sales associate.

I was returning an expensive bag I had bought a few weeks earlier—a gorgeous bag, but not right for me. 

I kind of felt pushed into buying it, I added unnecessarily.

(At Nordstrom they rarely ask questions about why you’re returning something.)

But the sales associate empathized with me. I’m sorry that happened, she said.

And I realized that, while I wasn’t upset—my experience around this bag had been the perfect example of poor marketing.

Here’s why.

I had arrived at the store looking for a new bag to replace the one I’d been carrying around for the past two years or so.

And because I already really liked the bag I was carrying—and was NOT shopping for a new one out of ‘this-will-make-me-feel-better-about-myself’ motivation—I was okay with being really picky and waiting until I found the bag that was JUST right for me.

But that day in the Nordstrom handbag department, the sales associate had shadowed me as I picked up each bag, declaring her opinion on each one immediately after I’d slung it over my arm.

That one is too big for your frame.
No… that one isn’t the right one.
THAT is the bag for you. Oh yes, that’s it. You need that bag!

And while I hadn’t really minded her commentary until then (okay, I minded it a little— I prefer peace and quiet when I’m making a purchasing decision), I felt an inner disagreement when she insisted that THIS bag was right for me, and I tried to express it to her.

Me:  Yeah, I’m not totally sure thi—
Sales Associate: NO! THAT IS THE BAG YOU MUST BUY. BUY IT NOW- OR ELSE!!

(Okay, I might be exaggerating a teeeeensy bit. But anyway.)

Of course I DID let her talk me into purchasing that bag— and ended up returning it later.

So what went wrong?

The same thing that goes wrong with all ineffective marketing.

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Free Marketing Call With Erika Lyremark Of Daily Whip!

I hope you’re having an amazingly good Friday!

And just in time for Happy Hour (on the West Coast at least), I have a little treat for you.

I had the immense privilege of talking to my close friend, the gorgeous + brilliant Erika Lyremark, Creator + Mastermind of Daily Whip— and Author of Think Like a Stripper: Business Lessons to Up Your Confidence, Attract More Clients  & Rule Your Market— about attractive marketing (as opposed to ‘pushy’ marketing) and: 

• Why women typically think marketing is ‘icky’ and what to do about it
• The TRUE role marketing should play in your business (it’s not what most people think!)
• The truth about the ‘smoke and mirrors’ that is going on behind TONS of marketing today— and what to do about it

Be sure to listen all the way to the end because (right before the recording gets cut off unexpectedly) I share a secret marketer’s tip to help build value into your product or service BEFORE you even begin to develop it.

(This is an advanced technique that even the uber-successful and sensational Ms. Lyremark has recently just implemented!)

Enjoy this 100% pitch-free call.

(Pure content, baby.)

Oh and— please, if you like it, share it with your friends!

PS - Listen carefully about halfway in so you can get Erika’s marketing mantra for the day. Priceless.

PPS - If you’re curious about the sales letter Erika is drooling over on this call, go here to see it.

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How attractive is your marketing? @dailywhip and @hhmackenzie help u give it a makeover w/ this FREE no opt-in call.

How To Know Whether Your Customers Really Like What You Have To Offer

I have a quick marketing lesson for you that came to me tonight in a rather unusual way…

My son and I always sit down together to read for awhile before his bedtime.

And tonight, before opening his book, he turned to me and said, Mom, a lot of the time at  school, the teachers will make jokes that aren’t funny, and it seems like everyone laughs just to be polite.

Now, I won’t pretend to understand what motivates the random musings of my 11 year-old boy…

(And by the way, he has his mother’s totally irreverent, sophomoric sense of humor— which is probably why he doesn’t like the ‘regular’ jokes they tell at school!)

But his comment made me think about how businesses communicate with their customers.

These days it’s mind-boggling how much content gets created regularly.

But how much of it is REALLY essential and aligned with business goals?

I’ve seen: 

• Blog posts that were probably only read by their author (and his dog)
• Facebook ads that are paying for nothing more than appetizers at the Zuck’s backyard wedding
• Sales pages that wouldn’t sell hand sanitizer to someone with OCD 

And of course, let’s face it: we ALL want people to ‘like’ and share what we’ve worked so hard to produce.

But all too often I see people creating random content that is incredibly easy to ‘like’ on Facebook, but just isn’t compelling.

(And by compelling I mean something that makes people think deeply AND take some sort of action that is aligned with a business’s overall goals.)

And then I see people wondering why, when they have something sell, no one’s buying. (Everyone LOVES my Facebook posts! What gives?)

The truth is, when it comes time for people to back up their ‘likes’ with their credit cards— ‘politeness’ has nothing to do with it.

No one HAS to buy what you have to sell. In fact, as a business owner it’s your job to help people understand why what you have to offer is so compelling, so mouthwateringly or heartwarmingly or businessgrowingly awesome that they can’t NOT buy it.

If that doesn’t happen— the credit card stays in the vault.

So I have a challenge for you.

The next time you’re creating content— whether in the form of a blog post, email, sales page, or any other method of communicating with your prospect or customer…

Ask yourself these three questions: 

1. Would I take the time to (read, watch, click on, buy, etc.) this if someone else had created it?
2. Does it offer something useful to my reader? (a great product, an actionable exercise, information she needs, etc.)
3. Have I given the reader a reason to DO something with it? (like it, share it, click here, buy now, etc.)

If you can’t answer ‘Yes’ to all three of these questions, think seriously before sending it off.

You have important work to do in the world. Like, REALLY big stuff.

Don’t waste any time working on getting a few polite ‘likes’ when you could be changing the world.

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Do you know whether customers really LIKE what you have to offer?. These 3 Qs can help you deliver what they want.