By now we should all be somewhat familiar with Steven Pressfield‘s concept of the Resistance: the sneaky, remorseless force that keeps us from planting our asses and working.

This is the voice that tells you you can’t write with a headache, or that you should really declutter your desk and get yourself a coffee first – anything that delays you from pressing keys and rattling out a string of words. It’s also the friend who calls on a workday and suggests a trip to the beach or a round of golf.

In The War of Art, Steven doesn’t bother much with identifying the underlying causes of the Resistance.

His point: Resistance happens. It’s real.

And it doesn’t necessarily get any easier with time.

As Steven himself put it, “this shit is hard.”

Jonathan Safran Foer, prolific author of several books including the noteworthy Everything Is Illuminated, put it this way:

“The idea of enjoying writing something is foreign to me. I enjoy having written things. Someone once said that writing is like pulling teeth… out of your penis.”

Resistance often stems from fear – the fear of failure, of proving once and for all you’re a hack and can’t hang with the real talent.

Ditch the notion of superiority

It’s a trap to define your own success against standards set by others.  A-listers are visible by definition.

Copyblogger‘s subscriber count has taken on its own gravity – over 100k and growing daily.

And then there’s you hovering around 65 subscribers and 50 visitors (on a good day).

Drawing this comparison doesn’t exactly give you a motivational boost. It just sends the morbid “I’m not good enough” parade once more around the block.

And it’s complete BS, because that’s the fixed mindset talking.

Growth is everything

In Mindset, Carol Dweck demonstrates the difference between people who think talent is something we’re born with and can’t change much and people who believe the mind is a muscle to be trained.

Case in point: Dweck and her colleagues separated a class of 7th graders into two groups. One group got the growth mindset training along with solid study habit instruction, the other group just got the study habits.

The growth-oriented kids improved. The other kids didn’t.

So that’s it, right? Now that you know, you’ll change your mind and start writing a post a day without hesitation. No?

The truth: we already knew this. That’s why we have tired cliches like the joke about how you get to Carnegie Hall (“practice!”).

Try this: go back through your blog archives and start reading a post from a few months ago. My guarantee: you’ll find stuff you’d write differently today. You’ll think to yourself, “ah, I can say that better. I can come up with a better metaphor than chopping wood on a hot August afternoon.”

Of course you can, because the you that wrote that post and the you that’s reading it today are two different people.

Since then you’ve probably written hundreds of thousands of words and read even more. You’ve failed a bunch – written posts that got zero comments, zero links and a trickle of traffic. You wrote some true garbage that you simply let die on the vine rather than air the stench out in public. And you’ve learned from all that.

And that’s kind of the point. You get better as you go, so keep going.

You don’t need permission

A few months back, after wrapping up one significant web project, I found myself with a few months worth of cash in the bank and no major projects on my plate.

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to explore and launch something new into the world, doesn’t it? Instead I found myself mired in the abundance of options.

The thing about too many options is that every direction becomes a potential way forward – and also a path to possible failure. So as long as you’ve got enough food in your pack it seems the safe thing is to set up camp where you are.

Deciding you’re stuck is a perfect way to sabotage your own creativity. It doesn’t mean you’re lazy; it means you’re afraid to fail. Doesn’t much matter – the net result is the same (you don’t move forward).

That’s what makes creation so hard and so valuable at once. Maps and guidelines can’t get you there. Ingenuity isn’t a commodity, and the act of asking permission gives up your sovereignty over the creation. The fruits of your labor, once you’ve asked permission to proceed, are, in a small but significant way, no longer your own.

Without that permission, creative choices can only come from you. In that way the act of choosing exposes you. That’s scary for most of us. Exposure gives the stone throwers a target. It gives the crowd something to mock if you don’t pull it off.

Living with that reality is the prerequisite to doing meaningful work.

…

If you said anyone other than yourself, you get to answer again.

Would you let someone else do your most important work? (If you don’t think your work is important, my apologies – you’re well on your way to becoming a miserable person.)

If you’re an entrepreneur, you trust yourself at the wheel. Maybe not at great speeds yet, and not without the occasional bump and wrong turn, but you’re doing your thing.

This way, you’ll never end up in a situation where you feel complicit in something unethical (or at least questionable). You’ll never do boring, uninspired work. You get to solve the problems you most want to solve. And, hopefully, earn enough to cover your bills, a few toys and a vacation once in a while.

It all rides on your shoulders. There’s no stronger testament to faith in yourself than to strike out on your own.

So why then do you have such a hard time doing that most important creative work – the stuff you know can have a big impact?

Because you have a doppleganger. And it’s sabotaging your creativity.

And it’s time to shut it up.

The schizophrenic in each of us

In Switch, the excellent book on how to create change (in yourself and others), Chip and Dan Heath offer some powerful observations about human behavior and what it takes to modify it.

One of the first points they make: every one of us is schizophrenic. And a particular alarm clock demonstrates this fact well.

The Clocky has the basic features of any alarm clock, except that when the Clocky “goes off” it’s tough to hit the snooze button – because the Clocky literally rolls right off the nightstand.

Then it rolls around the room making obnoxious noises and lighting up. And off you go half asleep in your underpants to stomp the thing into oblivion. Try getting back to sleep after that.

Consider RescueTime, the startup that tracks what you do all day and then tells you whether you’re being productive enough. They even provide a handy feature called FocusTime that literally blocks you from visiting “distracting” websites for as long as you set it.

I’ll happily hand $100 to the person who can name one other animal on this planet that needs to trick itself into behaving in its own best interests.

Maybe you want to get up early to get a jump start on the day, maybe go for a run or do some writing. At least, the you that sets the alarm clock for 6am wants it. This is the you who is willing to sacrifice now for better things later. This is the you who wants to do great work.

The other you, the you that wakes up to the alarm, is more like a cranky toddler. Sleep is comfy and someone took it from you, so you piss, moan, get snot on your pajamas and hit the snooze button.

This other you is also the one who decides that you haven’t done enough reading lately, or dusting, or that it’s time to rearrange your desk or reorganize your folder system.

This is insane behavior, but its common to our species. Who hasn’t procrastinated or left a project on the backburner so long that your inspiration to do it grows dry and stiff like a pot of overcooked beans?

So: how do you dispatch this internal saboteur and get more creative work done?

1. Focus on growth, not talent

Ever find yourself watching A-list bloggers and thinking, “she’s so talented – far more talented than I am. If only I could be more like her.”

Cut the crap.

Focusing on talent puts you into a fixed mindset. It leads you to think some people have what it takes and others are better suited to flipping burgers.

And that means when you try and fail, you’re proving something about your essential, unchanging self, and that’s heavy stuff. Heavy enough that the little voice in your head speaks up about how tomorrow is a better day to start and you really should go out and vacuum your car today.

The truth is, the brain is a muscle. And like a muscle, training makes it stronger. Intellect, and ability, are not static qualities. They get better as we use them.

Carol Dweck outlines this difference in understanding our brains and abilities and the proven effect it has on our lives in Mindset – a book everyone, in my opinion, should read at least once.

2. Set specific, behavior-oriented goals

The perfect way to sabotage your efforts is to set a goal like, “gain 500 new blog subscribers.”

You might as well say, “get super rich and adored by all.” That’s not the kind of goal you can act on. There’s no clear path.

When your goals don’t give you a specific action to undertake, you’ve given a free pass to the aimless, fearful side of you. A vague goal is the perfect excuse to do nothing at all.

Following the growth mindset, the only thing that matters is effort – it’s how we grow. Sure, smart effort (talent) matters, but we learn what that is over time.

If you want to be a better writer, write. That’s it. Yes, there are some techniques worth learning, but it’s far more important that you plant your ass and write.

If you want to build blog subscribers, you’ve got to hone the writing craft and get into the habit of posting regularly.

So here’s a better goal to set: 500 words a day, every day. Before breakfast (or whenever works for you). Again, the particulars don’t matter, but it should be routine-building and focused on the behavior you want to cultivate, not the end result of that behavior.

3. Put on your shoes and walk out the door

What’s the hardest part about running?

For me, the hardest part is acting on the decision to go. It’s too easy once I’ve sat down and started on something else to put it off until later in the day, and then the evening, and then the next morning.

But I run 6.5 miles, 4 days a week. Not because I’m some kind of master of will. Because I know myself well-enough to know that the hardest part is to put my running shoes on and walk out the front door. So I focus on doing that. Once I’m outside turning back isn’t an option – the voice in my head can bitch all it wants, but I’m not going back on the commitment.

What can you do to take a first step that puts you on the path of commitment? Unplug the Internet? Leave the house/office for a few hours? Lock yourself into an empty room with nothing but a pad and a pen?

The particular details of that first step don’t matter – the point is to focus on the step, not the entire project.

4. Get accountable

One of the most commonly-cited reasons for starting your own business is getting to “be your own boss.”

Nobody cracking the whip on you. You set your own schedule, do the work you want to do, when you want to do it and how you think it should be done.

When you’re working for the man that sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Out on your own, after a while you long for the whip.

When nobody’s telling you to “get it done” it’s amazing how many reasons you can come up with to put off the important work.

• “I can’t believe I never finished reading Finnegan’s Wake. That’s just the inspiration I need to crank out some blog posts.”
• “I’d love to start on this eBook, but it looks like a few urgent emails came in I’ll have to deal with first.”
• “I never did try that recipe for rice pilaf…”

One perfect solution for the bottomless well of excuses is accountability.

Tell someone else. Make them a promise. Commit to a deadline.

Now instead of having a little secret self-beating session when you don’t do the work, you have to answer to another person. Now you’re not just letting yourself down, you’re breaking your word. And consistency is important to us.

Who should that person be? Doesn’t matter, really, so long as they’ll hold you to your word. Who do I stay accountable too? Until now, nobody – which explains my somewhat erratic posting here. I realized pride was getting in my way. I thought I should simply “be strong and productive.” Not terribly pragmatic, and totally outside the growth mindset (see above).

So I hired a life coach (hi Tim).

Tim’s job: to kick my ass when I need it. Eventually, once I’ve built a consistent routine, I won’t need the ass kicking anymore.

At least that’s the idea.

What about you?

What do you do to dispatch that fearful, whiny and distracting voice in your head who’s hell bent on keeping you from anything worth doing?

The quick, off-the-cuff answer may simply be “more:”

• Traffic
• Attention
• Fans
• Customers
• Money

The bottom line is the bottom line, right? You’re in business to make money, marketing is a means to that end and the content you publish is a cog in your marketing machine.

So you set out with this in mind, looking for tactics and tools you can leverage to engineer your content into the best magnet possible (with the least amount of investment possible).

We all want content that’s going to have our readers tripping over themselves to hire us, subscribe to our newsletters – whatever your desired action is – and we want them doing it in droves.

The problem: you’re starting with the wrong mindset.

The “more” mindset points you in the wrong direction

The first problem with starting from “I need more” is it focuses you on the wrong set of needs: your own.

We’ve all seen content that’s written from this mindset. It talks a lot about the features and merits of a business and the people who run it, seeming to completely ignore the people who really matter: the customers.

We all secretly (or not-so-secretly) look for content that speaks directly to us. Content that highlights our problems, promises a solution, alleviates our fear and then delivers. When we find it it’s magic.

And then, because we’re egotistical by nature, when we set out to create our own content we do none of the above.

It’s not about you. Yes, you’ve heard that before. So have I. But it’s a basic psychological pitfall that we need to teach ourselves, again and again, to step around.

Focus your content on the needs and problems of your ideal customer. She’s the one with the power to grow your business.

1. Magnetic content has stand-alone value

The value of your content is not in its ability to drive more sales or sign-ups. (At least, that’s not the primary value).

The core value of your content is to solve the needs of your reader. When you create content with this goal in mind, you attract the right readers (potential customers).

Of course, it doesn’t hurt if the need you address with your content lines up nicely with the need met by the product or service you sell. Doesn’t hurt at all.

When you consistently produce content with serious value your reader gets used to the idea. You become one of her good habits. She’ll keep showing up, and every time you deliver you gain her trust. And it’s trust that breaks through the noise every single time in the online world.

2. Magnetic content tells a story

We love a good yarn.

Stories show us reflections of ourselves. They remind us of our struggles, fears, aspirations and hopes. We insert ourselves into them, slaying the dragon and saving the day. It’s fun and therapeutic all at once.

When your content tells the true story of how the product of your business helps your customers live and work better, your reader has an easier time imaging those benefits for herself. She’s one step closer to buying from you.

3. Magnetic content makes magnets out of your readers

I love introducing people to Copyblogger. Even as I’m surprised to still find people who market online who haven’t heard of Brian Clark, it means I get to share a valuable resource. It’s a gift.

I link to their content (twice in this post, in fact). I share it on Twitter. I mention it when I give local workshops on online marketing.

When it comes to spreading the word about Copyblogger, I pitch in on a regular basis – and without even a drip of reciprocity from Brian & Co.

And that’s cool with me, because I’m not doing it for reciprocity. I do it because I know, beyond a shade of doubt, that the person I’ve sent there will get tremendous value from the content.

That’s trust. And the Copyblogger gang built it by consistently providing me with phenomenal content over time.

It’s the same reason when Brian recommends a product, like ]]> http://unstuckdigital.com/customer-magnet-content/feed/ 9 http://unstuckdigital.com/customer-magnet-content/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/UnstuckDigital/~3/31-UbAt4Rkc/ http://unstuckdigital.com/10-sad-small-business-website-mistakes/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 17:25:03 +0000 Mike Tekula http://unstuckdigital.com/?p=3718 Do you enjoy reading mission statements?

How about “welcome to our website” messages? Photos of jigsaw puzzles and handshakes?

No?

That’s weird, because if we’re to learn from the examples set by our small business peers, this stuff is the friggin cat’s pajamas. Why would anybody do this stuff if nobody wanted to see it?

Because they suck, that’s why. And if you don’t want to suck too, here are ten things you probably shouldn’t do on your website.

1. Flash-driven design

Oooh – it moves!

I would have liked to think a few years ago that I wouldn’t be including this as the first item in such a list, but I guess some things improve a little slower than we’d like.

Let’s get this straight: Flash-driven design kills your search engine visibility. That means Google won’t love you. Google won’t even see you. Not even if you do your hair just right and wear your skinny jeans.

Not convinced? Jakob Nielsen, maybe the foremost usability expert in the world, says Flash is 99% bad. Think you’re home building website is in that good 1%? Lovely thought, but no. Not only are you shitting on Google’s head, but also the heads of your users. And that’s foul.

2. The Flash intro movie

This is the retarded cousin of the full-Flash website.

“Hey, what if we had our logo come in from somewhere off in the distance, really slowly…and then, once it’s fully visible, we’ll have the words, ‘integrity’, ‘innovation’ and ‘experience’ fly across…then we’ll-” STOP IT!

How long do you think you’ve got to grab you user’s attention? Hint: it isn’t 2 minutes. More like 10 seconds.

Most people won’t wait for your intro movie to play. They’ll either skip it or leave. So do your users, and yourself, a favor and ditch the idea.

3. “Welcome to our website”

This is another thing that should have gone the way of the pog but still seems to be clinging like crap on a yak.

People don’t like to read much online. They just don’t. So most of your copy? They’re going to scan it (if you’re lucky).

Why do you want to squander an already-tiny attention span on a headline with a central goal of reminding people where they are. You’re begging for a “no shit” response.

Unless your design is completely ass-backwards, people should have some idea of where they are just from glancing at the top of the site – where your logo and, ideally, a tagline or short description of your business should be.

4. We-speak

“We operate a fleet of vehicles…”

“Our team of experts is trained in…”

“We are certified to work on…”

Listen: nobody cares.

Your users are interested in the answer to one core question: what’s in it for me?

If your content doesn’t answer this question in short fashion, you fail. End of story.

5. Saying too little

OK, so we know people don’t particular enjoy reading website content.

But the idea isn’t to shut up entirely and communicate with hieroglyphics or vague statements like, “we create business solutions.”

Get direct about what you do, especially the value you provide, and tell the story of how you help your customers.

This isn’t a resume cover letter where you need to herald your achievements and qualities (nobody reads those either). This is your one chance to get through to a human being on the other end who may need, or want, what you can provide. Speak to them openly about what you’re offering, and give them the information they need (like social proof) to make their decision.

Give them a clear call to action, and then shut up.

6. Content that ignores search traffic

No, SEO is not the goal of content – but it’s a nice by-product if you do things right.

If you don’t do any keyword research before you start creating your content, you’re ignoring an opportunity to tap into the language your market uses to describe their problems (and the solutions they have in mind).

The language you use to describe what you do doesn’t matter when it comes to marketing. You’ve got to use the language your customers use.

When you do this right, the content on your pages matches the keywords your customers use to search. Then you’ve got a fighting chance to show up in the search results in front of people who need your stuff.

7. Overly-technical content

Similar to above, when you’re engrossed in technical work every day your language can start sounding like Klingon to the rest of us.

When you talk about your business the way your industry trade journals do, watch for the blank stare.

“We’re experienced in flux capacitor repair and carry top-of-the-line moisture evaporators…”

Does it really matter to you what’s technically involved in what your plumber does to make the poop go away like it’s supposed to?

You may love the technical side of your work, but if your language goes over your users’ heads you’ll lose them. They already will read only 20% of the copy on your page – do you want that 20% to be words they don’t understand?

8. No clear call to action

Once you’ve answered the question, “what’s in it for me” (see #4 above), your work moves to answering another question: “what do I do now?”

Nothing loses a user faster than the lack of a clear call to action.

And including your address and phone number somewhere in your footer does not qualify.

Big, beautiful and shiny buttons work best. The point is to make it obvious.

It isn’t that your users can’t figure it out by looking around. They’re smart people. The problem is, every one of us is a lazy bastard when it comes to web browsing. Make us work or think, and we get spiteful and leave. We could figure it out, but we won’t.

9. Zero inbound links or promotion

OK this one strikes a particular chord in me.

I help small businesses get more targeted web traffic (primarily through search engines). And many of the people who come to me have no idea that getting traffic can often be more work than building the website.

There is no such thing as a good “location” online. There’s no foot traffic. Nobody is going to happen upon your website – they have to be pointed to it.

If you take no steps to promote your website, and attract no links to it from other websites, you’ll flounder around in a tepid pool of nobody-loves-us.

Part of marketing online involves actually spreading the word (I know, novel concept). Having a nice looking website is a fine start, but if you want anybody to see the thing need a strategy for building links and attention.

10. Hiding your people

Who works for you?

Do they matter?

If you don’t think so, you’re probably a shitty boss. Hit yourself.

If they matter, why don’t you give them faces on your website?

One of the few advantages of being a small business is the close-knit, quirky personality that lends personality to your marketing (if you let it).

People want to hire other people they like. So let your people shine.

What kind of sad mistakes do you see small businesses making on their websites? Share in the comments.

I’m talking about the programs and systems that you use to:

• Store your files
• Handle billing and expense tracking
• Send/receive/store email
• Schedule your work
• Track your projects and tasks

The last generation of small business relied on IT workers, and lots of pricey equipment and software, to keep things running smoothly (and prevent data loss). And most of this stuff lived in your office – meaning if your neighbor finally set the building on fire with his foot massager, you were S.O.L.

No more, dammit.

There was a time when I found myself racing home down the Long Island Expressway to get a file off my desktop PC that I needed for a meeting (a meeting I was now going to be late for).

I also recall fondly the day I found a quiet spot in the yard, gently walked my copy of MS Outlook and my USB drive out back and shot them both in the head.

Now, things are better. And mostly because I put web-based technology in place that allows me to be somewhat disorganized, forgetful and flakey, but still look aces.

I use every one of the following services, and every one of them has saved my ass, sanity or both at least once.

1. EverNote

Behold your catch-all for all things random.

EverNote is a service for storing your…notes. And notes can be just about anything – web pages (in entirety or snippets), images, notes you type yourself, handwritten notes you scan, etc. EverNote can even scan the text in images (making its search feature uber-powerful).

I use EverNote as a catch-all for anything I want to save for later, even when I’m not sure why.

Bonus: EverNote built mobile apps so you can sync between your computers and your smart phone. Gnarly.

Evernote offers free and paid versions – but the free version will get you pretty far.

2. Dropbox

Easy, auto-syncing file storage bliss.

Dropbox is essentially a file storage system that works like a regular folder on your computer – but magical. The magic: it automatically syncs between multiple computers. No more trying to remember which version of which file on which machine is the most recent.

As soon as you update a file and save it in your Dropbox, it’s automatically uploaded to the Dropbox server and then downloaded to your own computers the next time they get online.

You don’t even have to think. What’s better than that?

Dropbox is free up to 2GB.

3. Amazon S3

This is the cheapest bulk storage in existence.

I use Dropbox for files more immediately important – like websites I’m working on this week, proposals and other documents I may need at a moment’s notice, images, etc.

S3 comes in for long-term storage (and bigger overall file size).

With S3 you’ll need some way to interface with the storage server (since Amazon doesn’t provide one). I like CloudBerry.

Once you have that, you have access to absurdly cheap web-based storage space for all your files.

To give you an idea, I store all of my website files (for all of my clients) on S3, in addition to everything else of importance to me, and every month I have a chuckle when I get my bill from Amazon: around 50 cents.

4. Google Docs

Google Docs offers simple, straightforward and collaborative document creating software that all lives on Google’s servers.

If you haven’t worked in tandem with at least one other person on the same spreadsheet, it’s an experience. You literally see their cursor moving around the spreadsheet, making changes while you make your own. It’s almost spiritual.

Google has made some updates to Google Docs lately – adding better functionality to all their standard programs and adding a nifty new drawing tool that’s great for sketching out processes and things on the fly.

If you have Gmail, you have Google Docs – and if you’re not using it, we’re not friends anymore.

5. FreshBooks

I want to have FreshBook‘s babies. There I said it.

FreshBooks is a billing/invoicing/expense & time tracking suite for those of us who hate doing this stuff.

I can’t say enough good things about FreshBooks. Not only does it make invoicing painless, but it allows you to track expenses in an easy and organized fashion – and generate expense reports when you need them (I just used this feature for my taxes and it saved me hours).

FreshBooks also has built-in time tracking functionality, which is a handy bonus.

6. Basecamp

Basecamp is, hands down, the easiest way to track your projects and tasks.

Built and maintained by the stellar human beings at 37signals, Basecamp has excellent AJAX interfaces that make it quick and easy to update your projects and tasks and collaborate with a team.

I’ve been using Basecamp for about a year now, and it’s made my life and work a lot easier.

David and Jason from 37signals also wrote the recent bestseller REWORK, which is a phenomenal book, by the way, that you must read.

7. Google Apps

Google Apps is basically Gmail for your business.

I’ve been on this system since I dropped MS Outlook like a bad habit a few years ago.

You get all of the excellent features and spam filtration that Gmail offers, and you get to keep your you@yourbusiness.com email address (so you still look like a quasi-professional).

Access to your email/calendar/contacts from any location with a web connection, and keeping it all stored on Google’s servers, means you can burn down your office and drop your laptop off a 12-story building, and you still won’t lose this crucial stuff.

Without a doubt these seven apps have saved me time, headache and money over the last few years.

How about you? What web-based apps do you love? Share ‘em in the comments.