In the 9 months since its release, though, both the economic climate and the mood throughout the world have changed in a fairly profound way.

And, again, I felt the need to revise and expand the Fire Fly Manifesto to address the questions that were being asked of me and the challenges that lie ahead. Things like, “should I really be thinking about starting my own adventure in this economy?” Or, “can I really go renegade if I’ve just lost my job?”

So, I created  “F2 | Firefly Manifesto: Remixed,” and I’m grateful to have it released today by ChangeThis.com.

Please check it out now and, if it resonates, spread the word by sharing it on twitter, stumbleupon, facebook or any of your preferred communities.

Together we change change not only the conversation…but the world.

Pass it on…

The first thing I did was go to each website to learn more. And, without even diving into the details of the apps, I was taken aback by a very impactful difference in the marketing sequence that immediately said one vendor gets it and the other doesn’t.

Here’s what I saw when I clicked over to the HighriseHQ website:

There were a series of short instructional videos on a singe page that did a great job of walking me through the major features of the app. Within minutes, I got all the information I needed about the product.

Next, I clicked over to the NetSuite CRM homepage and here’s what I found:

Ugh! No details, no demo videos, no tours…unless you’re willing to pay them by giving them something of value, my e-mail address, for the privilege of hearing their pitch and getting a trial that requires you to enter a bunch of information on the next page, BEFORE being given access to anything.

Yeah, I get why they’re doing it. They’re trying to build their list.

It’s one thing when you’re talking about a highly individualized, high-ticket service that would make personal interaction during the sales process far more critical, even value-added, for both people. But, grabbing info, so you can squeeze prospects by phone or e-mail because you’re not confident that your presentation will deliver enough value on a commodity-based product = not cool.

It’s like the web version of the old “pay to receive my catalogue” scam.

Attention Companies: CONTACT INFORMATION IS CURRENCY!

You can’t do this and expect to keep winning when you are going head to head with a number of competitors (also SugarCRM and ZohoCRM) with very good products who don’t play those same games. Especially, when your solution is priced above the savvy competitor with a far better, free, value-added, non-confrontational, completely ungated sales process.

Note to everyone who wants my business and my money…

Don’t make me pay to hear your pitch.

So, what do YOU think?

Let’s discuss…

Why don’t I get more traffic from google and other search engines?

The answer often has multiple layers, but one of the biggest is having poorly-written, low value content that’s not relevant to your business, product or service. At least, not relevant…”in google’s eyes.” This often leads to the next question, which is:

How do I know if google thinks my website is relevant?

Again, there are many factors to look at, but here are two fast and easy ways to see (a) what google thinks your website is really about, and (b) how relevant/valuable they think your content is.

In today’s post, we’ll answer the first part, “what does google think your website is about?” Then, in part 2 of this series, we’ll show how you can tell whether google thinks your website’s content is relevant and valuable.

Using the Google External Keyword Tool

Google has a free keyword tool that lets you see what search phrases or “keywords” google is associating with your small business’ website. This is immensely powerful, because it essentially tells you what google thinks your website is “about” and what terms google is “ranking” your site for.

To use this tool:

• Visit the free keyword tool page (as pictured below),
• Click on the radio button on the left that says, “Website content,”
• Enter your web address or url in the field on the right,
• Check the box underneath that says “Include other pages on my site linked from this URL,” and
• Hit the “Get keyword ideas” button

Wait a few seconds, then underneath the area where you entered your website, a new section appears that lists keywords that google believes represent your website, followed by a list of suggested other keywords.

Here’s what pulled up when I did this for Entrepreneur.com:

We’ll talk about what to do with the suggested keyword list in a later posts, but for our purposes today, just take a look at the first section that appears underneath the section where you typed your website address. Notice how “on target” the keywords are for Entrepreneur.com. They do a great job of describing what the website is about. So, when people google these keywords, Entrepreneur.com comes up in the search results.

Do this for your website, then ask whether the keywords listed are the ones you want your website associated with. If so, you’re in good shape. If not, you may need to rework your content to let google know what your website is really about and give it a better shot of pulling up in the search results when people google what you’re selling.

Be sure to tune in next week for part 2, where I’ll share a simple way to see whether google thinks the content of your small business’ website sucks or rocks.

It’s called the Big, Bad Implementation Gap…and it’s the biggest dream crusher on the planet. Thing is, I’m determined to help you…personally…get out of your head and, probably for the first time in your life, start taking the daily actions needed to launch or grow your renegade vision into a serious, family-worthy living.

A little over a month ago, I posted a survey asking how I could best make myself available to turbocharge your personal quest. Thanks so much to all who responded, your answers were invaluable.

Based on that survey, I’ve created  3 ways to stop talking about all the cool things you’d like to do and…

Work directly with me to make them happen

And, even cooler, there’s an option for every price point…even donation basis!

Click here now to visit the new “Work with Me”
page and see which option is right for you

(Or,  just click the Work with Me tab up top)

The first is from New orleans’ Naked Pizza, a neighborhood pizza place that reported 20% of revenue coming directly from twitter with spikes as high as 69% on days where they hit twitter with a serious campaign. Here’s a sample from their tweet-stream…

Notice a few things:

• One, it’s a person, not a robot.
• Two, that person is ENGAGING in conversations nonstop.
• Three, they’re not just pimping pizza.
• Four, they have a personality.
• Five, every once in a while, they sneak in a playful promo that revolved around the community.

Fun stuff. Then, when you click on over to their website, one of the first things you notice is it’s built to proactively built community through social media, with Facebook and twitter buttons and the Share This app above the fold.

Next up, Rascal House Pizza. Dunno what their percentage of pizza sales from twitter is, but I’m guessing it’s not even enough to measure.

Here’s a sampling from their twitter stream…

This same stream is repeated with little variation all day, every day. It’s about as spammy as it gets. It’s using its twitter accounts not to build community, but to hock what appear to be completely unrelated affiliate products (FYI – the iPhone offer they promote all day doesn’t even connect to a live link). And, scrolling back 10 days, there was way not a single “@.” Translation – All spam, no engagement!

And, everyone knows spam doesn’t taste good on pizza.

Similarly, when you click on over to their website, it’s devoid of any type of social media driven community building efforts.

Funny thing is, Rascal House is actually a much larger franchise operation that can afford to invest way more in doing it right in 2.o. And, they make in fact make great pizza and have great service. But, if that’s true, then there’s a massive disconnect between the message they’re sending through social media and the product or service they’re giving customers, face to face.

Where does this leave us?

If you’re a local biz, before writing off social media as just another time-wasting fad, you might be better advised to embrace it and figure out how to turn engagement into income. And, when you do, take a bit of time to learn how to do it right. Because if you don’t…your competition will.

Thoughts?

Problem is, nearly every example of greatness in the world of business either uses a short window of assessment or reverse engineers the determination of greatness by curve-fitting a select number of high-achieving companies into a desired algorithm, then cherry-picking certain shared qualities and listing them as the essential elements of greatness.

Unfortunately, while curve fitting can identify historical similarities, it provides little predictive or instructive value. In fact, many of the companies mentioned in the above books not only suffered major stumbles after the books’ publication, but upon deeper analysis, didn’t even outperform other companies in their sectors.

Truth is, there is no such thing as a great company, there are only:

• Great ideas,
• Great moments,
• Great decisions,
• Great strategies,
• Great people, and
• Great execution

And, by definition, every one of these elements of greatness are impermanent.

A company launched and grown into a paramount by a great idea can be felled by a subsequent terrible decision, strategy or person. Witness the epic rises and falls of major players in the U.S. automotive, banking, law and dozens of other industries.

It’s never about the company, it’s about the impact of those 6 defining qualities. So, if you’re thinking of launching a business, instead of studying what unites great companies, you’d be better served by studying greatness in the context of the individual qualities and the impact of their presence and absence.

As always, just thinking out loud. Do you agree, disagree? What have I left out?

What do you think?

Do enough people want to buy what you’re looking to sell to call it a business?

For example, you may have a hidden passion for designing biodegradable hemp thimbles decorated with organic dyed cashews, but do enough other people want to buy those suckers to make it a business? This is actually one of the biggest missteps folks make in launching a small business—thinking you are your market.

Sometimes you are, many times you think you are…but you’re not. So, rather than invest a boatload of time, energy and money in launching something built around your own belief that a sea of people with the same mad passions as you exist, do a bit of research.

Ask these two giant questions:

• Does the service or product that I create through my passion solve a strong, emotionally-invested problem for other people? And,
• How many other people? Is there a large enough, regularly renewing market of people who are:

1. Willing to buy what I’m selling,
2. At a price that will make it worth the effort?

If the answer is yes, you’ve got a potential business on your hands.

But, if the answer to either of these questions is no, you’ve got a serious business model challenge.

Does that mean you abandon your passion-driven quest to make a living doing what you love? The answer is…maybe. There may, in fact, be certain quirky passions that are so solitude driven and so oriented away from community and problem solving that they’d be extremely difficult to build a living around.

But, far more often, there is a way to go about your passion differently in an effort to discover or sometimes even create the demand and community needed to turn it into a business.

As I mention in Career Renegade (the book), take a serious look not only at the activity itself, but the:

• Culture surrounding the activity
• Need for community surrounding the activity
• Need for products or service that solve a problem in the community or provide a rallying point
• Available modes of access to that activity, and
• Informational and educational needs of that community

In the end, it all comes back to finding the genuine (read “not fabricated”) intersection between what makes you come alive and what enough people are willing to pay for. Clear that hurdle and you take a big step toward the process of turning your passion into your profession.

So, what do you think?

Nothing too serious, but it’s a still a serious part of the body to be operating on (and, yes, I’m still weaning myself off the air-cast on my leg, it’s been a hell of a few months). So, I did my research and found the biggest, best, fanciest specialist in NYC. And, by the way, just like every other big, bad, best specialist in NYC, he doesn’t take insurance and my insurance doesn’t cover out of network. Translation, I ended up paying many thousands of dollars out of my own pocket for a 1-hour operation.

I shared this with a friend who responded, “man, that’s a nice hourly rate.”

But, here’s the thing. The reason I was happy to pay every cent of it was because I wasn’t paying for his “time in the O.R.” I was paying to be as far as possible away from the guy who went first. I was paying for his 25 years perfecting his skills, thousands of patients, tens of thousands of hours and tons of newbie mistakes avoided.

I was, quite simply, paying not to be first.

And, there’s a lesson in that. It applies to pretty much every solo practice Career Renegade. All too often, people are tempted to charge an “hourly” rate for their services, because that’s what the rest of the market does.

I never charge an hourly rate.

Every once in a while, though, someone tries to reverse engineer it out of my project fees or retainer and remarks about what it breaks down to on an hourly basis. But, just like my super-hero doc, you’re not paying me for my time talking, writing or strategizing. That’s only a piece of the puzzle.

Let’s say I charge $10,000 to write a sales letter. Maybe it takes me anywhere from 5 to 25 hours to write. Any way you slice it, that’s a lot of money if you base it purely on “writing time.”

But, you’re not paying for the time it takes me to write it.

You’re paying for the thousands of hours I’ve spent studying the top copywriters, working with them, diving deep into the psychology and linguistics of persuasion. You’re paying to be as far away from the inevitable early disasters as possible. You’re paying the value of the revenue generating asset I am creating for your business. But, most of all…

You’re paying not to be first.

And, at least when I’m the client, the customer…or the patient, I’m going to pay to be as far away from first as my bank account can get me.

As always, just thinking out loud. What do you think?

Most were easily answered, but one seemed to stump every one.

I had a family to support in NYC and that requires a substantial income. So, I asked:

Can you please provide me with the contact information for 3 to 5 graduates who have been able to earn a substantial/6-figure income?

If they were asking me to pony up $50,000 and 4 years of my life, I needed to know (and my wife needed to know) that I’d not only be able to turn that into a career that I loved, but one that could generate a comfortable income for a NYC family.

At first, the advisors balked and talked around the issue, saying it was such an individual thing. I said I understood that, which is why, of the thousands of graduates, I was only asking them to identify 3 to 5 that had done well. They said they’d get back to me. One one did, it took a week and only one number was provided.

I called that person and was told that I most people never come close to earning a living, end up working another job part time and, even those who succeed should allow for a solid 5-10 years before being able to earn enough to do it full time. Yikers! And, this was the sole person the school could uncover as proof that acupuncturists can earn big livings.

Now, I also have friends who are in the field and they shared the same outlook. One, in fact, does earn a very solid living, because she affiliated herself with a large medical practice and leased offices within the practice. But, she also shared, it was still a daily struggle to educate both her clients and potential referral sources on the efficacy of Chinese medicine and acupuncture.

In the end, I wasn’t convinced and, because I had a number of other passions that offered substantially more plausible paths to a good living, I went in a different direction.

But, the big lesson here, from a marketing standpoint, for any small business, Career Renegade or professional, is that people want proof of your claims. When someone is interested, but uncertain about whether to retain you or buy your stuff, he or she will look to

• (1) see how other like-minded people have made the same decision, and
• (2) find “proof” that what you are selling or promising is the real deal.

It’s called social proof and actual proof. And, if you can’t deliver these, there’s a good change you’re going to lose a ton of sales. That’s why so many sales processes use testomials, case studies, surveys and other sources of proof that come from third parties.

Because, they are critical to the process of persuasion. Leave them out at your peril.

So, what do you think? Ever had a similar experience? On either side of the conversation?

How have you handled it?

Let’s discuss…