I confess: I’m a double – sometimes treble – fisted reader ((more on that in a future post)), often going on “book binges” where I’ll be taking in two or three books at a time.

There’s a system to the way I read, and I’m zealous about books that make me think. ((Sorry, no real time for romance novels. I’m a practical, tactical girl, thanks.))

So I took Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” with me on my trip to NC. While I was in NC, I finished it, passed it on to a new client who really needed it, and went hunting at JR’s for more brain fodder. ((Anyone that lives near Statesville, NC, will know what I mean about finding great gems at JR. Wish I had one near me.)) At JR, I picked up 3 books (none of them “UnMarketing”. We’ll get there, keep your shirt on!) – most of which are hard to find anywhere but Amazon, all of which inspired me to give them a read.

One of the books, “Jesus Brand Spirituality” , was written by a pastor from Michigan (ironic, I know). I was also working on an ebook copy of “A New Christ” (Wallace Wattles of “The Science of Getting Rich” fame) before I picked these other books up.

Reading, for me is a full-contact sport. ((The way my hubby talks about the Lions? That’s the way I talk about books!)) I don’t just flip through pages, I have a “process” for getting the most out of every book I read. I have notebooks that I keep with me to outline my ideas – kind of like “Cliff’s Notes” - so I don’t have to flip through extra book pages to find what I want at a later date. See when I read a book, I keep a notebook with me to jot down thoughts, ideas and ruminations (that are sometimes cross-pollinated by other books I’m reading). The notes are the juiciest bits that I actually think will serve me (or my clients) best long after I’ve loaned out the book and never gotten it back.

My family thinks I’m a bit off my tam-o-shanter ((actually, I’m part Irish, so I guess I’m off my Eske)) because I have nearly as many notebooks as I do books in my library. The truth is I often pass my books on when I’ve “finished” with them – unless it’s a real keeper. That, and there’s something visceral about the tactile sensation and the mind-body connection of writing with an actual pen on actual paper. ((Yes, I said visceral and tactile in the same sentence. I like $2 words. Deal with it.)) It ingrains the lesson, the learning, and most of all the new ideas I get when I write down my “takeaways” from the work of others.

So I’m writing in my notebooks and about half-way into “Jesus Brand Spirituality”, I get this overwhelming sense of how Jesus had to be one of the best marketers in the world ((I’m already working on a book about it, so don’t go getting all plagaristic on me, okay?)). He was a freakin’ rock star – respected teacher, voice of authority, and tended to by people of privilege.

And I start thinking about how Jesus was all about relationships. I think you can see where I’m going now (was it worth the wait?).

Enter “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Stop Engaging.” by The Honorary Renaissance Mom of the Year, Scott Stratten (aka @unmarketing on twitter). ((Warning: That’s an affiliate link and a shameless plug all rolled into one. Caveat Emptor. Cogito ergo sum. Carpe Diem.))

Now save your religious isms for someplace else. This isn’t about religion, unless your religion is the First Church of Building a Legacy - which requires relationships – not totems, symbolism, other icons or gesticulation – to incite passion, create a following, and move you to take action.

Jesus had this figured out some 2000 years ago.

No, I’m not comparing Scott to Jesus. He’s a pretty good guy and all, but he hasn’t built the enduring fame of Jesus. Yet.

Although he’s got the chops, if his first book is any indication.

And yes, this book is a keeper. I’ve already talked with Scott about using it as a text book for a class I’m teaching later this year.

How did I come to this conclusion?

After all, if you’re reading this review, you probably don’t know me from Joe (few people do). ((Joe would be a male name. My name is Lisa, a decidedly female name where I come from.)) It would probably be helpful to share with you how I can confidently say this book is a keeper.

When I sit down to read a book, I usually wait for it to come to my local library. Frankly, I don’t want to waste time in a bookstore unless I know the book is worth the buy ((lead us not into temptation, shall we?)). Because I actually KNOW Scott ((not in the biblical sense. I mean in the “we’ve DM’d and talked on twitter and via email” sense)) and read his blog posts (which were excerpts from the book), I gladly drove across town to the only bookstore that had a copy in stock and paid FULL PRICE for the hardcover edition. ((Nope, don’t want a medal for it, just want to keep the FTC off my back with full disclosure on it.)) I did not wait. In the words of Inigo Montoya, “I hate waiting.”

That was the first indicator. ((Well played, Scott, for sharing preview content on your blog and hooking me months before the book was due!)) The second indicator is the highlighting, underlining, and general note taking I’ve made in this book. If a book is good, I’ll take notes. If it’s a keeper, I’ll tab it, highlight it (usually in multiple colors), underline and make notes in the margin. In college the first time, I was taught that books were meant to be written in and the wide bottom margin of Scott’s book was just enough for me to start brainstorming. ((Which is one thing I do incredibly well, imho.))

And well, once I’ve marked up a book that much, no one else can really get much use out of it, so I guess I have to keep it.

That’s my definition of a keeper. One I can’t/won’t share with someone else because I’ve gotten so much out of it, and put so much of myself into it. Amid the hundreds (maybe thousands now) of books I own, I only have a handful of books that are “keepers.”

Scott’s is not a perfect book. That in and of itself is both refreshing and perplexing. I was raised on “proper” writing and all that. Scott’s extensive use of “inappropriate” footnoting drove me to distraction. ((and yes, I installed a footnote plug-in on my blog just for this post!)) There were grammar issues only a mother of a third grader could love, and it was riddled with Scott’s, shall we say curmudgeonly ((as defined thus: “a crusty, irascible, cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas” – except for the “crusty” and “old” parts)) style.

But that’s where it gets endearing. Scott’s not known to tip-toe or badmouth. He calls ‘em as he sees ‘em, and isn’t afraid to use profanity when it’s warranted. ((I think he held back a little, actually.)) Somewhere between Mark Twain, Henry Ford, and John Wayne, you’ll find Scott, riding roughshod, taking no BS, and doing his best to put out a quality product – with honesty, integrity, and his own brand of personality.

That said, when I recommend a book to others, it’s got to meet a few criteria:

1. Readability. Any time you say 56 chapters, someone’s head will explode. I’m calling them sections, instead. They’re short. Maybe too short in places, but Scott said something about a sequel, so perhaps he’ll expound in a future revision. They’re easy to read. And Scott’s footnotes make it easy and FUN to read. A business book that’s fun to read. That’s scary good, when you think about it.
2. Entertaining. I readily admit that not everyone is as geeky as I am. They won’t sit through 10 minutes of reading an instruction manual to assemble a child’s toy ((are you listening dear husband of mine??)) let alone plow through 250+ pages of marketing education. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are an “edutainment” age, and Scott’s book – particularly the footnotes – scores big on entertainment factor.
3. Crave factor. I bought it and read it cover-to-cover in the same day. I was bummed there wasn’t more to read, and actually started re-reading sections to see if I missed anything really juicy the first time. If a book leaves me wanting more in a way where I don’t feel gypped, I know it’s good enough to share with others. If I feel ripped off, like the author left out the most important part or something, you can bet I won’t recommend it.
4. Learnability. That’s my word for the likelihood that you’ll actually walk away from this book having learned something you can implement right away. To quote Scott, “holy crapcakes!” UnMarketing is chocked with examples, stories and specifics that will make you take notice. Some of them you’ve probably experienced yourself as a customer, but the bigger lesson is how are you implementing those lessons in your own business? Learn from history or be doomed to repeat it.

A few people have suggested that Scott’s book is re-hash, or more of the same old lessons, or Social Media 101. I’m reminded of the story about an elderly minister that gives the same sermon four Sundays in a row. When asked if he realized he was doing it, he replied “Of course! And I’m going to keep giving it until it sinks in!” ((That’s what I meant by curmudgeon earlier.)) But here’s the thing you’re probably missing in Scott’s lessons: the sad reality that it hasn’t “sunk in” for most people in the business world.

Scott’s book isn’t about social media, viral videos, selling to women, coffee, shoes, or any of the stories he uses to illustrate the point. Scott takes a full 250 pages (and then some) to tell you that those stories illustrate an endemic condition in business (and the world) today: the failure to build enduring relationships that aren’t about selfish gain.

The 4 hour phone call for Zappos. Seminar organizers that virtually ravage their speakers. The $1,500 saw. All examples of how the relationship SHOULD be the most important point of contact – and the fact that you never know where it can end up if it is.

That’s a major learnability factor in my book.

So what’s this got to do with Jesus?

Jesus got this stuff. He wasn’t looking to be an Amazon best-seller. He had a mission, a message, and a passion for sharing it with the people that would listen. The people that believed. He built a following, not because he went on about his experience in delivering results for his clients, his MBA from NYIT, or the thousands of followers that touted his expert status. He took no prisoners, pulled no punches, and did his best to deliver the same quality message day after day to the people that mattered most. He listened to people that talked to him. He responded, not by telling them what they wanted to hear, but by sharing his truth. And in sharing that truth, he started a revolution that’s still the subject of fierce debates, wars, and riots to this day.

There is one thing in Scott’s book that really perplexes me. It’s not enough to keep me from calling this book a keeper, and in fact, may be part of why I’m calling it a keeper. On the one hand, Scott calls out work at home moms for hurting themselves by embracing that moniker ((the chapter “Why Being A Work At Home Mom Is Bad For Business”)) (“I want to hire you… because you will get the job done”), and yet, his own slip is showing in the editorial issues that don’t detract from the content, but leave me feeling like there’s something not quite right about my coffee. ((A reference to Scott’s chapter “Stirring Coffee”)) Scott himself acknowledges that part of his “branding” is his lazy nature and the typographical errors that abound in his writing. To me, that’s a cop-out for writing that’s “good enough” when he could have been more diligent in the writing, research and review of his book.

Jim Collins reminds us that “good enough never is.”  And yes, I know I’ve opened the door to having the red pen hurled at me when I finally release a book. I do hope that people will be merciful with me. Still, Scott threw he gauntlet down, not me. And frankly, if that’s the only major fault I can find with the book, then that’s pretty dang good. ((I was going to make that sentence a footnote, but I’ve already got a crap ton, and I thought it would be a nice way to cushion my previous criticism.))

And lastly, one of the biggest reasons for recommending this book is because Scott’s a Renaissance Mom in so many ways. There’s a reason he won that award, and his book only justifies it more. The book begins with “For UnJunior” and ends with “To Aiden and Owen…” – proof that the guy understands that the most important relationships are the ones we build at home.

Well played, Mr. Stratten. Well played, indeed.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a guest post for JulieAnne Jones’ blog about what to do when things get tough in your business. In it, I offer six tips for navigating tough times successfully. One of those is to be honest with your “tribe” when things aren’t perfect. So here goes…

You may or may not have already heard, but we did, in fact, cancel the live event that I had planned for this weekend.

The Renaissance Mom Experience was to be one of those “powerful, life changing events” – leaving a big impact on each of the attendees. At this point, I believe we have refunded everyone. If I missed you, please contact my team.

We’re still planning to do something in terms of a virtual event. That will begin on Sunday, August 29. If you are on the event notification list, you’ll learn more soon enough.

But in the meantime, I’m putting out all kinds of fires at headquarters. So many unexpected “emergencies” have developed (from cancelling the event and other things), that I’m doing all I can to keep my head on straight this week.

Like finding out that the IRS has fouled up every payroll tax filing for me for the past YEAR. So now we’re digging through the archives to clean up THEIR mess (Bonnie, if you’re reading this, don’t worry. Your payroll tax payments are fine, it’s the paper returns they’ve goofed up! No worries!)

And that’s just the tip of this week’s iceberg. Some of the issues directly impact me, others indirectly (like my bookkeeper’s family issues), but all of them are weighing heavy on me right now.

Which means all of my normal “routine” activities have gone by the wayside.

That’s the bad news.

Sorry, there’s no newsletter, no blog posts, and very little contact from me at the moment.

Add to that the fact that we’re closing the offices for the Labor Day Holiday and you can see I’m “up to my elbows in alligators” as an old friend used to say.

Our offices will be closed from September 2-7 (me and all the staff are taking time off. No promises on if we’ll be checking email much or voice mail at all). We’ll re-open on September 8.

There’s a reason my company’s logo is a phoenix.

Some awesome new products and services will be rolling out in September and later this fall. But between now and then, I’m going to be very hard to connect with as the dust settles from the fallout of this week.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Well, in all honesty, because I’ve been feeling like a fraud for NOT telling you sooner. I mean, I coach YOU to be completely transparent in your business and let your teams, your clients and your associates know what’s really going on. People know you’re not perfect, so to present that illusion to the world is tantamount to living a lie.

I would be a fraud to pretend that all is well in the land of Lisa this week. It’s not. Far from it.

But this, too, shall pass. And then, we’ll be back on track and right as rain.

Yes, you’ll be hearing from me in the interim, but not on any particular schedule. Those of you active in any of my coaching courses will see a delay in course delivery – BUT all content WILL be delivered. As always, you can email or call and we’ll do our best to help you with any questions you have, just realize it might take us longer than usual to reply – especially during the Labor Day holiday.

I’m doing everything in my power to keep all the promises I’ve made to everyone and not work myself to death in the process.

Lessons Learned

Every once in a while, you have to make time to take time to deal with life. I would be a fake and a phony if I didn’t practice what I preach.

I know there are at least a few people that would try to cover their tracks and put a marketing “spin” on something like this.

“We’ve decided to ‘go virtual’ to let more people experience the event.”
“Special pricing is open AGAIN – but only for twelve seconds.”
“Bring your friends, your dog, your cat, and a total stranger for FREE.”
“Get fifteen extra bonuses when you sign up before the sun sets today.”

Blah, blah, blech.

No can do. We priced this thing at an incredibly affordable rate (less than $1000 including your room and meals), so I’m not going to cheapen the value of the content by playing those games. The plain truth is that we didn’t sell enough tickets for me to justify keeping everyone’s money (including our awesome sponsors) to bring out these amazing speakers to share their story with a teensy weensy audience. I could have kept the money and played to an audience of twenty people, but it just felt inauthentic and unfair when we were touting this as a large scale event with about 300 people.

Other people may feel comfortable playing that game, but to me, it’s just dishonest and makes you look desperate.

If I were a speaker, I’d want a better return on my time investment. If I were a sponsor, I’d want all the eyeballs originally promised. As an attendee, I might be excited about a smaller, more intimate group, but I might be bummed that I wasn’t meeting enough people.

In business, you have to know when to cut your losses, and sometimes that means nixing a pet project. Cancelling this event was one of the top five heartbreaks of my life. Not because it meant losing income (it’s only money, after all), but because of the mission I still feel compelled to serve – to help mompreneurs bring balance to their life and their work without apologies.

Time and again, that was what I was hearing – apologies about how it was too far, too short notice, too many days, etc. Which tells me the idea was good, but the offer wasn’t good enough. But that’s another post for another day.

Simply put, I know there’s a demand for the material, so we’re working out a way to deliver a portion of the content from the live event in a virtual format starting August 29.

When you cancel an event like this, there are lots of egos to stroke and apologies to be made – and that’s just at my house! The stress my husband and I endured during the summer was epic. Cancelling the event led to all kinds of inquisitions, concerns, and arguments. Again, another post for another day.

Then there’s fees and contracts you have to honor. We’re still working on that.

And THEN the IRS rears their ugly head? Yeesh. Is it any wonder I need a break?

It’s created a lot of chaos, uproar, and difficulty that I simply can’t ignore. Nor would I want to, in truth. So I’m asking for your patience and a little understanding over the next couple of weeks. I’m not ignoring you. We’re just SWAMPED!

And to be clear, no one’s dying, and we’re not closing up shop any time soon. I just need a couple of weeks to get these fires put out and get business back on track.

The GOOD news, is that after the Labor Day holiday is over, we’ve got a TON of great things planned to help you make the last few months of the year your best ever. It pains me to have to wait to share it with you, but I’ve got to clear the path, first.

When the dust settles, there’s gonna be a major blog series about this, you can be sure.

Until then, there are a couple of things you might be interested in:

• If you’re in direct sales, we’ve got special pricing on the videos from Home Party Solution LIVE until August 31. This is the video from last year’s 3-day event. We go end-to-end through the book, with additional bonus content.
• Get registered for the virtual version of The Renaissance Mom Experience (free, even though the site’s not completely updated yet. It’s on the to-do list for the week)
• 30 Days to Renaissance (also free, you can register in the sidebar over there —>) is a 30-day e-course to help you get from Reluctance to Renaissance in your life and business. Just proves I try to practice what I preach.

LASTLY, if you have questions, concerns or comments, we ARE checking the email and the phone messages (and you can DM me on twitter). Just don’t expect an immediate response. Things are plain crazy here at the moment.

In more than a dozen years of business, I have never felt so much in a pressure cooker before. And if you’ve been with me for any length of time, you know how seriously I take my client relationships. For me to basically put business “on hold” to put out fires is a strong indicator of the level of chaos we’re feeling right now.

But sometimes, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Thanks for your understanding.

Scrolling through my email, I found an article from a couple years back, written by Derek Gehl (famed Internet Marketing whiz). In it, he outlined a series of questions that Internet Marketers need to ask themselves before pursuing a market niche. As I read on, it became clear that this series of questions applied to any business owner, not just internet marketers. Not every niche is profitable – and not every profitable niche will stay profitable for the long term. What can you do to build a profitable business in a niche strong/big enough to keep you afloat? Here’s my take:

Competition

Competition is a sticky wicket that’s not always easy to discern. When you look at indirect competition (similar product or service, different niche) as well as direct competitors (exactly the same niche, product and/or service), you can pull your hair out trying to determine how you are unique in the marketplace. What it really boils down to is opportunity costs vs. value. Customers have to choose one way or another. You objective is to present a value proposition that makes it easy for the customer to give what I call the affirmative buying decision to YOU, and no one else. Because when it comes to money, there’s more than just your niche competing. There’s the day care, the health club, the tax man, and a host of other people. There’s only so much money to go around, and your client has to decide where every penny goes. Before competitive businesses are even in the picture, they need to know that your offering is a valuable asset and worth the investment of their hard earned cash. In that respect, you are competing with EVERYTHING. On the other hand, what makes you valuable and unique could be so different than anything else that’s out there that you’re really not competing with anything. See how vexing this can be?

A client of mine is building an online herb shop. She has many of the same products that can be bought other places. However, because some of her herbs are wild sourced – and limited in quantity – she can charge substantially more for those products. These herbs become her flagship products – even though they’ve got very limited availability.  So on one hand, she’s competing with every other herbalist online, but on the other, she’s got a unique, hard to find, in demand product with which no one can compete. Either way, her potential clients still need to decide to spend that money on herbs in the first place, which is what complicates the whole “competition” discussion.

Suggestion: Look for ways to be distinctive in the marketplace, but remember that ultimately it comes down to the value your customer sees in making the investment in the first place. Here are my formulas for value and disappointment:

value = (client expectations) + x – (total client investment)

disappointment = client results – client expectation (when the value is negative, the disappointment is greater)

Your job is to keep disappointment low and value high. That’s part of the equation for customer loyalty.

But here’s my big take away: You have to do what moves you. If you want to be the 1,003rd shoe salesman on your block, it may be hard to run a successful business. Then again, your passion and commitment to offering high-quality shoes at with a value proposition that’s second to none may be just the ticket to your success. In my own community, Walgreen’s has a habit of moving in across the street from Rite Aid. Within a few months the Rite Aid closes up shop. I’ve not researched it, but I’m sure Walgreen’s doesn’t do this by accident. They know they’ve got a viable market (or Rite Aid wouldn’t be there in the first place), and they believe they can offer a better value proposition than their “competition” – and they must be doing something right.

Who am I to say you can’t be the Walgreen’s of your niche? You can totally do that. It happens every day.