Is the clock running out on your social media use?
Introduction: Marketing Through Social Networking Without the Insanity
Social networking: you know you oughtta do it. But the time it takes is enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the most productive solos. How can you do all this networking/Twitter/Facebook stuff and still run your business?
We’re looking at this topic in depth in our “Ten Rules to Successfully Manage Your Time in Social Networking Activities” series. You can navigate through all the posts in this series through the links above and at the bottom of the post.
Today’s entry in the series is all about keeping your expectations in check, and reining in others who might be expecting too much from one poor little solo.
#7: Manage Expectations — Yours and Others’
Y’all know how you do.
You start something with these great expectations of yourself. You’re going to get on Twitter for thirty minutes every day! You’re going to research a gazillion apps to see which ones are the absolute best, cheapest, and most reliable! By FRIDAY! You’re going to be witty, professional, and devastatingly funny, each and every single time you tweet!
Yeah. Right. Knock that off, OK? Make your expectations reasonable ones, if you absolutely must have them at all. Better yet, go in without expectations. Keep that mind open and just try riding the wave, for once. See what happens, without trying to anticipate or judge as you go. Look at your results at some point, sure, but until then, keep your mind firmly centered on the experience itself, not the outcome.
And as for others’ expectations of you – well, that’s always the downside of all this amazing connective technology, isn’t it?
The great part: you can be there 24/7! The walls come down!
The awful part: you can be there 24/7! The WALLS COME DOWN! Ack!
Tell your clients right up front what to expect from you, the day they sign the retainer. You don’t take calls after 6 PM unless it’s an emergency, in which case you’ll return their message. You respond within 24 hours, not 24 seconds. You don’t work on Sundays. Or Saturdays. Or both.
And when the client asks you for something — say, an opinion, or revisions to a document, or new numbers, or a diagnosis you’re not prepared to give right that second? Tell them. Say, “I want to make sure I give this the attention it deserves. You’ll hear from me in 24 hours.” Or whatever you need.
Minimizing Interruptions in a Home Office to Stay Productive
Another way in which others’ expectations throw a monkey wrench into the well-oiled machinery of your solo practice is peculiar to home-office-based solos. It’s a common phenomenon known as “The Curse of the Always At-Home.” When it strikes, it’s maddening. And it’s almost impossible to kill the curse once it’s struck without losing some friends or causing massive familial friction. So the best bet is to nip it in the bud before it even rears its ugly demanding head.
What is the Curse of the Always At-Home? Simply put, it’s when your loved ones and friends assume that, because you’re home, you’re available. All. The. Time. The concept of working at home just zooms right over some people’s heads. I blame the bad bosses who don’t allow telecommuting in their offices because they think that whoever’s working at home is really just surfing porn sites and playing endless games of Free Cell. (Well, I can understand that last part – the Windows Vista redo of Free Cell is awesome! But I digress.)
To get out of it once it’s crossed your path, you’ll need to muster your most professional, friendliest-yet-firmest tone and say something along the lines of: “I would love to go to a movie with you/pick up your dry-cleaning/come show you how to program your cable remote for the eighty-millionth time. How’s … [consulting your paper calendar, loudly flipping through pages] … next Tuesday at 3? I can also squeeze you in next Friday at 10:45.”
To stop it before it spreads, you need to sit down with the likeliest would-be culprits (almost always your kids and/or significant other, plus perhaps elderly relatives — I speak from experience here) and explain to them exactly what it means when Mommy or Daddy’s in the office with the door closed.
Minimize interruptions — especially for kids — with clear guidelines about when you’re available and when you’re not. Sweeten the deal and alleviate tension for younger kids by promising to make yourself available at regular intervals, and let them know when those times are. Kids can handle separation more easily when they know when it will end.
Bottom Line: Underpromise. Overdeliver.
This is how we manage expectations — whether those expectations are coming from ourselves or others. As is true in almost all situations, communication is key — as is sticking to your guns. Be firm, even with yourself. Your business depends on it.
Minimizing your interruptions and managing your expectations will help you embrace worthwhile social networking activities by removing two key obstacles to marketing: your own fears and other demands on your time, each of which share in common one feature — they both tend to pop up at the most inconvenient moments.
