She’s the, "Get it Done Girl!"

This post is inspired by Chris Brogan’s, “Soul of a New Business“.  If you don’t already, you really should subscribe to his blog in a reader.  While you’re at it, why don’t you subscribe to my blog as well…

What is the soul of your business?

I created Contemporary Business Solutions because I saw a disconnect between the needs and wants of employees and employers.  Having been unemployed for the majority of 2009, I had the opportunity to learn about the unemployment situation firsthand.  Employees, for the most part, want full time jobs with benefits.  In this economic climate, employers can’t hire full time employees, but they have loads of work that needs to be done.  I was also seeing that many folks who were laid off were starting their own businesses.  They were frustrated because they couldn’t devote the time they wanted to their new business because they had to do all of the other “stuff” associated with running a business.  Unfortunately, they weren’t yet in a position to hire a permanent employee.

I also was driving to create Contemporary Business Solutions because I wanted to enjoy the flexibility of working when I’m most productive and engaged in order to improve my quality of life; and so I can create multiple income streams so that my family’s livelihood isn’t dramatically affected when one stream dries up.

All of these observations over a 9 month period led me to create my own business.  I bring my passion for helping others to every client meeting and to every project I work on.

Does Your Business Have a Soul?

“Does your business seek to be helpful? Do you wake up thinking, “How can I do something that will improve the experience of others?” Will people say they’re better off with your business around than not?”

Your business doesn’t have to have a soul, but ask yourself if you’re passionate about what you do and if that passion is communicated to the customer.  Will your business stand the test of time without a soul?  Without passion?

Chris Brogan defines soul as, “the moral and intentional guidance and ‘life’ of your company.”

What Does Your Business Soul Need to Consider?

Chris hits the nail on the head in his post:  “…part of what’s contributed to the economic problems of the western world at least is that companies started seeing people as numbers only.” Having been part of the unemployed population for most of 2009, I can definitely say that organizations are seeing people, the unemployed population at least, as numbers.  When you’re one of 300 people applying for a job, of course you’re a number.  Unfortunately, the number you acquired during the interview process stays with you when you start working for an organization.  Are your employees just numbers?

“Treating people like you want to empower them to succeed instead of wanting them simply to buy is a path towards sustained business. Working out how your business fits into an ecosystem and understanding what else your customers are dealing with helps with this as well.”

Do you ever ask, “How can I help?”  Work that sentence into every interaction with a client, prospect and employee and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the response.

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I’ve been preparing translations for several years and I continue to be amazed by the number of organizations who use free,web-based text translators for professional translations in their business.  To demonstrate why professional, human translators are superior to free online text translators, I’ll show you the difference.

Bad Translations Affect Advertising

Source text:

I help small businesses and entrepreneurs free up their time and money by working virtually, on an as-needed basis, as an event planner, business support specialist, social media guru and translator.

Source text translated into German via www.freetranslation.com:

Ich helfe Kleinbetrieb und Unternehmer machen ihre Zeit und Geld durch Arbeiten praktisch, auf einem als nötige Basis, als ein Ereignisplanungsberater, Geschäftsstützespezialist, sozialer Medienguru und Übersetzer frei.

Now I’m going to take the German text above and have it translated back into English via www.freetranslation.com.  If it’s a good translation, the English should be the same as the original source text:

I help make small business and entrepreneur its time and money through works practically, on one as would compel basis when an event planning adviser, business support specialist, social medium guru and translator free.

As you can see, there are some nuances that are not captured with the free online text translator.  There are even incorrect words used.

Below, I’ve translated the source text into German:

Ich helfe kleine Unternehmen und Unternehmer ihren Zeit und Geld sparen durch Fernarbeit bei Bedarf, als eine Ereignisplanungsberater, Geschaeftsstuetzespezialist, Soziale Medien guru und Uebersetzer.

I used the free, online text translator to translate my German text that I manually translated back into English:

I help small business and entrepreneur its time and money save via distance work as required as an event planning adviser, business support specialist, social media guru and translator.

As you can see, this is a significant improvement over the text translator.

How is your business translating its content into other languages?  Have you had it proofread by a native speaker to ensure its accuracy?

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11-Dec:  Order placed, standard Ground delivery

15-Dec:  Order shipped

18-Dec:  Order received; Sent email to customer service expressing dissatisfaction with cards as they all had dark vertical lines on front and reverse sides; Received email from customer service indicating they would reprint my business cards as there were “roller” line issues with my batch of cards.  They sent a UPS return label, so I returned the defective product that day. (I must say, that customer service responded quickly and courteously.)

22-Dec: Re-order shipped

24-Dec:  Re-order received; Sent email to customer service expressing dissatisfaction with the cards as they all had white smudges on both the front and reverse sides.  At this point on a re-order, I would think that they would pay close attention and make sure that the cards that are sent out again are correct.  It’s as if no human eyes look at these cards?  As this was their second attempt at my order, I asked that they send the cards using overnight delivery.  I’ve got networking to do!

26-Dec:  Received email from customer service indicating they would be completing a “file check” as this is the second time they are running this order.  Dear Overnight Prints:  There’s nothing wrong with the file…

29-Dec:  Received an email from customer service giving me the choice of one of the options below:

1. If a reprint is requested, Overnight Prints will reprint at no charge to you with the same production and delivery terms as originally ordered. We will also provide a prepaid return label for the return of the defective product.
2. If a refund is requested, Overnight Prints will send you a prepaid return label for the defective product. Once that product is received in our facility, a full refund will be issued.

29-Dec:  Though disappointed that they weren’t honoring my request for overnight delivery, I chose option 1.  Third time’s a charm, right?  As of today, I haven’t received a ship date.  I understand that it’s the holidays, so things take longer to get done, but come on.  This wouldn’t be happening if they just looked at the cards before they sent them out.  Lesson learned:  Always proofread before you send, whether it be a blog post, email or a sales proposal.

Anyone else having these difficulties with Overnight Prints?  How have you handled these types of issues in the past?

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A scary thing happened to me last week.  My laptop wasn’t doing so well.  I would log in, managed to make it to my desktop and I couldn’t click on anything.  Sometimes I would get an error that said Microsoft was shut down because it wasn’t working properly…then I got the horrid neon blue screen that said I should get professional help.  It’s always scary when you hear that…

Like many people, I do everything on my laptop.  Sometimes I wonder if I rely on it too much.  I use it to look up phone numbers and addresses for local restaurants and LinkedIn has become my Rolodex.  For a split second, I thought all was lost because my go-to gadget for everything was down.  That’s when I remembered:

Business Cards.  I’ve been chided for holding on to things, but I’m glad I held on to these puppies.  I knew I had met a few freelance IT troubleshooters this past year, so I thought I’d call them for some support.  Left messages with three of them…who else could I call?

Enter The Yellow Pages.  I’ve thought about throwing out recycling this huge book several times, but I just couldn’t do it.  And I’m glad I didn’t.  After not being able to reach my IT buddies, I called Best Buy as a last resort.

Me:  How long with it take for you to fix it?

Geek Squad Member:  I don’t know; we’ll need to take a look at it.

Me:  Well, how much is it going to cost?

Geek Squad Member:  I don’t know, we’ll need to take a look at it.

In the middle of this electrifying conversation, my cell phone rings, so I wrap it up with the Geek Squad and take the call.  It was one of my IT buddies.  He asked what was wrong, explained what was happening (Microsoft added an update, but it wasn’t playing well with my anti-virus.  My words, not his…) and he offered a solution.  We ended the conversation, I implemented his solution and I got my precious laptop back!

While dancing merrily (it was the day before Christmas Eve, after all) around the kitchen my office in celebration, I received a second call from my other IT buddy.  I told him I got the issue resolved and thanked him for his call.  He also told me about this Microsoft update situation he was seeing among his clients and confirmed that that was probably all that was was wrong.

Free, fast and over the phone.  Couldn’t ask for better service.  It’s all about who you know…if you hang on to their business card!

Do you immediately take your computer to Best Buy when it’s not working properly?  Have you ever used/considered using a freelance professional?  What’s your latest horror story and how did you get the problem fixed?

If you’re not already, connect with Contemporary Business Solutions on Twitter and Facebook.

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