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Welcome to the “oh my goodness it’s Autumn already” ezine for March 2005.
I’ve been collecting lots of great ideas for your consulting business since the last ezine in December.
In that time I’ve also learnt how important it is to back up. Especially when you’re completing some major work, like a book rewrite. Even more so if you have a database of people who subscribe to an ezine.
I did however find someone who recovered what 2 experts said was unrecoverable. It cost me $2k and took 2 months. I now back up to a series of DVDs… better late than never, as they say!
So, what would you like to learn, with less pain and less money today?
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What's in this ezine
| Here’s a summary of what’s in this ezine:
Promoting your business:
Clients and ideas:
Fun, as always:
Special offers:
And if you’d like to do something good for the world, consider buying a goat or some chickens for people who need them to survive. Send a gift from the heart at have a heart online!
May your Autumn be filled with warmth, friends and opportunities to make your life a lifestyle!
Cindy |
| Are you linked from my site? |
As part of an ongoing brand overhaul, I have updated my web page to include links to sites of people I know and trust (if you’re not there please let me know that you’d like to be – it’s not necessarily an omission because you may meet the criteria!)
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| Getting publicity for a product by showing off… |
Consultants, what sort of products / services can we put out the for the general public to test, that can show how robust our processes are? Check out this amazing 3M advertising. They’ve made some security glass they really have faith in. So they’ve put their money on the line, encasing 100 dollar bills in security glass. See hundred dollar bills on public toilet walls, and photos of big burly guys trying to smash security glass to get at thousands of dollars sandwiched between.
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Interesting marketing and branding – mention your competitors
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interesting branding and competitive positioning, check out survey monkey’s home page which lists all of their competitor sites. With the extra sites listed it ups their rating in Google, and it means when you search for one of their competitors’ names survey monkey will appear too. Not such a dumb idea. And, by the way, if you’re thinking about running a survey, or needs analysis, survey monkey’s tools do it well, and quickly. I got quite hooked by how easy it is to create a beautiful looking survey.
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| Business idea – online textbooks |
If you are involved with teaching and learning IT, check out this web-based platform for creating, publishing, and sharing textbooks. You can create and publish your own textbooks, selecting exactly the book chapters, sections, or articles you need from the impressive Safari database. Maybe there’s a niche for other types of learning here?
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| Using confusion productively |
Leadership ideas: if as a consultant you play a Leadership role (or if you work with clients who can’t admit when they’re confused), check out this article on when/how leaders can use confusion rather than making poorly informed, shoot-from-the-hip decisions. If you’ve read the Wisdom of Crowds (and if you haven’t, please do, it’s been my favourite book in the past year) you’ll know about some of the poor decisions leaders make when they don’t properly structure their questions and leverage their teams’ wisdom. This idea is in the same vein.
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Write a manifesto
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If you have an issue you'd like to explore go check out change this. Designed to promote thought leadership, it’s about putting up your own manifestos on what needs to change, as much as reading other peoples’ and circulating. May give you an opportunity to get feedback on an article or idea you’re incubating. Articles vary in length. I read 2 or 3 – including one called Quicksand ahead - about jobs that take you over (high on content - 149 pages). Can anyone market? About marketing in your business (low on content). Also a Tom Peters manifesto (what about Tom Peters is not a manifesto? I do love his graphic designers’ work, though) |
| New articles on my website |
Since the last ezine I’ve added couple of articles to my website. Getting out of the office on time (published in Law Practice Management earlier this year), what to do when you just want to kill the client, and another on procrastinating.
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| Some fun – for you and for the kids |
Go check out the Institute Of Infinitely Small Things (for the name, if nothing else). Laugh at some of the interesting “corporate commands” they list. We all know the Nike exhortation “Just do it”, but what about these: Grab a little “me” time, Think outside the bun. Buy one buy all. Look sharp, feel sharp, be sharp. Be yourself only better. Never blend in. Go play… perhaps you can add some in yourself!
If you know or have kids who are of the colouring-in age, one of my Theatresports® buddies developed this colouring book for his daughter. It’s a free download. He also runs a colouring-in competition at the same site. It’s got excellent reviews on quite a few web sites… so get your friends to download!
Imagine making a single image into a 3-frame comic. That’s partiallyclips.com. Go chuckle. |
| Live fun in Sydney
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And if you live in Sydney, come see me play at Scared Scriptless Theatresports® every Friday night. It’s at the Clarence Hotel, 450 Parramatta Road, Petersham. I help them with publicity as well as play on stage as often as I can. I’d love to meet you in person, and of course Theatresports® is improvised comedy (just like Whose line is it anyway). Show starts at 8pm. It’s in a smoke-free bar. You can get meals there, and make a night of it. Mention the code word in April at the door, and save the $5 entry. The code word in April is April!
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Special offer - you can buy my books – and get 10% off in April 2005
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One of my recent readers sent me this:
“I recently purchased ‘ Consulting Mastery’ and a couple of your other reference texts. I would like to say that your book has provided me with a framework with which to work…
Anyway, in a nutshell, I found your book to be extremely helpful – consulting is really a whole other world isn’t it? I mistakenly thought ‘how hard could it be?’ but on starting my business I found that I was struggling. Your book has helped me onto a path and I know I will continually refer to your reference material for guidance. I am on the waiting list for the ‘The Australian’s Consultant Guide’ so I am looking forward to receiving that”.
The e-book of the Australian Consultant’s Guide has now been recovered from the obscurity of my unbacked up hard drive. The printed version will be a little while (the more clients I have, the less time I have to organise these things!); if you’d like to buy the e-version (advantage: you can print the forms and etc as often as you like from this pdf version), then just visit my online shop. The ebook is $35.
I’ve also added the Consultants’ Companion – improving your consulting business 30 minutes a week – again, available in ebook only at this point.
As an incentive to get yourself organised and buy the book you know you need, add the code AEZ after your name on the order form, and get 10% off your order. This offer is valid until April 15th, 2005 so make the decision quickly!
Love to hear from you if any of these ideas spark something good for you and yours!
C
Cindy Tonkin The Consultants’ Consultant
Certified Management Consultant
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