Are you feeling overwhelmed by the need to make improvements in your business, yet you can’t seem to find the time to do so?

Have you lost some of the fun you once felt from having your own business?

And do you sometimes feel the need to have a team of peers to bounce ideas off?

If so, you may be perfect for the next session of WIC’s Mentoring Program, planned for this fall.
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What do great project managers do that other people don’t?

That was one of the questions I asked the WIC Community list recently as I researched an article I was writing.

Knowing that WIC, as a community, includes many great project managers, I wanted to hear what WIC list readers thought about great project management skills.

I asked these questions, as well:

Can great project management skills be taught, or are they just natural for some people (i.e., “you have to be born that way”)?

If project management excellence can be taught, how do you think these skills can be learned and developed most easily?

The answers came flying in.

These were primary characteristics of great project managers that contributors identified:

- See the Big Picture, and shift easily between the Big Picture and detail of the project
- Strong people skills and emotional intelligence; able to build consensus and deal well with all members of the team, including the most challenging ones

- Set up a project well, such as by creating and communicating clear expectations, articulating why the project is important to customers of the work and to the business, and breaking big projects into do-able, assignable tasks

- Able to ask people to make commitments to achieve team and individual goals, and then follow up well to ensure that commitments made are commitments kept
- Align disparate people and resources to meet business objectives on time and within budget
- Synthesize multiple streams and sources of information effectively
- Knowledgeable in the type of project they’re managing
- Process-oriented
- Have good problem-solving skills
- Observant
- Adaptable
- Juggle well

Here are a few of the additional thoughts and observations that contributors provided about what distinguishes great project managers from the rest:

- Great project managers are very organized. They’re able to see and be guided by the “big picture” of the project.

“If you can’t ‘see’ the whole project form the beginning…it becomes just a series of tactics. Project management, when delivered most effectively, is strategic,” one writer explained.

- Staying calm and keeping the team calm in the face of deadlines and difficulties makes a big difference.

“A good project manager takes the ‘angst’ out of the process, calms down the players, steps in and lets them make their own contributions without worrying about how it is all going to fit together,” said one contributor.

“They have “grace under fire,” explained another.

- Great project managers communicate well with a wide variety of people with many communication styles.

“Great communication skills, high emotional intelligence, persistence, and a big ‘J’ at the end of the Myers-Briggs profile are key,” explained one person.

“They’re committed to the success of the project as well as the people involved. They develop strong and effective relationships with people – not just the project plan and milestones.

Answers varied when it came to my question about whether great project managers are born or made.

One person believes that all project management skills can be taught and learned. More typical of the responses, however, was the belief that some great project management skills can be taught, while perhaps 25% of great project managers’ abilities are innate.

What, then, did the WIC Community list contributors see as the best way to develop strong project management skills?

Most described this as being a combination of learning on one’s own, such as by reading or taking classes, and then supplementing this with coaching or mentoring.

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Among the most important factors affecting your SEO results is the quantity and quality of links that point to your site. The better your content, the more people will link to you. Google essentially looks at inbound links as “votes” of love for your site- if you have a lot of quality links, your content must be good, thus they should move it up the results. Not long ago reciprocal link exchange on a links pages (you post a link to their site and they post a link to your site) was the easiest way to gain love from the search engines. Blatant reciprocal link exchange is no longer a show of love so what can you do?

With some good planning and a bit of work you can still get the love from other sites by way of “Link Bait”. The best strategy to gain the love is putting your energy into creating useful, valuable content that people will read, use, bookmark, link to, and recommend to others.

Share the love – link out. Although linking out to other sites carries the risk of sending people away, the benefits of being associated with high-level content should outweigh any negatives. Would you expect others to link to you if you don’t link to anyone else? Are you really a good authority if you don’t reference any other good information? Link out usefully and don’t overdo it and make sure you are linking to solid, reputable sites and content. You can search “seo bad neighborhoods” to learn more about site reputation.

Now you have good content and you have links pointing to other sites. Notify the site owners of these love links which reference their site and inform them about your great content. Let them know they can return the love with links to your content.

If you have a self-hosted Wordpress blog or website there are a few plugins which can help you easily share your content.

Ping services allow you to automatically notify blog directories and search engines that your blog has been updated. The larger your ping list the higher the chances of receiving traffic from those sources, Wordpress users can modify their ping list on the Control Panel, then Options, then Writing. To get a current list of the Ping services just search the web for a list but be sure to use the most up to date list you can find.

MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer will help you manage the pings to other blogs. Be sure to add a plugin such as this one which limits the ping to one time per blog post, otherwise you may be banned from the blog directory for submission when you edit the post.

Blog Traffic Exchange has a free and pro version. Basically you join a group of websites which post links on each others related blog posts. The software takes care of determining which post’s topics relate to one another so it’s automated for you. Your posts join the pool and receive a posting on related sites.

With time the love will come back to you with inbound links referencing your great and lovable content.

For more tips like this, visit http://www.Be-Found.net

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We created a new Women in Consulting member benefit late in 2009, the WIC Mentoring Program. Our successful six-week pilot run ended in mid-October.

The pilot included seven mentees who agreed to help us test the new program. These were WIC members who were interested in the program, but also ready to invest some time (and do some homework!) in order to apply the information we shared with them to help improve various aspects of their businesses.

Desiree Lehrbaum (Lumen Consulting) and I (J. G. Richards Consulting) worked together as a team to mentor the pilot group. We’ll also lead the spring session, which runs from March 24-April 28.

Desiree’s mentoring focus is on marketing and business development of mentees’ businesses. I lead the vision-setting, action planning and “optimizing your business operations” parts of the program.

Once again, the spring session will use a webinar format once a week for an hour, supplemented by a 30 minute 1:1 mentoring call between each mentee and each mentor in the final weeks of the program. We hope to hold our kickoff session as a group, in person.

So how did the pilot go?

I’ll let the Fall, 2009 mentees speak for themselves. Here’s some of their feedback, provided on the anonymous feedback survey we sent them soon after the pilot was over:

“The content was awesome! I can’t imagine it being better.” (This came from a participant during our follow-up call a month after the session ended).

“Not only did I learn specific skills, but I felt more focused on my business and more motivated to actually get past hurdles and get things done.

“A very practical way of approaching the steps of marketing for my business, and identifying and confronting issues holding me back.”

“The program was extremely well thought out, structured into a business development focus with actionable tips and tools to take my thinking to the next level.”

There are more participant quotes I could share, but I think that gives you enough information to know if this is a program that sounds right for you, too.

If you’re interested in the Spring, 2010 WIC Mentoring Program, send me an e-mail at jan@jgichardsresults.com to let me know. We’re finalizing the Spring 2010 Mentoring group soon.

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I had the pleasure of attending WIC’s general meeting last Thursday, where Kate Purmal shared insights into how we can make 2010 our best year yet…without breaking our necks! I particularly like that last part!

As part of the networking exercise, everyone was asked to answer the following question:

If you could choose between the following, which would you choose:

• You double your revenue in 2010 but work the same amount of time
• You keep your revenue at the current level but work half the time
• Your revenue and the amount of time you work remain the same but your projects are 2x more satisfying

That was a tough one for me. I want to keep my revenue at the current level and work half the time (I have a young daughter)—but I also want the projects to be 2x more satisfying. An overwhelming amount of Thursday’s attendees voted to double their revenue but work the same amount of time.

What would you choose?

Digging a Little Deeper

If you attended the meeting and would like a copy of Kate’s PowerPoint slides from Thursday’s meeting, email her at kpurmal@gmail.com, and she’ll send them to you. She’s also offering meeting attendees special deals on two of her upcoming workshops, geared to building sales and your thought leadership.  

Sales Boot Camp

If the presentation whet your appetite and you’d like to take your sales to the next level, Kate has an upcoming Sales Boot Camp on February 18, 2010. The one-day workshop is $495 for WIC meeting attendees.

In the workshop, Kate digs deeper on several topics from the WIC meeting:

-       Role-play to perfect the art of creating a “trial balloon” proposal in a single meeting
-       Create a phase 1 or Trojan Horse proposal for your business
-       Develop a phased model for your services
-       Build an action plan to fill your sales pipeline
-       And much more

For more information and to register visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=196613

Thought Leadership Workshop

Kate and her personal guru Mark Levy, author of Accidental Genius, are hosting a one-day intensive workshop where you’ll use private writing and exercises to develop a compelling thought leadership platform. You’ll tap into your creative genius to brainstorm high-level ideas and review them with the group to pick the most compelling and captivating concepts. By developing a platform for thought leadership you gain access to a wider range of potential clients and can charge more for your services.

The workshop is $495 for WIC meeting attendees.

For more information and to register visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=196828

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It seems that the recession is finally ending. But if you’re like me, my business took a beating and I have some major planning to do to be poised for opportunities in 2010. However, it seems so overwhelming to do it all by myself.

Luckily, WIC has a workshop on December 1^st that can help me – and you – be ready to take advantage of the business upswing. Seven experts are available to explore all aspects of our businesses, in a one-to-one setting, and help develop the best strategic approach.

We’ll walk away with:

• A blueprint for our businesses
• Valuable tips from the experts on sales, marketing, resourcing, process improvement, competition, client/market assessment, and branding
• Action items to kick-start our success in 2010

So carve out some time to concentrate on your success and join us at the WIC December  “Jumpstart Your Business for 2010” Workshop:

December 1, 2009, 8:00am – 12:00pm

Network Meeting Center

5201 Great America Parkway, Suite 122, Santa Clara, CA 95054

(408) 562-6091

www.networkmeetingcenter.com

Learn more and register at www.womeninconsulting.org

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If you need to record an MP3 of a teleseminar or class, here are some tips to improve the quality of your recording:

• Make sure you have a foam cover on your microphone, which will limit popping of the “p” sound.
• Limit outside noise – don’t record when traffic outside your office is heavy, or when your neighbor is mowing the lawn.
• Limit inside noise – send the dog out for a walk with someone, make sure your house is nice and quiet (or barricade yourself in the quietest room).
• Limit echoes – don’t record in the bathroom. Even if it’s the quietest room.
• Bookend with an introduction and conclusion that mention your website/brand if appropriate.
• Test the sound a few times before going for the whole recording – listen for background noises you’ve missed, make sure you’re not breathing directly into the mic, etc.
• If you’re doing a longer recording, consider breaking it up into sections and recording 1 at a time and then splicing together in software. You’ll be less likely to get voice fatigue.
• Have water, Kleenex, all that sort of stuff nearby. Warm water helps me to recover my voice.
• Consider recording while standing up to keep up your energy levels.

Do you have any other tips that you’d like to share? Do so in the comments! I’d love to know.

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Our family just became one of the millions of U.S. households that have gone Wiiiiiiii…!  That’s Nintendo Wii…we got one…and all three of us are hooked!

Since I have never been hooked by video games, I pondered what was different about this console.  Nintendo has figured out a way to grab a part of the market that wasn’t spending $$ for consoles/games: Boomer Families.  Ingenious!

By focusing on making fitness fun and providing an experience that seems very customized (and also allows for good healthy competition), they appeal to people like me who need a workout buddy, a coach…in the comfort of my own home.  Ingenious!

And they have created experiences that allow families with kids of all ages, or even couples without kids, to use technology to interact with one another instead of zoning out in front of their computers or TVs.  Ingenious!

According to Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Rachter, “over half of Wii households are nontraditional, meaning that they would not have bought a console but for the novelty of Wii.”

Not unlike their key competitors, Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo did the traditional ‘limited supply’ thing to work up frenzied demand when they launched their Wii for Christmas 2006…we are all used to that and still get sucked in by wanting our kids to have the coolest new thing. NOT so ingenious…

By going beyond that traditional ‘create demand’ marketing move, however, and actually offering a device that appealed to an entirely different market, Nintendo has been able to go from one of the lesser players in this $7B+ annual spending market for gaming hardware to being market leader, projected to sell 26 million units this fiscal year ending March 2010.

They were able to do this by finding a niche beyond what they were known for: kiddie games.  Hard core gamers dismissed Nintendo as not a serious alternative to the PS3 and XBox…but Nintendo didn’t sit in their comfort zone…they must have done some research and found a new market…with money…Boomers!  Ingenious!

The other thing they did was innovate their product by introducing an entirely different controller…a device that almost brings virtual reality into our homes…no more memorizing buttons to make things move around the screen…you move and your online ‘Mii’ moves…Ingenious!!

Their next marketing move looks to be reducing the price of their consoles by $50 to $199.99 for Christmas this year…watch for that…PS3 (drowning behind the Wii and Xbox currently) will try to regain its place in the market by cutting prices also…

If you haven’t checked out how the Wii could transform YOUR household into a place where people play games together vs. sequestered in separate rooms…think about it…I’m a convert!  I still chuckle at the pride my 15 yr old son had in helping me set up my Mii profile (customizing my hair and facial features and all!) and then seeing how good my balance and posture were compared to his, based on the original fitness tests the Wii administers to establish your baseline ‘fitness age’ and BMI…we were INTERACTING!

More important than all of those revenue and unit sales figures, Wii may have figured out a way for technology to bring families together vs. isolate them…Ingenious!

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WIC Members, are you interested in:

- Mentoring other WIC members as they grow in their practices?

- Being mentored by WIC members from whom you can learn and improve?

We’re creating a new member benefit, the WIC Mentoring Program, and we’re starting a pilot program. This new program falls within my area of responsibility as a 2009 WIC Board member.

The pilot will be a six-week mentoring program where groups convene once a week by phone. Each group will be focused on one area of business, such as marketing, sales, operations, or other areas of interest.

Each group will be led by a mentor who is a specialist in that field.

Here’s our plan for the pilot program:

- We’ll create three or four mentoring groups of approximately 6 people. They will meet as a group, by phone, once a week for an hour. Each group will meet for six weeks.
- Each group will be led by one Mentor and will focus on a specific area of being a consultant and managing a consulting business.
- If we have more Mentees interested in a subject area than we have mentoring spaces available, we’ll create a waiting list. The people on the waiting list will go on the list (in the order in which their names were received) for the second round of the Mentoring Program, which we anticipate will happen this fall.

Here’s more information, if this pilot program sounds interesting to you:

Mentors:

1. We need WIC members who are successful, experienced managers of group processes, and who are comfortable leading a group mentoring process by phone.
2. We need Mentors in some of these areas, where the Mentee interest is enough to convene one of our first pilot groups:
- Starting a consulting business
- Marketing
- Sales
- Social media
- Financial management
- Operations
- Life balance
- Other (please explain the area where you think mentoring is needed)

3. We’ll match Mentors and approximately six Mentees to form pilot groups.

4. I’m creating a few basic guidelines and tools for our Mentors, working with several WIC members who are personal coaches.

5. We’ll refine the Mentoring Program based on pilot program feedback, before we expand it further this fall.

Mentees:

1. We need WIC members who are interested in being part of a group mentoring process that meets by phone once a week for six weeks.

2. We don’t know in which of these areas interest will be high enough for us to create a pilot program, but these are the ones for which we anticipate WIC members may be most interested in receiving mentoring:
- Starting a consulting business
- Marketing
- Sales
- Social media
- Financial management
- Operations
- Life balance
- Other (please explain the area where you think mentoring is needed)

3. We’ll match Mentors and approximately six Mentees to form pilot groups.

4. I’m creating a few basic guidelines and tools for our Mentors, working with several WIC members who are personal coaches.

5. We’ll refine the Mentoring Program based on pilot program feedback, before we expand it further this fall.

Here’s the next step, if you’re interested in helping with this pilot program:

If you’re interested in being a Mentor, e-mail me and let me know:
- What experience you have leading group processes, and if you have any experience leading mentoring or other group processes by phone.
- What group you’d be interested in leading.
- If you can be a Mentor in more than one area, give me your first and second choices.
- What week/s in July and August, if any, you will be unavailable to be part of the program.

If you’re interested in being a Mentee, e-mail me and let me know:
- What group you’d interested in joining.
- What week/s in July and August, if any, you will be unavailable to be part of the program.

If you’re interested in the program and have questions, please let me know.

Thanks, everyone,

Jan
—–
Jan Richards
J. G. Richards Consulting
Turning Business Goals into Great Results

jan@jgrichardsresults.com
www.jgrichardsresults.com

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I was reading the July issue of Success magazine today when I came across an article that really resonated with me.  The article, Isn’t Life Terrific? by R. Todd Eliason is about a man, Ed Foreman, who has made it his mission to help people enjoy life.

Ed came from a poor background, had many successes (and failures) as an adult, but he lived by a simple philosophy…have a terrific day, every day.  For years he has been a motivational speaker for a positive-attitude-development training program that he created.

I think Ed’s philosophy is a good one to live by and is a great example of how we should all be living the good life.  So ask yourself…Isn’t Life Terrific?

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