Shannon's thoughts on marketing, public relations, social technology, entrepreneurship and other things

Microsoft’s BHAG: A computer on every desk and in every home.
Google’s BHAG: Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

What is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal? Do you want to…

• Be the keynote speaker at an international conference? 
• Have 40-50 employees and clients from the Atlantic to the Pacific? 
• Get your doctorate and be a tenured professor? 
• Start a non-profit, foundation or be a philanthropist? 
• Own a 120-unit apartment building? 
• Be an elected official? 

So often businesses expend a lot of resources to develop their "vision.” You hire consultants and coaches and you go on retreats and attend seminars, and usually the answer is right in front of you all along … you simply forgot it.

Think back to when you first had the idea for your business, before you launched, before you registered for your L.L.C., even before you secured the domain. Go all the way back, when you dared to share the idea with a girlfriend, sister, Mother or spouse. In the midst of the excitement about your new adventure, you had the arrogance, foresight and courage to utter your BHAG. Do you remember? Are you still on track to achieve it or has the day-to-day of doing business clouded the vision for your business?

Here are some simple steps to keep your BHAG alive:

1. Write it down – it does not exist if it it is not written down. 
2. Post it – put it somewhere you can see it everyday and multiple times a day. 
3. Speak it – repeat it to yourself out loud several times a day. 
4. Track progress – acknowledge the small steps to achieving to your BHAG. 
5. Move it, move it, move it – your BHAG won’t accomplish itself. 

From the proverbial horses mouth, Jim Collins, BHAG co-creator on How can you tell if you have a good BHAG? (video)

This video epitomizes what the Internet has become in the last five to seven years. Mateusz Zdziebko, the musician, has taken the ordinary and made it extraordinary by looking at it differently. Where most people see duct tape as an adhesive, he saw a musical instrument. In the same way, social media has taken the notion of community from those you can see to a global spectrum of people you may never meet and who are equally as valuable and important.

It is realm of the possible that makes the new frontier of social technology so exciting. For marketers, public relations professionals and entrepreneurs, now is the time to experiment on what can become viral, what will draw clicks to the site and how far can you push the envelope. Just as television opened up the realm of the possible in the middle of the 20th century, the social Internet has extended the reach.

Sampled Room from Mateusz Zdziebko on Vimeo.

What is Indie Business?
Indie Business is Indie Business Media, LLC, the company I own with my husband. One of our subsidiaries is the Indie Beauty Network, a trade organization that provides educational and small business networking services, and products liability insurance, for our small manufacturers of health, beauty and lifestyle products. Another subsidiary is INDIEgu, an e-commerce hub for American handmade and artisan products like soaps, candles, fragrances and confectionery goodies.

When did you start?
We launched on January 16, 2000, the day we also published our first online newsletter. Launching this business with a newsletter was the biggest and most important professional achievement of my life.

Really, launching a newsletter was momentous?
Yes, because the newsletter is one of the most fun and effective tools I use to connect with my customers and other stakeholders. It allows me to do four things that are important to me: have fun, help others, increase profitability and stay in touch with people easily and consistently.

Are these four things your priority?
Yes, in the sense that I use them to evaluate how I am doing as a business leader. If I am having fun, helping others, earning a profit and staying in touch with those whom I serve, then I am achieving my purposes as a woman and a business owner. In the case of the newsletter, for example, since I was a journalist/public relations major in college, I learned a lot about publishing. I combined this formal education with my love for the writing process, and this makes newsletter publishing not only effective, but also fun for me. Writing is professionally and personally satisfying for me, as is reaching out and connecting with other people.

Tell me about the newsletter.
The Indie Experience Newsletter is published each Monday. The tagline for the newsletter is my own personal motto, "Enjoy your life! Build your business! Have your way." It is a news, business and product resource.

How do you use media to get the word out about your business?
Connecting with and nurturing relationships with all kinds of media outlets is an integral and enjoyable part of my business. I share information and publish content that helps people, and this ultimately grows my business. I enjoy training others to use their own branded media outlets to do the same through my one-day The Media Is You training workshops. When it comes to media, I employ what I call the trifecta: passion, instincts and training. It's a part of my purpose to help others use media outlets, to discover their voice and share their passions and ideas with the world.

Nugget of knowledge: Everyone needs to be their own best media outlet.

How did you get started on our entrepreneurial journey?
I had a traditional 9-5 job and I was unfulfilled because I didn’t learn anything about myself. I was paid to perform, not to grow. I wanted to grow, and when I realized that a traditional workplace was not helping me do that, I decided to create my own workplace by launching a business that I could design to fit my life -- instead of designing my life to fit my profession. I decided I wanted my life mantra to be, “Enjoy my life! Build my business! Have my way!" So I created that for myself and my family, and now, I help others do the same.

You’ve also found another stream of income as a public speaker, what are some of the messages you share with young people when you talk with them?
This is a great question, since I'm just back from lecturing to graduate students at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business. I encourage young people to start a blog, to be in control of their online identity, their brand and to use technology to reflect skills, integrity, humanity, and professionalism. Young people must be careful to take control of their online personas. If they don't, future employers, business partners, spouses and children could uncover unfavorable things (true or not), which can hurt them in down the road.

"You may not be able to control what people say about you online, but if you aren't a proactive part of the conversations about you on the Internet, you're abdicating your responsibility to present the best possible reflection of yourself to the world."

What are some of the keys to your success?

• Patience: I am willing to do tiny things no one else sees in order to take the big steps that are more visible.
• Focus: I'm not trying to be all things to all people. I have a niche and I do my best to serve it.
• Faith and Family: My husband and personal faith are integral to everything I do, and everything that is done to me.
• Persistence: I don't give up. When an obstacle comes, I assess it and figure out how to go over, around, under or through it so I can achieve.
• Humility: I ask for help when I need it. This is one of the most effective ways to achieve your goals.
• Relationships: Life and business are nothing without them so I try to maintain healthy, interdependent relationships.
• Technology: I embrace it every step of the way. I use it to position myself as someone here to help, offer a service you need, and bringing value to your life.

Finally, life is a process of constant rebranding...I’m in a constant state of beta.

Whether or not you like, enjoy or follow football, Al Pacino's speech rings true for life and business.

Yes, it would be great to land a deal with a Fortune 100 or sign a contract with a Fortune 500. The reality is, most of your work will probably be with small to medium size enterprises, and it is okay, in fact, it's fantastic. It is the small to medium enterprises that keep the economy rolling: buying products & services, providing consumers with choices and living the American dream of self determination. It is the latter which drives entrepreneurs, pushing you during the lean times, prodding you during the so-so times and rewarding you during the good times.

For the small to medium organization, success is in the inches: one more whatchamacallit to sell, one more appointment or service call to schedule and one more appointment or networking event to attend. These are some of the inches you and your families work for everyday; it is the sum of these and the thousands of other behind-the-scene inches that determine your business's success.

What are some of the inches you've had to struggle for?
What are some of the inches you've given up?

Additional resources:
Examining the Defense -- Not Offense -- of Business
Manage your business or it will manage you
Setback to Resilience: 3 lessons from the Unsigned Contract

Video clip from Any Given Sunday, directed by , directed by Oliver Stone, written by Daniel Pyne, John Logan and Oliver Stone, released in 1999.

You have dreamed of being an entrepreneur --> owning your own business --> calling your own shots --> being your own boss

You have had ideas for a business since you were in college --> you talk to friends about it --> you dream about it

You have been told time & again that you're too smart to work for other people --> family & friends know it --> colleagues know it --> YOU know it

Do any of those statements resonate with you? If so, then why haven't you started your own enterprise?

This isn't one of those blog posts about overcoming fears, doubts or insecurities, you can find that information elsewhere. This is about the nuts and bolts of making your business ownership a reality. Ready...let's get started.

First and foremost, write your idea down. If it isn't written down, it doesn't exist.

Magical things happen when you write down your ideas:

1. "It" becomes tangible, and once it becomes something you can touch, then it becomes something attainable and achievable.
2. "It" gains clarity, moving from an abstract concept to a sentence to a paragraph.
3. "It" grows as you can now envision taking it from here to there to everywhere.
4. "It" starts to manifest itself as you have gotten the proverbial ball rolling in the direction of fulfillment.

What are you waiting for...you (we) aren't getting any younger. This is the first step to making "it" a reality...remember, even baby steps move forward.