So, you’re using Twitter, but you wish you were getting more out of it?
Well, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to improve the way you use Twitter.
This site lists over 150 Twitter tools that can help you customize your twittering so that it works for you.
I’m using just 3 of these. (Guess I’m a bit behind) Let’s see how many I can utilize by the end of the week! How many Twitter Tools are you using? Do you have a favorite that’s not listed?
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Get Help for Less
In my last post I wrote about delegation of duties. When I was starting out, and first heard about this concept, I thought, “I am barely affording Ramen noodles – and you want me to HIRE somebody??!?”
Then, I found out the secret (which I’m going to share with you now):
THERE ARE TONS OF FREE RESOURCES OUT THERE!
1) I worked with the local respected university – I found an MBA class that took my business plan on as part of their class assignment – and voila! I had a full-blown, professionally reviewed marketing plan created for me (for the cost of a few rounds of Starbucks and some deservedly glowing reviews for the students).
A few rounds of coffee: $28.94
A professionally generated business plan delivered on time and to specs: priceless
2) Several universities have internships that you can post to – either paid or unpaid internships. I tend to post paid internships if I can, since many non-profits post unpaid ones and those opps tend to be pretty good [so the better students, who don't need the money, tend to gravitate there]. Even when discussing paid internships, I’m not talking big bucks here – typically $8-$10/hour – but the quality of folks that have applied is great. I recently posted a summer position for a technical admin, at $9/hour – and got a graduate MBA student who is looking for an interim job for a few months; a college senior who knows HTML and can design websites, landing pages, and blogs for me; and engineering student who needs a technical job on his summer resume in addition to his lifeguarding job, and will be perfect to do research, compare options, and make recommendations for services and products I’m considering buying. Since the intern position is part-time, it’s a great ‘resume builder’ job that can also be flexible for the applicant (a big plus for them if they want to work part-time); and since I will get lots of good stuff done for $9/hour, it’s perfect for an entrepreneur also.
3) Your city or state’s local jobs program. Many of the positions that you may need filled can be done by folks presently in the unemployment line… and there are programs to get subsidies for these folks, so you split the cost of their employment with the city or state. It’s a great way to cut your payroll costs significantly, while helping the local economy. This varies from city to city and state to state, so you’ll need to check your local resources to see what’s available to you.
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Watching our great moving team from Bouffard Transfer, I learned that improvement principles are, indeed, universal.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX - the refrigerator box, that is…
The frig won’t fit through the door — our obvious choice: remove the door (frig door or front door, your pick). The non-obvious choice: rotate the frig 90 degrees, where it passes through with 1/4″ to spare.
PLAN THE WORK, THEN WORK THE PLAN
The really heavy office credenza needs to take 3 right-hand turns to get into the office — so our guys figured out how it needs to be laid out in the office before ever starting, and then oriented the heavy dang thing once at the beginning, so it ends up where it needs to be without further fussin’.
TAKE CARE OF THE BIG THINGS, AND THE LITTLE THINGS TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES
When loading the truck, it’s loaded with an eye to what can be stacked on top of what, and what can’t. We thought we were done, when one of the movers noticed that there was a bit of room at the very top of the truck asked if we’d like our closets moved also [they have rope strung across the top so we can move them on hangars]. We all trooped into the house, where my family each grabbed 8-12 hangars’ worth of clothes and trooped outside. I was surprised that the movers weren’t right behind us — until I saw that they were carrying 35-40 hangars’ worth - on each hand. JUST when we thought the truck was full of big things and we were done, we were able to load in another 4 closets’ worth of stuff - and save ourselves countless car trips to do it ourselves.
WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER
The moving guys worked very hard, no doubt about it. But they also worked smart - lots of verbal cues to make sure that nothing was scratched as it was carried down the curved staircase [watch the top left; bannister on bottom right; tilt up/back/left/right more]; that the guy at the bottom knew when he was on the last stair of the staircase [3 left; 2 left; 1 left; done]; and they weren’t afraid to ask for help if they needed it [did I mention the heavy credenza?]. Working smarter ensured that they had a happy customer, healthy crew, and were able to get to another job when done with ours.
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When I ask someone what they understand what the term ‘improvement’ means, I often get back the response “make it better and faster”. However, improvement needs to be defined up front, before the project starts in order to ensure that customer needs are met. As an example, a call center may want to improve their customer satisfaction rating — and this may mean that we need to slow down the customer interface process in order to improve customer perception of satisfaction. A customer will tell you that it’s annoying at best, and irritating or aggravating at worst, to be rushed off a call without having your questions answered in a way that you understand; by instructing customer service representatives to slow down, actively listen to the customer and respond accordingly, and query for any other concerns prior to terminating the call, customer satisfaction can often be improved. This does not mean “better and faster” in this case; it only means “better”.
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In order to get improvement, one must change. How hard is it to change? Apparently, harder than you think. I read about it first in Michael Bungay Stanier’s great newsletter (sign up if you don’t get it now - it’s always interesting, thought provoking, and humorous) and his business, Outside the Lines has one of the best programs I’ve found to help with creativity and goal setting — Get Unstuck and Get Going.
The thing that really startled me was the link he imbedded to a Fast Company article on change — and the results really shocked me. I can’t believe it’s that hard to change… but wait… how many times have I vowed to lose weight/exercise more/ be kinder/slow down/ volunteer more/ take care of myself/ take care of others/ stop and smell the roses/ etc. and haven’t? Maybe their numbers aren’t so far off…
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