This post was inspired by Megan Auman’s annual “Best Things I Did for My Business” posts. You can find her 2011 post here.

2011. What. a. year.

If you were alive on Earth this year, I’m guessing it was a challenging one for you in at least one major area of your life {health, finances, relationships, creativity, etc.}. I can’t think of a single person I know — online peer, client, personal friend, or family member — who didn’t have what they’d describe as a really rough year.

Was it in the water? In the stars?

Regardless, I’m seeing and feeling us all breathe a collective sigh of relief to be stepping out of this year and into a new one.

This last week of the year is always a good time to be thoughtful and critical about not only what didn’t work so well that year, but more importantly, what did work well.

Inspired by Megan Auman’s insightful post, I’m collecting my own ‘best practices’ for Abby Kerr Ink for 2011 right here. Perhaps this’ll become an annual tradition for me, too.

The 3 best things I did for my business & brand in 2011:

1} Discerned my truest teachers. Drank deeply. And wised up.

2010 was my first year as an online-only business {95% non-local clients at that time; currently 100% of my clients are non-local}. That year, if I subscribed to one e-newsletter or RSS feed, I subscribed to 250. {No joke.} My inner archivist/curator was flattered . . . and nearly maxed out.

I entered 2011 unsubscribing from lots of feeds and email lists, which was a terrific decision. I honed my weekly blog reading down to about 15 or 20 subscriptions, and as soon as two or three installments in a row from any one blogger failed to educate/enrich/deepen my learning in a way that I experienced as meaningful, relevant, and timely for my phase of business growth — I clicked the Unsub button. I still follow this precedent for myself.

I intuitively honed in on about 5 or 6 entrepreneurial/business coach voices that resonated deeply with me in terms of strategy, mindset, and perspective. I vetted these teachers carefully to make sure that as far as I can see, the talk they talk is the walk they walk. I watched and learned from these teachers through their blogs, their launches, and the way they conducted themselves in the space. {“The space.”}

Also, I selected 3 branding/copywriting peers to keep an eye on for business development, impact, and strategy. I think of them as my Worthy Peers. Two of them were a bit ahead of me in terms of reach and biz growth, one of them behind me. All three I deeply dig, respect, and have watched this year {mostly from afar} as they connected with their audiences, launched their own products and services, turned out great content, and grew their influence. I highly suggest you ferret out your own Worthy Peers, too. It helps you track of how you’re different from your competition, and gives you extra incentive to keep upping your game. {A full post about Worthy Peers to come.}

I also chose one business mentor with whom to invest deeply in my learning. Something interesting happened when I did that. Not only did I start having a more lucrative and sustainable experience in my own business, but I reconnected with my own power center. I got shaken free of the belief that one person has the system, the answers, the template for a successful business. {Not that this was the promise I was sold, or bought into.} I re-embraced the truth that ultimately, at the end of every phase of learning, it’s your business and you, plus your right people. There are no gurus. Learning is a wonderful thing — my inner Sage really gets down with some good learning — but my inner Ruler writes my own story, 100% of the time. I’m responsible for my results — the triumphs and the flops. And that inner knowing is worth every penny.

2} Deepened and strengthened friendships with online peers. And realized afresh the interconnectedness of everything and everyone.

2011 was the year I formed and solidified my brain coterie — my group of  trusted peers who are growing their online businesses at about the same rate I am, and with similar values underpinning the biz dev — but more than just mastermind partners and people to work through new ideas with, these women rapidly became some of my dearest friends.

{You know who you are.}

I can’t speak enough about the value in sharing this online business experience with likeminded friends. If you haven’t found those deep friendships in the entrepreneurial community yet, be patient. Don’t rush it. Your people will appear around you when the time is right.

3} Raised my prices.

Raising my prices allows me to filter for — no, not wealth — commitment. As consumers, we invest most in what we value most, or in what we can’t get at the same quality for a lesser price. More than what the market dictates, brand experience truly does govern what consumers pay for goods and services. Time after time, I will sow my dollars with the brand I most want to affiliate with because of how it makes me feel, the possibilities it allows me to open up for myself, or the experience it creates for me. When it comes to investing in services {and sometimes in physical products}, I choose brand experience over features articulated and over price. And I’ve found that my right people clients do, too.

Time after time, I found that clients who questioned my prices upfront or wanted to negotiate in some way about features-for-dollars, well, they just weren’t my right people. Not by a longshot.

One note about price-raising: I raised my prices not arbitrarily, but when I could better articulate and actually deliver more value over time to my clients. And when I noticed that I work better with fewer people at a deeper level, over time. And in order to do that, prices have to go up as smaller, lower-priced services go by the wayside.

So that was my business in 2011 in a nutshell: deeper learning, deeper connection, and deeper value reflected in higher prices.

Thanks to Megan Auman for inspiring this reflection. Now I’d like to hear from you.

What were the 3 best things you did for your business and brand in 2011? Tell me in the comments. And Happy New Year!

Photo by Powi.

{ 11 comments }

Hello, again.

I’ve been away from my blog for a bit.

I’m sure you’ve been away from yours, too, at one time or another. How long were you MIA? Nine days? Five weeks? Fourth quarter 2011?

If there’s one thing we creative entrepreneurs intuitively understand about finessing an online platform, it’s the power of consistency in brand messaging. Not just consistency in terms of what you say and how you say it, but in terms of where and how often.

We’re wired to ascertain that a consistent brand message adds up to things like equity, integrity, safety, security, stability.

We make the leap that a consistently messaged brand is more likely to follow through on its promises.

In short, showing up is always good for business.

And so one of the biggest anxieties we face as online entrepreneurs is how to re-enter the flow of our brand conversation when we’ve been away for any length of time {ahemtwomonthsformeahem}.

Half the battle of reentering the convo is anxiety around what we think people have been making of our absence.  Where has he been? Has his business flatlined?What the heck is she doing? People are waiting to hear from her.

Well, yes and no.

The truth is: your brand, your business, is the center of your own universe. No one is more attuned to it than you are.

And your people’s business is the center of theirs. And so . . .

Your brand matters to people insofar as they derive value from it, or appreciate you as a person, your brand notwithstanding {which has very little to do with how successful you’ll be in business}.

Inevitably, unless you’re a Super Trudger Get It Done type of person, or you are brilliant about pre-scheduling or repurposing old content when you know you’ll be away for a while, you will step away from your blog at some point. For various and sundry reasons.

And then, if you’re serious about creating conversation with your people and using a blog as a tool to market the value you provide through your business, you’ll return to it.

And when you decide to return, you need a strategy.

How do you reconnect with an audience you’ve hidden yourself away from?

How do you step back into your self-ordained spotlight and start messaging the truth in your business again?

Worth Noting: We’ve all seen this I’m ba-aaaaaack thing done badly, with apologies, laundry lists of reasons both pedantic and dramatic, and vows to never disappear again.

I know you want a way to start back up that feels on-brand for you and positions you as purely and powerfully as you want to show up. {When you’re damn good and ready.}

First, though, there’s this: the fact is, there are many good reasons a blog convo might go AWOL. We all have lives behind these computer monitors, and only fractals of them get shared in the public online space {for good reason}. People go through stuff, stuff that sometimes has to take precedence over our business’s public convo.

And if you’re reading this post, you’re most likely an entrepreneur who is running a business, and as every entrepreneur knows, sometimes doing the work of your business precludes working on your business.

Truth: You can have your busiest months ever without ever blogging once. Love that magic. And make no mistake about it — your current busy-ness is due in part to the months you were faithfully creating free public content. {Brand equity, baby.} All this to say that while blogging is an excellent tool, a thriving business is not necessarily an end product of a busy blog.

So how do we pick up where we left off — or begin anew at a new point in the convo — when it’s been a while?

Here are 5 ways to gracefully re-enter your brand convo when you’ve been MIA.

1. Just start talking.

No need to explain your absence. Just get back on the blogging horse and ride. Open the gate and enter the pasture. Jump the fence and get into the game. Put your oar in the water and start paddling. [Insert your preferred metaphor here.]

In the long run, an absence of two weeks, two months, or even six months is no big whoop. If your brand conversation continues as promised and remains reasonably consistent over time, the collective effect of your messaging is what shakes out in the end, not whether you blogged weekly every Tuesday and Thursday, or seven times a month.

Your impact over time is measured more in being powerfully relevant and present with purpose and value, not just consistency. Consistency may get you Google juice, but Google does not make or break a business.

2. Share the fractal of your why-I-was-away story that is most relevant to your people’s growth.

Sometimes there’s a benefit to your readers and prospects in sharing part of your MIA story. But it’s all in how you frame it.

People can only hook on to the parts you show them, and again, that’s for good reason. There’s no need to intertwine your personal story with the journey you’re shepherding or modeling for your readers and prospects — any more than you want to, that is.

As a good friend recently shared with me, when she sees people online spouting disappointment or grousing indulgently, it gives her a reason to look for cracks in that person’s business. It erodes their brand integrity in her eyes, even if the subject of their grousing is totally unrelated to what they provide through their business. A crack is a crack is a crack.

Not saying you need to be a Pollyanna Sparkleface every time you push publish on a Tweet, but in general, successful entrepreneurs are hella mindful of where and how their public convo is landing at all times. And they are in control of what gets shared when and where and for what purpose, whether that means complete ‘transparency’ or strategic framing, or anything in between.

3. Come back bearing gifts.

A nice touch when taking up your virtual pen for a longtime-no-talk audience? Make something for them. A new freebie. A report on 50 Things I Learned While Not Blogging {That I Only Could Have Learned This Way}. A video of you highlighting some of the cool things you did while you weren’t blogging.

Caveat: See Idea No. 2, above. Make sure the gift you’re offering connects to the material you teach through your brand, to the value you provide, to the services you sell. For instance, a new autoresponder series to get people primed for the next thing you’ll launch {speaking of, see Idea No. 4, below}.

And please do not offer your products or services for free as a ‘compensation’ for your absence. This only elevates the significance of your absence and puts you in the position of ‘owing’ your audience, which, when it comes to free content, you don’t. Ever.

4. Re-engage with a refreshed direction.

Chances are your time away from blogging has given you a fresh perspective on your industry, your work, your platform, your message, your future direction. Perspective-taking — either voluntary or involuntary — is a common reason for entrepreneurs being MIA from their blogs. Also, being in a heavy content-creation season for new products, programs, and services can be all-consuming, as can working on client projects, and sometimes it can feel as if there’s no creative energy {or time} left for your blog.

When you’re in a season of refreshing your direction, hold fast to the belief that everything is in divine and perfect order when it comes to when you rejoin your brand convo. You’ll come back when it’s time. When the situation is most favorable. When all the elements are ready and in place. And the people who are there to receive you will be your right people.

If you are returning with a refreshed brand direction, share it with your people! Remember, share with them only the fractal they need to get clear on where you’re taking them next and why, so that they can make a decision about coming with you {or not}. You don’t need to download the fullness of your huge epiphany with them in your return post. {It’ll be too much for them to take in.}

5. Redefine what blogging is for you & your audience.

In my work with my clients, I often hear that you feel pressure to be the ideal blogger, to turn out perfect posts three times a week plus a startlingly compelling e-newsletter, all while running your business, doing most of your own admin, working with your clients, planning your next group coaching retreat, and creating paid digital content.

You wear beaucoup d’entrepreneurial hats. {The feathered fedora you adore, as well as the vintage birdcage your bossy sister swears looks amazing on you, plus all the other ones you’re supposed to wear.}

This is a lot. And it’s understandable that the pressure inherent in your stack of hats makes you want to run and hide from your own blog.

The solution here? Reclaim blogging for your most righteous self, in your own purest and most powerful voice, by redefining it for yourself and your audience.

You’ve read all of the best blogging practices advice — any online entrepreneur worth her salt’s been schooled and steeped in it.

How about writing your own best blogging practices manifesto? No need to share it with the world {unless it’s on-brand for you, and you want to}. Your blog, your audience, and your strongest voice deserve to get this down on paper {or onscreen}.

In it, capture what works for you and your brand about blogging. Blogging less frequently? More frequently with shorter posts? More images with inspirational quotes, fewer treatises? More treatises, losing those pesky photos you hate sourcing? List posts only? Personal anecdote-driven posts with big, overarching themes and a lesson snuck in at the edges?

You already intuitively know what works for you. Lean into it, own it, and trick it out.

My blogging hiatus? So needed.

It gave me time and space to tend to clients in a particularly project-heavy season, to participate fully in a high level Mastermind, to move across the country, to celebrate the holidays, to remember what works for me and my brand when I use my voice to fully come forth, and to plan with faith and fervor for 2012.

And — have to say it — it feels soooooooo lovely to be back.

Talk to me. How do you reengage with your blog convo after you’ve been MIA? How have you redefined blogging to make it work for you and your audience? Leave a comment and let me know.

Photo by The Retronaut.

{ 13 comments }

Hi! This post is part of a 12-part video series called YOU: Ruling Your Realm — 10 Declarations for Savvy Entrepreneurs who want to rule their entrepreneurial realm and up their addictability factor. You can catch up on the whole series beginning here with the Intro. While you’re at it, be sure to download your free copy of my primer on the mindsets needed to rule your realm. It’s the perfect complement to what I’m sharing with you in each video.

Here’s the 8th Declaration in the 12-part series, YOU: Ruling Your Realm: I’ll interact widely with warmth and sincerity, but I’ll affiliate only with those who can help me up my game and support me in being my best self in my brand.

At the time this post is being published, 771 people have downloaded YOU: Ruling Your Realm. {Haven’t gotten yours yet? Click here.} And the 8th Declaration is the one I get the most vociferous feedback on. In short, you’re telling me you’re glad to hear someone in the online entrepreneurial space take a stand for consistently high quality interactions with peers, friends, and possible joint venture partners. And you’re glad to know it’s not only possible, but optimal for your brand, to eliminate low quality interactions.

So often I see you interacting with peers and friends online in ways that are potentially hazardous to your brand equity. And I want you to get a heck of a lot more conscious about that.

In this video, I share online relationship strategies for being your own brand editor.

Please remember to read underneath the video after you’ve watched. At that time, I’ll ask you to click through to the Abby Kerr Ink Facebook page and share an awareness you’ve gained about your own brand.

***IF YOU’RE READING THIS POST IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX OR IN A RSS READER, YOU MAY NEED TO CLICK THROUGH THE POST TITLE ABOVE TO VIEW THE VIDEO ON MY SITE.***

Brand Editor’s Note: Please excuse the grammar typo in this caption: “There’s friendships . . .” Argh! Make that ‘There’s friendship. . .” A small thing, yes, but this is why I get paid to write copy professionally. I notice those things. ;)

Name two or three characteristics of people you’d like to affiliate your brand with online. You don’t have to name names — just get conscious about the qualities these people would have.

Click through to my Abby Kerr Ink Facebook page, Like it if you haven’t already, and share with me and the other emergent entrepreneurial leaders there. See you there!

Thanks for watching. See you soon with the 9th Declaration video!

{ 2 comments }