creative briefing

As fresh entrepreneurs and freelancers we are often blessed with the consistent inconsistency of work flow from day to day. There are times when it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in a day to meet all the deadlines we’ve committed to. Yet still, amidst all of that work, we can sometimes get uneasy about the following week knowing very well that the work scale might just end up tipping the other direction.

This organic (for lack of a better term) lifestyle is what drives many down this path. And for the most part it’s fantastic; work hard when you need it, relax when you don’t. It’s the flexibility that a desk job, suit and tie, and a 9-to-5 schedule just doesn’t grant you the privilege of having.

On the other hand, it can catch many unsuspectingly, hitting the hardest with those who haven’t yet internalized the fundamental nature of the career they’ve chosen. There are bills to pay. Mouths to feed. Girlfriends to pamper. Friends to entertain. Parents to prove wrong.

Firstly - take a breather. It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. (Say it a couple more times if you need to) Good? Good.

It’s time to see your downtime for what it really is - a blessing. When work dies, the world doesn’t stop turning. On the contrary, there are plenty of other useful things you can do to take advantage of these moments, some of which will also ensure you have less of these downtimes going forward (for those who are still uneasy). Here’s a small list of suggestions of things to do the next time clients give you a moment of rest.

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If you ask a marketer to figure out the best ways for a business to serve its customers, their first intuition would likely lead them to turn to surveys and other forms of market research. While this is an efficient method with a proven record of success, I’d like to point out an even easier and more cost-effective method for those of you (like me) who don’t have the convenience of a market research department to depend on.

Live life. And pay attention.

Yes, it’s that simple (sometimes). Remember that long before we become marketers or business people, we are customers. As customers we engage and interpret a number of different experiences every time we interact with the outside world. With each interaction we pick out the good and the bad - maybe not consciously, but we definitely form preferences over time. These day-to-day preferences form a goldmine of customer insights for you to leverage. All you have to do is pay more attention to what you like and don’t like and right away you’ll start to figure out things that you and your business can do to help serve others better.

Not convinced? Let me give you a few examples.

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In my spare time lately I’ve been catching up on a good dose of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay. If you aren’t familiar with this show or who Gordon Ramsay is, here’s the premise in one sentence: Scottish award-winning celebrity chef rescues failing restaurateurs from bankruptcy with brutal honesty and humorous obscenities.

Aside from his entertaining overuse of the F-bomb, what I’ve found is that Ramsay brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and insight to the table on how to run a business. He himself has been at the head of many self-started restaurant ventures - some successful, some not so successful - and his passion, talent, and wisdom are clearly elements that have led him to become one of the most well-known businessmen in and out of the kitchen.

In Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsay applies a number of basic principles to help failing restaurant owners turn their fate around. While the series revolves around the food industry, much of Ramsay’s lessons are applicable to businesses of any nature. Here’s a list of 10 of those lessons that will help you run a more successful business.

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It came to my attention in the last few days that a handful of people had been experiencing some errors when viewing this site. Many visitors had the site return a 404 Page Not Found error page, while others had their browser crash completely. One individual even reported that their anti-virus software had thrown a red flag while visiting this site. My first instinct was that one of the site’s plugins were causing the errors, but upon further investigation, I have found what I believe to be the catalyst: googlerank.info.

Before I begin describing the issue, I want to state that I do not have a permanent fix (though I do have a temporary one). The purpose of this post is to document my findings for anybody who has experienced the symptoms or is interested in helping me find and fix the underlying issue. I’ve found very little documentation on this problem thus far, so I’m hoping to provide some clarity to all others who may be searching for it.

Overview

A hidden <iframe> that points to googlerank.info has been found embedded into a handful of files that are associated with a WordPress installation. The <iframe> always appears at the very bottom of the source code, just before the </body> tag. It is possible that WordPress presents a vulnerability that allows an unauthorized user to access and alter files, thereby compromising the security of the site owner as well as the site’s visitors.

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This is a self-response to Great ideas, a mild rant I made a few months ago that questioned the commitment of an entrepreneur to his self-started venture and his/her ability to divert his/her interests into new side projects.

From the original post:

…as an entrepreneur, how restricted are you from diverting your attention to other ventures? Is it a formal duty or a personal judgment call that holds you back? Do you create policies that govern these scenarios for you, your partners and your employees? Does that make things a bit hypocritical? Does that make you hypocritical?

It’s taken a few months to set in but in my current state of mind I’m not only a strong believer that great ideas, otherwise known as brain crack, should not be restricted, but that they should also be encouraged within any organization dynamic enough to handle it.

Being your own boss gives you the flexibility and atonomy to run your business the way you want to. It means that if your creative agency wants to start a subsidiary that sells t-shirts tomorrow, then it very well can (not to say that it would be the best business decision though). The difficult debate here is what amount of commitment - time, energy, brain matter - do you owe your main venture and the people involved with it? This is what seems to have been deeply disturbing me back in October. But here’s how I see it now.

Side projects keep you fresh.

They keep your brain from going stale over working on the same thing over and over again by giving you something new and exciting to work on.

Side projects make you versatile.

They put your talents to the test - including those that aren’t used in your core work. Diversifying your interests also means diversifying your skillset, making you a more dynamic and competitive individual in the market place.

Side projects leave you happy.

The energy boost from having a great idea will leave you foaming at the mouth. They call it brain crack for a reason. Plus the satisfaction of launching something new will give you the very same tingly sensation that you experienced when you launched your first venture.

So, you owe it to yourself, your ventures, and the people you work with to take in some brain crack every once and a while. My agency has already begun internalizing this model and it’s made our daily work that much more up-beat. But don’t just take it from me; many great things have already come from people who have embraced their great ideas and allowed them to flourish - and all without losing direction or focus on their main priorities.

FreelanceSwitch and all its sister sites presumably all spawned from great ideas at the Eden house. Nick of the infamous N.Design Studios has built his entire brand off side work like Best Web Gallery and the ever-growing Web Designer Wall. More recently, the guys at Shane and Peter have launched Sproutwire, a great new tool geared at those interested in only the best of the best small business reads across the internet. Hell, even one of my business partners owes much of his success to his past side projects.

So the moral of the story is this: embrace the brain crack. Especially for you entrepreneurs and freelancers - don’t let your client work be all that you are. Be fresh. Be versatile. And most importantly, be happy.

More on brain crack

• the show with zefrank (07-11-06 edition)
• The Brian Shaler Blog (That Internal Project…)