Author: Erich Stauffer

5 Ways to Get Your Staff to Blog

You’re not the only one with a blogging problem. Here’s how I’m overcoming the problem in the organizations I serve:

1. Separation of duties: keep the writing, editing, picture creation or capture, posting, and promotion processes separate. Even if they are all done by the same person, you’ll get better results if they are all done as separate tasks.

2. Internal interviewing: get staff members to interview other members about the topic and include the best excerpts as quotes in the blog post. This has a secondary effect of getting everyone more invested in the process.

3. Schedule time for blogs: when leadership allows staff to block off time for blogging activities, the results are two-fold. It allows dedicated time to achieve the stated result and let’s the team know that management is aligned with the outcome.

4. Measure the metrics: publicly record and distribute to the team the metrics you want to improve. For example, if you want more blog posts, track “# of blog posts per month”. Replace the metric with whatever element you want to improve.

5. Make it interesting: attribute goals and rewards for stretch goals based on blogging metrics. For example, if “# of blog posts per month” exceeds the stated goal, the team gets to go out for lunch together ‘on the office’ as a fun gift.

Need more tips on blogging for business? Need some help writing blog posts for your business? Email me.

May 18, 2015
A Day in the Life without a Cell Phone

I forgot my cell phone today. I left it at home by accident. This is a story about what happened next.

When I was 16 I thought nothing of driving hours from home without a cell phone. This did not worry me.

I don’t listen to the radio. Every morning I start out by listening to at least one chapter of the Bible.

This morning I sat in silence. I kept thinking, “I should listen to a podcast,” and then, “Spotify.”

I couldn’t listen to either. I couldn’t call anyone to bring me my phone. I just had to sit there and drive.

When I got to work there were no automatic emails sent to alert my wife that I arrived. I had to email her myself.

I sent out Google Hangout chat ‘texts’ to my friends to let them know I don’t have my phone and they could text me there.

I could have brought in my Mac laptop and texted people through iMessage, but I did not. It’s awkward at work.

My wife emailed me to say that I was missing calls. In one case it was a potential new client, but who knows?

She said she would drive 45 minutes to give me my phone. I told her not to.

People are crazy with the phones. -Jerry Seinfeld

When I went to the bathroom, there was no phone to read. When I got back to my desk, all emails were a surprise.

My wife emailed me to ask if I could send a friend some cash. I emailed her back to use my phone to do that.

When I saw a rainbow, there was no camera in my pocket, but this didn’t upset me nearly as much as when I saw a cowboy riding three horses down a busy street during lunch.

When I thought of something I needed to do, there was no way to email myself. I was only alone.

When I got locked out of the office, there was no way for me to call someone to come open the door.

I mentioned to my coworker what I was going through and he said, “That’s everyday for me.” He doesn’t have a smartphone.

I planned on calling my brother today to ask about getting together with his family this Saturday. That didn’t happen. I sent him an email, but not sure if he checks that.

This is the reason why modern shows and movies need to have actors lose their cell phones in order to make things more interesting. Cell phones just make everything easier.

May 15, 2015
The Skinny Coconut Oil Story: History vs Story

When a company is asked to provide their story, they typically tell their company’s history, but what people really want is their company’s story. What is the difference between history and story? Let’s look at some examples:

Company History A

Founded by field service experts in 2001, Field Service Management Software offers solutions that enable end-to-end field service operations. Our comprehensive suite of integrated products provides intelligent and automated field service scheduling, partner management and real-time wireless communications for mobile field service resources.

Company History B

Our story starts three years ago with two brothers, two backpacks, and one wild adventure…an adventure that would open their eyes to healthy foods around the world. With their hearts set on exploration, Luke and Matt Geddie ventured through Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, India, and Vietnam with a desire to see and experience everything nature had to provide.

Both of these examples are stories about how the company started. It may be interesting to some, but it fails in one big way: it doesn’t make the reader the hero of the story. Let’s see how we could write it differently:

Company Story A

Originally developed for one of the largest companies in the world, this exclusive software is now available for small business owners like you. Get the power of enterprise-grade field management software you deserve at a price your company can afford.

Company Story B

When her son brought home a new type of coconut oil from Vietnam, she immediately noticed a difference. As a holistic practitioner who understood the power of raw, alkaline foods, she wanted to do everything she could to help other people like her get access to this new type of oil.

History vs. Story

What’s the difference between the ‘company history’ examples and the ‘company story’ examples? When companies are forced to fill out “About Us” pages and description boxes on social media, it’s easy for them to state facts, but what people identify with is stories – but in particular, stories the target market can identify with.

In the first example, the software company is trying to invoke trust by saying they’ve been in business “since 2001”, but in software-years, that’s an eternity and it wouldn’t really matter if they had said “2011”. In the ‘story’ version, the focus is shifted more towards the value that the customer now can access. Something has been unlocked for them, something that’s precious and rare. They are now the hero for recognizing this exclusive opportunity to get “enterprise-grade software” that’s just recently been made available for small business owners like them.

In the second example, the coconut oil company is trying to make the two, young founders be the hero of the ‘company history‘ by telling about their exotic travels through Southeast Asia, but this has nothing to do with their typical customer: a holistically-minded mother. In the ‘story’ example, the orientation of the story is flipped to be told from the perspective of the mother, who is more like the target audience. This helps readers identify with the story and they begin to think about how they can be a part of that story – to help spread the word about this new oil.

May 8, 2015
10 Places to Submit Your eCommerce Product Online
Looking for free publicity for your product? “Cool new product” blogs are one of the best places to do that. Here’s a list of the top 10 places to submit your e-commerce product online:
1. Shut Up and Take My Money – http://shutupandtakemymoney.com/contact/ – home, kitchen, clothing, tech, gaming, toys, bacon/zombie, beer/wine, random
2. I Waste So Much Money – http://iwastesomuchmoney.com/submit/ – apparel, fandoms, food and drink, for kids, for men, for pets, for women, gear and gadgets, home and office, nerdy, toys and games
3. The Awesome – http://theawesomer.com/suggest-link/ – tech, wearables, leisure, art/design, living, rides, games, lux, music, funny
4. In Stash – http://www.instash.com/contact – culture, tech, gear, living, rides, style
5. The Manual – http://www.themanual.com/contact-us/ – fashion and style, living, food and drink, travel, grooming, and guides for men
6. Cool Hunting – http://www.coolhunting.com/contact-us – design, technology, style, travel, art and culture
7. Gear Patrol – http://gearpatrol.com/ (email tips@gearpatrol.com) – cars, culture, design, drinks, eats, sports and outdoors, style, tech, travel, and watches
8. Gear Hungry – http://gearhungry.com/ (email gearhungry@gmail.com) – gear, tech, style, gadgets, food and drink, sports and outdoors
9. Thrillst – http://www.thrillist.com/contact – food and drink, travel, recipes
10. Outblush – http://www.outblush.com/contact/ – fashion, beauty, home, life
11. Uncrate – http://uncrate.com/contact/ – gear, style, cars, tech, vices, body
What’s an Example Email to Send Potential Bloggers?

Hey [name]!

I saw your recent post about [subject related to yours]. I’m a huge fan of your work and thought you might be interested in learning more about our product.

I sell [product] and people love it. You can check it out here: [link]

If you’d be interested in hearing more about it, let me know. You can reach me at [phone number] if you have any questions. I think your readers would love to try our product as well.

I’d be more than happy to send a sample your way as well 🙂

Talk to you soon,

[your name]
[contact info]
[website url]

5 Hints for Getting Potential Bloggers to Cover Your Product
- Have an intriguing email subject that gets their attention and makes them want to open your email immediately.
- Include a phone number they can reach you at in case they have any questions. This adds legitimacy.
- Offer a product sample, even if you have to pay for it.
- Add some personality to your email. Be yourself.
- Follow up after a week if they haven’t responded.
April 4, 2015
The T-Shirt Designer Inside Me
Recently I was invited to sit in on a business startup meeting at a local Starbucks. While brainstorming with the founder, the seasoned t-shirt industry guru turned to me and said, “You must have a little t-shirt designer inside you.”

In high school and college I used to make t-shirts by writing on white t-shirts with red markers. I’d write inside jokes like “Forks, Knives, and Spoons” or movie references like “She’s All That” with a giant arrow pointing to my left.

In 2007 I briefly considered starting a t-shirt business before going into web design with Telablue. “The problem I never addressed with you was the fierce pushback I got from my wife as soon as I discussed our plans for her business. That is why I didn’t follow up with the T-shirt idea and switched to Telablue,” I emailed my friend, Jason on 10/19/2007.

Jason was one of my friends in high school and throughout our adult lives we’ve maintained our friendship thus far. I’ll get to the ‘t-shirt designer inside him’ later on in this post, but for now let’s keep going with the ‘t-shirt designer inside me’.

While sitting at my job at work or driving my daily commute I’d come up with t-shirt ideas and email them to my friends. On 9/28/2010 I had an idea for a “Picture of flux capacitor with ‘Capacity for Change’ written underneath.” Not good.

I started designing t-shirts almost as soon as I started learning about computers. This t-shirt blank is from 12/15/1996. I used it to design t-shirts for my local high school church youth group, which we called “SOTE” (Salt of the Earth).

Not long after, Jason and I formed the band, Shog, and so ideas for making Shog t-shirts soon followed after. This “Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord” Shog t-shirt idea is from 4/7/1997. It was designed by Jason, but never got printed.

Jason and I weren’t the only one of our friends to get into the t-shirt design business. My friend Derek, came out with the “Jerk Club” in 12/27/2008. It only had 2 members, who are featured here in this self-deprecating picture below.

In 2010 I had the t-shirt design bug again and designed two shirts. This “Wheat Action” one is Settler’s of Catan inspired and is from 12/12/2010. I actually had this t-shirt printed, but gave it as a present to a friend who played Catan with us.

This “Wisconsin Venn” t-shirt idea is from 12/29/2010 and features the state of Wisconsin at the center of a Venn diagram featuring cheese, meat, and beer. I finally ended up traveling to Wisconsin a couple of years ago with Jason. Fun times.

Before I get into Jason’s t-shirt design business, here’s one more t-shirt design from 7/21/2013 titled, “Sandwich Lover”, which was never printed. I do love sandwiches and have often played with the idea of starting a sandwich blog, but have not. 1/2/2016 UPDATE: This “Sandwich Lovers Sandwich” t-shirt is now available on Amazon.

High Five!

This is a history of High5, a t-shirt project Jason started in December of 2012. Here’s a gallery of the initial t-shirt ideas:

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And here is the final shirt:

We’d meet up at local Broad Ripple restaurants and walk along the Monon to discuss t-shirt and business ideas. High5 was more than just a t-shirt company, it was a belief about:
- Activity – Set goals and meet them. Make things better. Smile. Explore. Take time to enjoy life.
- Community – Organizing. Lending support. Knowing your neighbors. Believing in each other.
- Truth – Serve people. Be true. Hope. Refreshment.
- Be Positive – Peace. Expect the best. Be cheerful. Glass half full – of awesome stuff.
- Beauty – Stars. Sky. Sunrise Sunset. Smile. Kids’ laughing. The trail.
In a lot of ways, High5 was a reflection of Jason’s values. He likes to set goals and smile. He knows his neighbors. He serves other people. He loves his family, takes them to watch the stars at night, and walks with them on the trail through life.

Although the website is no longer up, the Twitter account @wehigh5 still exists. It says, “We want to be there when you reach the top, cross the finish, & meet the goal. We believe in positive change, saying hi to strangers, and making things better.”

What Did Jason Learn from High5?

It was a learning experience for Jason who said, “I was naive in thinking there could be limited inventory. With different sizes, different color shirts, and men and women sizes (and maybe children) the sku’s expand dramatically.”

Despite getting accepted into Cotton Bureau, he couldn’t garner the necessary votes to get them to go to print, but he did end up printing them locally in Indianapolis and sold them on his own Shopify ecommerce store.

“The amount of effort to get true good quality from a printing partner is remarkable – as I’ve been able to re-confirm with Sycamore,” which is Jason’s latest business on bible print art for the modern home.

High5 was more than just a t-shirt business. It was about saying ‘hi’ to strangers, digging deep with each other, and encouraging each other. “There’s a real sense of pride that swells within me when one of my friends wears a high 5 shirt.”

Update as of 9/2/2019: I now make custom t-shirts as a service for others in addition to the funny t-shirts I make for myself.
April 3, 2015
How to Get More Followers on Periscope: 5 Ways
Periscope is the new video streaming service from Twitter. It lets you stream video live from your smartphone to anyone with the app or via their website (if published).

But how do you get more viewers to watch your Periscopes?
1. Make a title that intrigues people to watch (definitely don’t leave it blank)
2. Make sure the “Twitter Post” icon is selected when you’re starting a new Periscope
3. Encourage or incentivize people to like the Periscope by tapping the screen
4. Follow more people on Periscope. Like Twitter, they may follow you back
5. Instead of making it public, choose the private option and invite specific people to watch
How can brands use Periscope for marketing?
- Have a celebrity “take over” the company Periscope for a live broadcast
- Showcase company culture & the people behind the brand
- Live Q&A sessions and instant feedback
- Sneak peeks and teasers
- Build and interact with community
How are you using Periscope? Got any tricks or tips for use? It’s still a relatively new program so I’m sure there will be more new features and announcements to come, but for now, get as big a following as you can!
April 3, 2015
Beginner Business Blogging

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is about educating potential customers over time, gaining trust, and establishing credibility. It does this by creating knowledgeable, interesting, and shareable content of value to the reader.

Content marketing is the act of creating stories to promote your business. Every blog post, tweet, or email you send out is an asset your business now uses as part of it’s overall marketing platform.

Once a blog post is created it can be repurposed, cross-referenced, or re-used in a variety of different ways. For example, a blog post could be summarized in an email, and then further summarized into a tweet. In the same way, a series of blog posts can be strung together as a white paper, a special report, or an ebook. Images created for blog posts can be pinned to Pinterest or used in a Slideshare.

As the business owner or expert in your field, you have acquired a ton of knowledge about your craft – that’s very valuable information and people will look to you for insight. Content marketing is a way to educate and help your clients and potential clients – all while boosting your profile and enhancing the value of your product.

Why Building a Platform for Your Business is Important

Let’s say you’ve just developed an awesome new product or service and you want to let the world know about it. How would you do it?

You could pay to put the message out in a newspaper or magazine, you could post it on Facebook and pay to have it promoted, or you could publish it to your own platform for free.

A “platform” is the collection of business resources you own for the purpose of promoting your business. The central hub of this collection is your website, but primarily, your blog.

If you were to build a house, would you build it on rented land? Your best assets should be built on your own platform, not one someone else runs. Those other sites can point back to the blog.

That’s why having a blog is so important. It’s a critical part of your overall marketing platform. It serves as the hub for all social media, email marketing, and other promotional activities.

In other words, your blog is kind of like your business itself, and should reflect it.

Why Do I Teach Business Owners About Blogging?

I believe that blogging is the single most important thing a business can do to gain more customers, streamline internal processes, and grow the business. But why do we teach it?

Business owners create jobs that help people take care of their families. Our mission is to help people make more money and the best way we can do this is by helping businesses grow.

I have worked with large and small companies. I understand what it’s like to be just starting out and what it’s like to grow as an established company.

I also understand how powerful stories can be to communicate your company’s value to current and prospective clients and how blogging does that while building a community around your business. The best way to tell great stories is to have great stories and we want to help businesses and business owners share how great their story can be.

I’ve taken our shared experiences in helping businesses manage people, processes, technology, and marketing to take your business to the next level – whatever that level may be.

March 31, 2015
How I Setup a Productized Service Over a Weekend

On Thursday, March 6, I emailed a couple of my friends and said, “I’m considering a soft launch of watershawl.com to have a place to put those new productized services/service-as-a-product – and have a place to separate the place where I try to get more work to do vs. the place I write about breakfast. I’m not re-incorporating, but I’m not opposed to that if it comes to that. I’m just wanting to build something back up that is still a part of me. I still use the Watershawl email address and I’m still in business as “Erich Stauffer” so why not?”

On a whiteboard in my office I wrote all of the products-as-a-service I could think of to sell and some possible prices. Pricing was based on previous jobs I had done as a consultant. The key would be to be as clear as possible about what I was doing and what they were getting in order to make sure both sides understood and were in agreement. I decided not to release all of the products at once, but instead to release them one at a time.

One of my friends wondered if watershawl.com, the domain used with my previous company, Watershawl, Inc., was a good idea, “What about coming up with a more business friendly name for the relaunch?” I said, “I’ve been purging so many company names from my repertoire over the last 5 years that the thought of trying to figure out a new one makes my stomach churn. Naming an idea has always been the thing I do first. I don’t want to do that anymore. Instead, I can work on developing the business model under watershawl.com and if I get more customers, I’ll have a business that I can name.”

But after some thought, I offered the following idea. After all, I was seeking counsel and I would be a fool if I didn’t at least consider the input from those who were offering to help. “What do you think about the Managing Actions name?” That was a domain I registered in 2008 and a lot of the blog posts on this site originally came from. This wasn’t the first time I had tried to start something else using managingactions.com. In 2010 I created Action Management, a management consulting service specializing in business process management and staffing models, but I didn’t take it seriously (although the idea did help get me an 8 month contract that helped save a business). This time would be different.

I had set managingactions.com to not renew in July, but it already had WordPress installed on it. I changed it back to autorenew and put up a new Genesis theme. I then created a homepage that explained the first product, “Web Analytics Review”. It had graphics explaining the how the product worked (i.e. 1. Give access to analytics. 2. I review. 3. Meet and go over.). I then added a testimonial from a client who had purchased the product the week before. I already had sold the product so I knew I could do it again.

The Future of Managing Actions

I’d like to use the products as an inroad to do more marketing consulting, starting with looking at analytics but then getting into a review of marketing processes, management of marketers; helping business owners setup processes for creating and managing content (i.e. either using a content management system like Compendium, Hubspot, or Eloqua; or by simply creating editorial and promotional calendars and then using a service like Bufferapp or Hootsuite to manage it).

The Overlap Technique

One challenge is that I still have my day-job and I don’t want to jeopardize that. I count on that money and I like my job. That means I can’t use LinkedIn as a platform, but I can use Google Ads or other under-the-radar things. So far I’ve setup a Twitter account and posted it out on my personal Google+ page, but I haven’t gone farther than that. I won’t be able to setup an Instagram account because I already had one under that name and deleted it, but that’s okay. Instagram probably isn’t the best channel for web analytics review marketing.

Sean Wes has a technique called “The Overlap Technique” (http://seanwes.com/book/) that talks about building up a business on the side while holding down a day job. That’s the approach I’d like to take. One of my goals for 2015 is to “do what I tell my customers to do” and those things are: blog, podcast, and create videos. So far I’ve been blogging, and I’ve lined up a podcast co-host, but I haven’t made any podcasts or videos yet. One other option is to record videos and/or podcasts in the car while driving using my iPhone. What I’ve lacked is a reason. Now I think I have one.

March 8, 2015
Is There Anything to Look Forward to in Life?
When you’re growing up, there are lots of things to look forward to: graduating from high school, starting college, finding a mate. You might look forward to having your first child, buying your first house, or getting your favorite car.

But there comes a point in time when you have those things and you start to think, “What’s left?” It’s at this point that some people start focusing on their jobs, their careers, or their companies. Or they start a new hobby or learn a new skill.

I’ve seen some people look forward to an upcoming vacation, a special trip, or an ocean cruise. Other people look forward to paying off all of their debt or finally fixing up their house. Some people look forward to losing weight or gaining muscle.

Is There Anything to Look Forward to in Life?

Do you find yourself growing more and more tired each day? Do people ask you why you’re so listless, why you don’t smile, or why you don’t have more joy in your life? Do you find yourself going to bed sooner and sooner each night?

Is your routine a rut? Are you living on auto-pilot, just going through the motions? Do you do something daily and think to yourself, “Didn’t I just do this?” Is time passing by with little or no meaning? What is the meaning of your life?

Do self-help books and podcasts make you angry and resentful? Do you ever feel like you don’t have a purpose in life, like you have no goals, like no one needs you anymore? You may be wondering if there is anything to look forward to in life.

10 Things You Can Look Forward to in Life

This list is going to be different for everybody, but here’s what I look forward to in life:
1. Dreams
2. Breakfast
3. Meetups
4. Giving Gifts
5. Lunch
6. Hanging Out with Friends
7. Going on a Road Trip
8. Dinner
9. Finishing a Blog Post
10. Meeting Jesus
Where is the hope? I meet millions of people who feel demoralized by the decay around us. The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws we pass, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that’s where our hope is in this country. And that’s where our hope is in life.” -Charles “Chuck” Wendell Colson
March 5, 2015