Author: Garth Beyer

When I was younger, I would take a bit longer in the bathroom after my dad and I finished our workday so I didn’t have to move all the painting equipment into my dads truck. He would do it. (Sorry, Dad)

It was hard work. The buckets were heavy. I was weak. More so, though, I was lazy.

I think hard work and laziness has really changed since then and not just for me.

These days we would rather do physical labor that pushes us to our limits than the emotional labor of creating something meaningful, something that has an impact, something that puts us out there, vulnerable, exposed.

After all, doing something physical provides the perfect excuse to not do work that creates real change – you’re exhausted, tired, energy depleted.

The new lazy is manual labor.

It’s meaningless tasks like cleaning the home, moving objects from point A to point B, and running unnecessary errands to kill time.

The new hard work isn’t of  physical strength; It’s emotional tenacity, resilience, determination to do something that makes a difference.

 

Stay Positive & Do The New Hard Work

Photo credit

I visited a beer writing friend the other day. He had a Zombie Dust phone case. It made me wonder…

If your blog was a phone case, would people buy it?

It’s a simple test to see if you’re creating something valuable.

Works for more than just blogs too.

Would someone buy it if it were a phone case?

If not, what would it take?

 

Stay Positive & Improve Until It’s Phone Case-Worthy

Telling customers you care and then giving free samples to your friends first sends mixed signals.

The president telling employees the company blog is important but then not writing a post herself sends mixed signals.

Increasingly, I’m coming to the conclusion that the best signals you send are consistent ones – no matter how much you grow in your space.

If you get promoted. You still park in the back.

If you win a prestigious award. You still share that recognition.

As for me, I still replace toiletries at work, do dishes, and clean up the workspace. I don’t race out of a meeting before helping put the chairs away.

You have to decide on what signals you want to send and then stick to that.

If you care about customer service, you better be on the phone when the customer service team gets slammed.

If you believe in “we before me,” you don’t leave the office until you’ve made someone’s day just a bit easier.

 

Stay Positive & Never Underestimate The Power Of Consistency And Frequency

Photo credit

It can take you one minute to type up a little email telling someone what you appreciate about them.

One minute of your time to drive by their desk and say something nice.

One minute to send a text, a snap, a tweet.

It only takes a minute to turn someone’s day around or make it better than it has been.

 

Stay Positive & Little Things Like Minutes And Kind Words Make A Difference

Photo credit

There are a few ways you can go about a successful media relations strategy for your business.

1. Know everyone in the industry, not just those covering your beat. This is difficult to do because of the mass amount of journalists, but it’s nearly vital with the amount of turnaround, layoffs, beat changes and acquisitions shaking up the reporting industry. By the time you establish a relationship and present your pitch, they’ve moved, but it won’t matter if you know them all.
2. Create, to the best of your ability, a pitch calendar and stick to it. The problem with many pitches is you don’t know who you’ll be pitching to until you know what you’re pitching. The sooner you can get what you’re pitching on the calendar, the sooner you can start establishing the relationships you need.
3. Meet and greet the outlets you think you’ll be pitching to. The best first pitch you can make is yourself. Before the pitch calendar and on your path to knowing everyone in the industry, begin by setting up a meeting at an outlet. It’s much like an informational interview where you learn who to talk to, what they care about, the best way to pitch, how they handle their stories, etc,.

Media relations is a time intensive strategy. While that’s not to say you won’t land something by shooting off an email. It’s a lot less likely and, being forward, you’ll enjoy the process a lot less.

Do media relations because you love to, not because it’s your job. It’s what most journalists do.

 

Stay Positive & Media Relations Is Another Case Of You Get Back What You Put In

Photo credit

The scary thing about trying something new is that the first 15 minutes are going to suck.

No one wants to pay to suck. No adult, anyway.

The first 15 minutes you spend snowshoeing are going to entail you figuring them out. Just so happens that once you do get the handle of it, you’ll pay more to keep doing it.

That’s why some of the best businesses offer free entry, free trials, free first-times.

If you’re not, why not?

 

Stay Positive & Better Yet, How Can You Make Those First 15 Suck Less?

Photo credit