There are many definitions of the word compassion.

Typically we think of empathy, or pity, or caring.

For the purposes of this post however, simply break the word into it’s parts:

Com (together) + Passion (any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling)

How are you sharing passion together with others?

Are you sharing in their passion?

Are you sharing your passion with them?

Passion is a powerful thing. It provides the fuel for what you do.

COMpassion is like rocket fuel!

When you share your passion, and share the passion of another, you truly add value to them and to you.

How can you share in the passion of another today?

Whether you sell widgets, or  provide a service to others, you can always connect with your passion, and connect with that of another.

Being passionate about connecting with others, and caring about their passions builds relationships, and fulfills them and you. The value of that will often lead to monetary value,

but it is ALWAYS priceless.

Compassion and Business by HeatherO

Life is all about stories. The belief systems we carry with us every day are stories. Some we made up, some others did. Our life is a story. Our life story. We live it daily. Every experience we have, every laugh, every tear has a story. I often say branding is ‘how you show up everyday’. Yes, branding is simply telling a story. The people that you come in contact with every day have their own story. You have no idea what it is often times, but they have one. They have many. Marketing tells a story. It tells us what to expect, what the product or service will do for us, why we should buy, etc. Customer service people tell a story, and they create one at the same time. Every time you interact with another human being, your self, or the world around you, a story is created. I am often challenged when people ask me what I ‘do’. As a marketer, I know than I have to use words that people understand. Words that create an image for them that makes sense and that explains what I do. The truth is, what I want to say is “I help people create and share their own stories”. That is what I do. I am passionate about helping people to live and share their passion. I am passionate about helping people to communicate who they are and share their value. I am passionate about helping people to serve others in all that they do. Marketing, networking, and customer/client/patient interactions. Their stories matter. We love stories. The best books tell stories, the best speakers tell stories. We watch reality TV because we love a good “real” story. So, what does this mean to you?

• I encourage you to think about what your life story is. Think about what you want it to be. Think about the stories that already exist and how sharing them could serve the world.

• The next time you are on facebook, think about what story you could share that could help just one other person. Even if it’s just sharing some crazy thing you or your teen did that might just make someone else feel better knowing they aren’t ‘the only one’. The next time you encounter a customer, or client, or even a clerk who looks like they are having a bad day, ask your self ‘how can I make their story better’. Clearly they have one, you don’t know what it is, but how can you make it just a little bit better? Are you telling your self and your kids (or spouse) that they are terrible? That they are ‘bad’ or they never do anything right? (If you’ve decided that is the story, it will become their story!) When you are marketing your business, ask your self “am I saying what I want to say, or what they need to hear?” Are you trying to serve everyone in one paragraph? With millions of messages swirling around us every day, can they hear yours? You can’t serve them if they can’t hear you. Think about your story, and create one that serves those you want to serve by making it loud and clear. Think about how you show up to those around you. When you go to work each day do people look forward to seeing you? Or dread you coming? Think about those stories in your head

. You know, the ones that say “you can’t, you should, you never, you always…” Are they serving YOU? Ditch the stories that don’t serve you or anyone else! Create stories that do. It’s that simple.

Your creating and living your life story every day. In your personal life, your business life, your family life. Are you living the story that you want to? How can you make it better? Change it, Create new ones, and share them with the world You have amazing gifts, talents and passions. Are you using them? Are you sharing them? What’s your story?

Imagine this…

You meet someone online who has the same sense of humor as you, is funny, witty and smart. You begin to think of them as a friend and when the time comes that you are in need of the service that they offer, you know that is who you want, because you really like and trust him (or her). So, you decide to meet in person at a coffee shop. When you arrive, that person has a completely different personality. They don’t have that same sense of humor, and when you start to talk about conversations you’ve had on twitter, you are met with a blank stare. You are confused…Why?

Because that person had an imposter tweeting and facebooking for them!

The person that you ‘knew, liked and trusted’ isn’t the person in front of you. It is someone that they hired to ‘do their social media’.

How do you feel about them now? Do you like and trust them?

Want to do business with them? Probably not!

How would you feel if you met someone that you really liked and they said “I don’t really have time to date you right now, and I don’t want to waste my time until I know that you are worth it. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have someone fill in for me OK?”

It’s a common dilemma these days. Everyone wants ‘friends, fans, and followers’ because they want more CUSTOMERS. They “don’t have the time”, or ‘don’t want to’ do it themselves, so they hire someone. Afterall, that is what people have done in business forever right? You hire an assistant, a marketing person, or someone else to do the things that you don’t want to do. So, why not this?

Because it ISN”T ABOUT ADVERTISING! (Yes I yelled that!:)

Keyword = S O C I A L

Think social NETWORKING instead of MEDIA. You NETWORK socially USING social MEDIA (as in mediums). Networking is a verb – it requires action!

It’s about conversations, creating relationships and developing trust.

We used to say “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. Now it’s more like Carrie Wilkerson says “it’s how much people feel like they know you”

People won’t feel like they know you, if there’s a ghost tweeter behind that profile picture.

So, what do you do?

You don’t have time right?

Consider this:

No matter what you do, no matter how techie the world gets, there is STILL a human on the other side of that ‘buy button’.

Consider that there is NOTHING more important in your business than interacting with your customers, clients or patients! Nothing!

Yes, there are other things  that have to be done. The books, the inventory, the this the thats all have to happen. Hire THOSE things out! I am a big fan of outsourcing certain things. Virtual assistants are GREAT for allowing you the time to do what is important – Communicating with those that you serve!  Hire one to post events, even spell check and upload those blog posts, or pictures.***

The voice, and conversation has to be YOU, if you want to reap the reward!

We want to know who we are doing business with. We have MANY choices in who to do business with today. I can go to twitter and find 10 people that do just about anything in a matter of minutes! I will choose the one who engages with me, talks to me and who I feel connected to. Period.

It’s not about quality or price anymore! Quality is virtually the same for most things except service these days, and someone will always be cheaper (and you get what you pay for anyway!).

• Stop focusing there.
• You are the only you! NO one can compete at being you.
• Be you, let it show and show up!
• Talk to us, don’t SELL to us.
• If you want us to make the time for you, make the time for us!
• Connecting with us has to matter to you, or you won’t matter to us!

If you have a larger company than one or two people, consider hiring someone to help you set up your accounts, develop a strategy and create a plan that allows everyone who comes in contact with customers, clients or patients to participate! Have them tweet and post to facebook using their initials. This way you are being authentic in who is ‘talking’, and folks get to know your entire staff! They won’t feel ‘bait and switched”, they will feel like they already know the people that they will be in communication with, and the conversations can be richer and more frequent!

Be authentic and upfront! Remember, to be trusted, you have to be trustworthy!

For more about the importance of ‘voice’ in today’s market click here for

It’s Not Just about Business Facebook Pages or Twitter or Blogs. It’s a Revolution

Social Media is for Conversation, Not a Bulletin Board

*** I personally recommend www.AssistantAngel.com for help with social media, and for many other tasks as well***

Whether we’re talking about living your purpose through your business, using social media, or even branding, let’s face it, we want a sale.

Even if we are not ‘selling’ in that moment,  in terms of pushing a product or service, whether we are networking or socializing, the connection is there.  We are still often  ’selling’ ourselves,  or ‘selling’ our ideas.

People seem to think ‘selling’ is a bad word. It isn’t. It is necessary in more ways than I can count. Whether you are trying to get someone to buy from you, or your kids to clean their room, ‘selling’ is involved.

What we have forgotten however, is that the root word of ‘selling’ actually means to give.

(did you catch that? read it again. now keep reading…)

Yes, it means to give. It doesn’t mean give for free, give and never receive, or give to receive, it simply means to give. We may be compensated (and should be) for what we give our customers, but the point is that we are giving them something, something of value to them.
Rather than giving something of value to them to justify what they have paid us.

People seem to think ‘this whole give first, give value, thing’ is a new concept. It really isn’t.

Remember when you used to go somewhere and people would say
‘May I help you?’

Think about that…

They didn’t say
“How may I sell you today?”

They didn’t say
“pay me and I will give you something of value”

They didn’t say
“What can I get you to give me today?”

They didn’t say
“How can I help you so you’ll pay me today?”

They said “how may I help you today?”

Often times today the clerk doesn’t say anything! They simply stare at you and wait for you to order, but in any case, you rarely hear ‘how may I help you?’ anymore.

Obviously, it’s not about just saying the words. You can say it all day long, and if you don’t mean it, it will be apparent!

You really do have to do something. To give something.

I can’t tell you how often I see this in social networking, whether it’s on twitter or facebook or in person. Like the 9pm phone call I received from the direct salesperson who has never done more than hand me her card once, saying “Hi, I was calling to see if you wanted to schedule an appointment. I need to reach my quota for the week”.

You can’t tell the bank “pay me some interest and I’ll make a deposit”.
In relationships you don’t say ‘give me some love, and I’ll give you some back’.

It’s not about giving to receive. It’s about being compensated because you have given.

So, go out and try it! Look for opportunities today to say
“How may I help you today?” (and mean it!:)

I’d love to hear what happens!

Want to know the ‘secret’ to success?The secret to a life of fulfillment?

Being aware of, and living and sharing your purpose.

Yep, that’s it! Sound too simple?

Perhaps, but it’s amazing how simple it isn’t, and how many people don’t.

Deep down each and everyone of us has been given an intense yearning to live a life of purpose, to make a difference. Wanting to live a life of significance is a fundamental human need.

Yet all to often we take that job because ‘it’s a good one’, and it has ‘benefits’ and ‘job security’ and all of that stuff. We start a business because we are ‘good at ______’ or because ‘it will make a lot of money’.  Even if we start out passionate about that job or business, we lose sight of that ‘purpose’. We forget why we are here, or what our intention is.

Take some time to refocus on your ‘Why”. There are a zillion ways to make money, why do you do what you do?

As women, and more specifically as moms, we often lose sight of “Us’ to. Me becomes Mom-me and whether we choose to stay home, or work, the focus is rarely on fulfilling our hearts desire. Perhaps you believe that your purpose IS raising and teaching your children. That is great if it is, but do you feel fulfilled?

Do you have an empty space in your heart, or ‘gut’ that is gnawing at you?

Ask your self, “If I could do anything in the world, and money and time were no object, what would it be?”

You might think it would be vacation, golf, or travel, but once the novelty was over, you would want to do something! Perhaps it IS golf or travel. If that passion is deep within you, start asking yourself “how can I? How can use this innate passion to serve the world in some way?”

It’s been given to you for a reason. Now, it’s up to you to discover it.

Go do it!

What is YOUR purpose? Passion? I’d love to hear about it!

In the book “The Go-Giver”, by Bob Burg and John David Mann, the first Law of Stratospheric Success is ‘Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you receive in payment”. In the book, Ernesto says that asking if it ‘will make money’ isn’t a bad question, it’s just a bad first question. The first question should be “how will it serve?”

Zig Ziglar used to say “the more you do than you are paid to do, the sooner you will be paid more for what you do“.

This principle has been extolled everywhere from the Bible, to Think and Grow Rich, to Og Mandino, and beyond. I’ve lost count of how many places I’ve read it! Yet, so many people still question it. So many still live in a fear of scarcity, and a fear that ‘if I give it away, I will have nothing to sell”.

The truth is, we have more than enough! When we exceed people’s expectations, they will always pay more, Ernesto says.

So today, ask yourself not ‘how can I make more money‘, but
‘how can I give more value?”

Then have faith that all of these brilliant and successful people could not have been wrong, and do it!

Facebook is all the rage. Like many, I can attest to the power of it. It truly is a powerful place! (*currently 96% of my business comes through facebook*)

First let’s talk about reasons for having one. Although many consultants don’t want or need a fan page, I had very specific reasons for creating one.

1. I wanted to be able to post frequent content relevant to what I do, which wouldn’t necessarily be relevant for all of my ‘friends’. I wanted people to be able to ‘optin’ for posts rather than getting them just because we were friends.

2. I wanted people to be able to connect with me without having to ‘do the friend thing’.  For many, the idea of accepting friends on facebook is still considered literally, and many are uncomfortable sending a request to someone that they don’t know.

3. To create a community of people with like-minded interests, and to be able to communicate with them in a ‘space’ uncluttered by farmville, friends and family.

Unfortunately, many people start fan pages for the wrong reasons. The do so simply because they think that because they have a business, they are ‘supposed to’, or they do it to have another place to advertise.

In a poll by Exact Target, 70% of facebook users say that they do not want to be advertised to by businesses that they are fans of.

This confuses many businesses. They don’t understand “why are they fans then?” The answer is, because they are! They became a fan of your page because they like you. They simply ‘raised their hand’ to say ” I am a fan of…” That’s it. They didn’t say ‘hi, I’m a fan, please post your ads on my wall!”

In many cases, they only became a fan because they are your friend! This article is about creating and keeping true fans!

In some cases they may become a fan because they want to know about upcoming events, MAYBE even sales, or specials (that is more common with larger brands, and they are only interested as long as they are in the market for that specific type of product). More often than not, that does not mean that they want you to advertise them the way that you are used to.

Like email, the biggest mistake that businesses make is assuming that because the customer gave them their email address, or connected via facebook or elsewhere, that they can send whatever they want to. They really only want what ‘they want’, not what you want them to want!

The world has changed. In the old days, you could run commercials and people ‘had to watch them’, or at least they did. They only had so many channels to choose from, and not a lot of other home entertainment choices, and so they did. Those who could afford TV advertising won. But then there was cable..and Tivo…and…

I often hear people say “but it works!” with regard to email spamming, and advertising in social media. “Everybody is doing it, so it must work!”  I simply say “ok, then why did people rush to get on the do not call list? why do people have spam filters? why do people use Tivo and other tools to avoid commercials?” Because they don’t want to hear it! Because they don’t trust you anymore!

The good news is, when they connect in social networks, they do so because they like you. As long as you allow them to, and don’t abuse them, they will trust you too.

So, first let’s talk about how to create a useless fan page:

1. Create a page and never come back! Or post randomly when you feel like it.

2. Create a page and have some assistant somewhere or a robot do all of the posting.

3. Only talk about you and your product and what YOU want to sell!

4. Don’t allow fans to post, so it’s all about YOU and what YOU have to say!

5. Use it as a billboard, and don’t engage in conversation.

6. Delete criticisms/complaints rather than respectfully addressing them.

How to create an effective fan page should be somewhat obvious at this point, but let me clarify and add a few, to be sure!

How to create a GREAT Facebook Fan Page that is useful and effective!

1. Be there at least twice a day. Once to post, and again to respond to any comments.

2. Post content of value to your fans – RELEVANT to THEM and their interests. (this may be articles about the upcoming trends, your vendors, suppliers, or strategic partners, or simply stuff that you know that they care about. It doesn’t have to just be about you)

3. Remember it’s not all about you!

4. Engage in conversation! Ask questions, say thank you, and respond to comments.

5. Ask them what they want!

6. Think about who you are talking to! Do you know who they are? what they like?

7. Think of ways to add value offline, and tell them about it online. Some ideas:

Have a fan appreciation party at your office or store

Cold & nasty outside? Tell them you understand and you’ve made fresh hot cider for them if they want to stop by and warm up!

Ask them what they are looking for or need right now & find ways to offer it to them!

Reward them!!! Give them deals, information and ‘perks’ for being your fan! Remember, they publicly raised their hand and said “I like you”! That matters! Let them know that you appreciate them.

8. Be human! Let YOU shine through. The days of corporate identity, and hiding behind logo’s is a thing of the past. We like and trust people, not logos.  Brand your logo, use your logo, but put a face behind it. If it can’t be you, give it to someone in your company that can and will be your face. (You have to let them be real and authentic, and clear about who they are though. They can’t be posing as you!).

9. Be bold! So many businesses are so worried about their image that they don’t even have one! When you try to please everyone, you please no one. The world is noisy, you’ve got to stand out. You don’t have to be overtly outrageous. Just be you! You are unique already (but nobody will know it if you don’t let it show!)

10. Remember, if you want to build your fan base, give them a reason to be there! You wanting a certain number isn’t enough. Let’s face it, they don’t care how many fans you want.  Give them value, be remarkable and be relevant!

When you do, they will bring you more fans.

5 Secrets to Adding Value with Facebook -  Click to View

(for more articles like this, search the keyword ‘facebook’ in the search box above)
You can find my facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/RealHeatherO

The Go-Giver is a powerful little business book based on five “Laws of Stratospheric Success”. I find people who haven’t read the book often misinterpret the meaning of these principles. In fact, I talked to someone the other day who complained that (they thought) it meant that “making money is a bad thing” and that being “a Go-Giver” is about paying it forward.
That’s not ‘it’ at all!

I’ve also found that even those who have read and embrace the principles often overlook (or forget) a very important one:
The Law of Compensation

They provide value, they strive to serve lots of people, they are authentic and open to receiving, but sometimes miss the all important “…how abundantly you place others’ needs first”

Click here to view the embedded video.

More posts about “The Go-Giver”…

http://heathero.com/tag/go-giver/

http://quintessentialfeline.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/get-inspired-by-the-go-giver/

http://frostfirefarm.blogspot.com/2010/01/go-giver.html