Tag Archives: WIMS

Unsolicited Insights From The Minority at the #BlkTechClt Event

First let me start with the description of the event that I, aka “the minority,” just attended:

“ThePLUG Daily (make sure to subscribe) presents Charlotte’s first interactive event designed to immerse black tech entrepreneurs, professionals, and enthusiasts in the Queen City’s local startup ecosystem. This new monthly after-work event connects you with Charlotte’s most notable innovators and business leaders over drinks and appetizers while getting a sneak-peak at new products and an opportunity to share your area of expertise.”

Next, let me offer up a few disclaimers:

I’m well aware that this event does not need, nor is seeking, validation from a random white dude whatsoever.
Tito’s Vodka was one of the sponsors (I wrote this immediately upon getting back to my office after the event so pardon the tone…)
Said random white dude’s writing about said event may have un-implied/privileged undertones despite the many clichés of his whole background and existence, i.e. growing up in an “urban environment” and having lots of black friends, etc.

Ok, now after that unfortunate introduction that hopefully in the future won’t even need to be written prior to such subjects because race won’t even be a factor in life whatsoever, let’s get to the key point of all this: random white dude attended the #BlkTechClt event and had his mind blown.

First of all, not like I’m surprised by this at all, but I saw a truly passionate and capable community of brilliant minds, both young and old, male and female, all coming together to empower and encourage one another to do whatever it takes to succeed. There were lawyers, bankers, financial professionals, coders, scholars, hobbyists, dreamers, artists, and just about every type of person you can imagine together sharing ideas, plans, business models, and projects they were working on and receiving feedback, insights, and suggestions from genuinely interested parties. It was an electrifying atmosphere.

Secondly, not only did I experience the reversed perspective of what it must (is? could?) be like being a minority attending a typical professional networking event, but I also noted that I was likely the only one that even noticed, or at least mentioned, the fact that I wasn’t black. Even though everyone embraced me without a second’s thought, the shear self-consciousness of constantly wondering, “Do these people not like me/ do they think I don’t belong/are they wondering why I’m here because I’m white/different” led to a perpetual awkwardness that forced me to bring it up and try to explain myself (note: this is never a good idea) even though I spent a great deal of time growing up in similar scenarios.

To say it was a cultural experience/awakening is an understatement. Because of my background, I tend to try and emphasize that race isn’t an issue to me personally whatsoever. Now I see however, that on the other side that “luxury” or perhaps “ignorance” isn’t even allowed to exist. Those subconscious thoughts stick with you ALWAYS, and are constantly nagging underneath the surface.

Lastly, I made some incredible contacts with potential clients, referral sources, and strategic partners. I would be so lucky to get a chance to work with and collaborate with some of these entrepreneurs that are destined for greatness. I can now only hope that my whiteness doesn’t keep me from consideration (ironic how the tables are turning isn’t it?) and that the new era of diverse businesses begins to thrive.

WIMS: WHO is Mike Simmons? Part 1

“Look at what we did. Came a long way from dirty ghetto kids.” Lupe Fiasco

Not many people know much about my background. Aside from a few exceptions, it’s something I’ve mostly kept private. But since the purpose of creating The WIMS Guide is to sporadically document the entrepreneurial journey I’ve been feeling compelled to share the origins of my story lately.

It’s something I’ve thought about doing for years now, but have hesitated due to a combination of self-consciousness and fear. Will people judge or look at me differently? Or perhaps they just won’t even care at all? I’ve finally realized that regardless if it changes the way people think of me or not, if it’s able to help even one person who’s had a similar experience by encouraging and motivating them to keep pursuing their dreams it will be well worth it.

My journey started out growing up in a pretty ghetto neighborhood in Harrisburg, PA (if you’re skeptical and think I’m embellishing Google Earth: 2353 Logan St.) before later making a relatively lateral move to a trailer park in Mechanicsburg. To say I come from a poor and dysfunctional family would be the understatement of the century.

While I had a very rough start, oddly enough three events that seemed like tragedies at the time ended up altering the course of my destiny and changed my life forever. First, I was sent to a boarding school called Milton Hershey School when I was five years old as my mother just couldn’t take care of me on her own (if you’ve never heard of it, it’s fascinating). Soon after that when I was six my father passed away. And then shortly after when I was seven my sister (who I was closer to more than anyone in the world) moved to California.

At the time, each of these events devastated and shook me to my core. I felt helpless, alone, and extremely confused. However, little did I know at the time that they all would be the very best things to happen to me (later to be trumped by getting married and having a baby). Going through all that at such a young age set the tone for the rest of my life by making me stronger, more independent, and extremely hungry to change my life for the better.

Even though most of my childhood was rough I often say that I was blessed to have the “Michael Jordan of Guardian Angels” by the way things turned out. MHS fed me, clothed me, and provided a wonderful well-rounded education along with opportunities I would have never experienced otherwise. Not to mention I hit the jackpot with an incredible set of “house parents” that taught me so much about life and how to be a man. Going there also allowed me to be able to visit my sister in California three times a year which opened my eyes up to an entirely different world, one with infinite possibility.

Despite greatly improved conditions compared to what they could have been, I do still vividly remember many times of going hungry when I was away from school at home. The memory of that feeling, along with that of having to live in the places we did, sticks with me to this day and creates an incredible desire to be successful and never go back to that again.

Being broke all the time made me realize that I wanted to eventually be an entrepreneur so I could have more control over my life. Ever since elementary school I started countless businesses such as selling sports cards, beanie babies, Pokemon, Pogs, and just about anything else I could profit from. Unfortunately, I had to do quite a few things I’m not proud of to get by as well.

Because of these experiences I developed a sense of ambition, drive, and commitment to doing well in school and getting good grades. Well that and the fear of my mother’s wrath if I didn’t. Understanding the importance of good grades was crucial and ended up paying off big time. After graduation, I literally became the first person in my family to attend college. On top of that, it was with a full academic scholarship to the University of Miami, half from “The U” and the rest from MHS. While there I earned my Bachelor’s Degree with a double major in Marketing and Finance and a minor in Advertising.

If my story ended there I would still feel extremely proud of what I was able to accomplish given how things began. But fortunately, I was just getting started.

To be continued…

Go F Yourself!

Let me start off by apologizing for the super click-bait-y title, I just couldn’t help myself. Also, FOR those of you who were expecting an epic verbal-lashing style rant I’m sorry to disappoint you too, you’re more than welcome to keep it moving if so (but if you do then you can take the title literally…just kidding). Rather, this is yet another post about personal and professional development/self-improvement.

As The WIMS Guide’s scope suggests, these posts are meant to be about documenting the journey. Thus, I wanted to share some insights with you all as I’ve been experiencing a great period of growth and progress over the past few months after shifting my FOCUS towards a now sacred set of priorities. And you guessed it, they all start with the letter “F.”

These aren’t all going to be FOR everyone, so FEEL FREE to pick and choose the ones that are most applicable to you. Also, if I’ve left any out, whether they begin with “F” or not, please make sure to share them.

FAITH – It truly starts with this above all else FOR me. Praying, reading devotionals, and hearing the word of God regularly has helped me significantly, especially lately. The confidence and reassurance I get allows me to continue to take calculated risks without doubting myself. If you’re one of my atheist FRIENDS, I’m not trying to preach here, the term is relative and you can shift the meaning towards having FAITH in yourself if you prefer. Nonetheless it really sets the tone FOR everything else.

FAMILY & FRIENDS – #2 on my list because this is generally the purpose and reason why you and I hustle and grind our asses off. I don’t mind working 16-hour days (I’m a sicko and actually enjoy it) as much when I at least get to spend a couple hours having dinner and relaxing with my wife before returning to my desk FOR the late shift. Spending quality time with F&F is crucial, even if it’s just on the phone or Skype/FACETIME.

FINANCES – This is what keeps the merry-go-round (aka your business) spinning, so having a handle of your FINANCES is imperative to being a good professional, entrepreneur, and person in general. You don’t need to be rich or well-off FOR this to matter, in FACT it’s even more important to properly plan and budget if money is tight. FROM the business side, it’s all about FACTS, FIGURES, and FORECASTING, because “if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker.

FITNESS & FOOD – Wow, what a tremendous difference incorporating FITNESS and a healthy diet into my daily routine has made on my life. I’m not talking about one-off gym sessions, but truly making a commitment to it at least 5 days a week. My energy, passion, and positive attitude lately has shot through the roof and has become borderline annoying to people that aren’t on the same level. I’m not going to dwell on this topic as you know already know the benefits, but I suggest not waiting until the new year, get on it today and get a head start.

FOLLOW UP & FOLLOW THROUGH – FOR those of you in sales (and let’s be honest every single person on earth is selling something whether they know it or not) this is by FAR the most important thing from a professional/business perspective. Now I’ve made incredible progress, but I still struggle with this and strive to improve every single FREAKING day. I get so caught up on the next thing I can tend to slip on closing out the last thing. And that’s even with a great CRM program to help me (btw – if you need to implement one hit me up).

FUN – You just have to take some time to recover and let loose occasionally as burning the candle from both ends will only end in burn out. Some of my personal FAVORITES to keep the theme going: FANTASY FOOTBALL, FILMS, FICTION, etc.

Now believe me, I’m FAR FROM perfect and still struggle with every one of these regularly, so its ok to slip up. The key is not to beat yourself up and let that disappointment or shame linger. Just keep getting back on the wagon and keep F-ing yourself until you get it right. When you see how FAR you’ve come, you’ll be happy you did.

(FULL disclosure: some of the puns and innuendo may have been intentional FOR the sake of FUN)…

Step into the Ring with the Trauma Fighter

Joe Swafford is not your traditional entrepreneur, if there even is such a thing. He still has, and loves, his full time career at Carolinas Healthcare System, where he is a Peer Support Specialist for the Mindy Ellen Levine Behavioral Health Center. He is also a full time hustler, squeezing every second he can out of each day to pursue his passion of helping others. His company, Trauma Fighter, has been growing like crazy lately, yet he still finds time to juggle it all. On top of all this there is his favorite role of them all: devoted father and family man. Where does he find the time to make it all work? Let’s find out.

Trauma Fighter has evolved quite a bit since I started it. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that whatever you start out thinking you’re going to do rarely is the case in reality. You plan for things to go a certain way and then they can change on you in an instant. Because of this I always try to keep an open mind and pursue opportunities as they come.

In the beginning I thought I was only going to do public speaking engagements. That’s how I started at least. Fortunately, they have all been very well received, and because of that so many other doors have opened up to me. Speaking is still a huge part of what I do of course, but now I also spend a great deal of my time teaching classes at AHEC and for private companies, as well as providing life coaching sessions to a select group of individual clients.

I’ve been very blessed in that the more of these things I do, the more opportunities keep presenting themselves. I’ve not only presented at large conferences at my company, but have now worked with large organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District among others.

The cool thing about the growth I’ve experienced so far is that it’s been done solely by word of mouth. I haven’t really done any advertising or marketing yet. Most of my clients have heard me speak, took one of my classes, or were referred to me by someone else that had. Currently I discuss topics like mental health, depression, and anti-bullying, however I am always thinking of new angles and approaches to reach my audience and help them any way I can.

One rule I live by is that I always reflect and think about how I can fit my dreams into my family? It’s never the other way around, I work around my family always. One way I make that work is that my ride home from work now doubles as a business meeting every single day. I have a very long commute, so my car has become my office.

There is certainly no set protocol yet to what I’m doing and I’m not following anyone’s rule-book but my own. I do what feels right and figure out the rest out as I go. Eventually I know that I’m going to have to implement more structured policies, but for now it has been working great. One specific example relates to my pricing structure, being flexible on this has allowed me to test and validate what my market rate is. I find that for some opportunities my price is way too high even when I think I’m quoting a lower rate than normal, while others think it’s low and a bargain for the value they get. I know I miss out on some things here and there but that’s part of the deal.

To continue growing the company I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can and I even started dabbling with things like social media. I tend to be long-winded so Twitter hasn’t been the best platform for me. Facebook on the other hand has been working really well, and the data it provides has been extremely helpful as I test what works. It’s very important for me to engage with my audience wherever they’re at. I recently purchased a GoPro and launched a weekly video series called Trauma Fighter Tuesday. It seems to be working really well as with each post I reach new people that I didn’t know, and not only are they befriending me, but they’re also reaching out to learn more about what I do and asking for help.

There are plenty of great speakers and teachers out there, so in order to differentiate myself I’ve really had to be open about my background and share stories that are often painful to relive. This is often the source of a lot of fear and anxiety for me, but I know that doing this is a big part of my purpose and calling. Knowing and accepting this has led me to launch one of my scariest projects yet that I’ve been putting off for years: writing a book. I started working with a ghost writer to assist me with it and we’re planning to launch it by the end of the year so stay tuned.

Being an entrepreneur has a lot of ups and downs, but when you’re truly living your purpose and feel passionately about what you’re doing it makes it all worth it. I know I have a lot to learn yet and have plenty of room to grow, but when you discover that you were able to impact even just one life it’s such a rewarding feeling that you have no choice but to push on and keep fighting.

Joe can be reached via his website, Facebook page, or by email at [email protected].

WIMS: Where is Mike Simmons?!

To say that the 1^st quarter plus of 2016 has been intense would be an understatement! WIMS Consulting has been in full-on hyper growth mode with lots of incredible new clients and projects currently underway and several others in the pipeline as well. While I’m extremely grateful and would never complain about that, one downside has been that The WIMS Guide has fallen off a bit.

Luckily, thanks to lessons learned from Tim Ferris and The 4-Hour Workweek this will no longer be the case due to a technique called “batching.” Essentially that means that I’ve been writing several posts simultaneously so that I can build up an inventory in advance to keep them going regularly. Between my personal posts and the stacked roster of diverse guest writers I’ve been recruiting there is going to be a lot of great content coming your way.

Now, back to my original question of “Where is Mike Simmons?!”

Over the past few months I’ve been extremely focused on growing the business. Landing new clients in my home base of Charlotte has been a significant priority, and so far this year has already been exceeding expectations as I’m now working with companies here varying from startups to multi-billion dollar entities and everything in between.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to be able to do quite a bit of traveling, my business trip to Miami last month was very successful as it remains a key component of my growth strategy. Maintaining my footprint there means a great deal to me and fortunately my existing relationships continue to bring new opportunities.

The California trip was primarily for vacation, however expanding the business there is another 2016 goal of mine and it looks very promising. In addition, as New York remains the holy grail of markets, I’m thrilled to have landed an amazing client there too, which I will elaborate on further when the time is right.

While some of the current projects remain confidential, I at least wanted to share some details about a few of them.

Nimbus – A payment processing platform based in Charlotte. It’s currently available online, via iOS mobile application (soon on Android as well), and it’s compatible with PC/Mac. You can process credit card payments on your phone by taking a picture so a swiper is no longer needed, it also processes ACH, Apple/Android Pay and other alternative methods as well. Rates start at 2.25% (best rates available) and will decrease automatically based on transaction volume. It also has an open API, allowing other applications and platforms to integrate it into their own systems to process payments. Pretty cool stuff and that’s just the beginning of what it can offer.

SalesFuel – This is a really interesting concept that I’m excited about collaborating on. I recently partnered with a South Florida based company called On the Ball/SalesFuel which is a business development firm that works with organizations’ sales team to get them meetings with the C-Level suite. We’re building a team that will span across the country and already beginning to work with some amazing companies.

Golf Squad – In a business world where sales and lead generation strategies are rapidly evolving, one approach continues to remain extremely effective: the game of golf. The Golf Squad Corporate Program was created to pursue the mission of formally blending the golf and business worlds together. Each program is led by a PGA professional and operations currently exist in over a dozen states and counting.

Ok, that’s enough of the shameless plugs for now but I wanted to provide some additional insight into what I’ve been up to, along with a snapshot of some of the companies I’ve been working with.

I will start wrapping up with a lesson I’m currently learning the hard way. Most of the talk about being an entrepreneur focuses on how difficult it is to get new clients and business. That is certainly true, but what seems to be discussed less often is the great challenge it is to service them and implement afterwards which is at least as equally important. To be frank the balancing act is a full on struggle and I’ve certainly been experiencing growing pains. Because of that I’ve been working on building the team, so any referrals in that regard would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, as always I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments, insights, etc. so please feel free to reach out and let me know what you think!

The BEST Approach to get Media Coverage for Your Business

Most entrepreneurs and small businesses do not have the budget to shell out high dollars for paid advertisements to promote their services. Instead, they need to rely on cost effective or free ways to get their message out. The same is true for public relations professionals who are tasked with gaining publicity and raising awareness for their organization. While their marketing and advertising colleagues often have a nice chunk of change to spend on ads or partnerships that promise coverage, the majority of the publicity the public relations team brings in is done with little or no cost.

I’d like to share what I have found to be one of the most successful methods of getting a news outlet to talk about your work and demonstrate how you can do the same for your business. It all comes down to identifying a great story and crafting the perfect pitch. Media with CHS 2

Make your pitch a story and not a commercial

My first tip is the most important. Do NOT make your pitch a commercial. No one is interested in how wonderful and intelligent your product is. If your pitch goes on and on about why everyone needs to buy this product or how great of a business person you are, it will get thrown in the trash, along with your reputation.

The best way to promote your business is to dig a little deeper and find a real life example that clearly illustrates why something is news worthy. This will take more effort on your part but it will make all the difference in whether or not you get coverage, and ultimately, the story that comes out will resonate with your target audience much better than an expensive commercial.

Find the essential “characters” for your pitch

Your pitch needs to focus around the main character. This should be someone who is not affiliated with your business; such as a customer or a client. If you are promoting a product or a service, find someone who uses it on their own (meaning they are not getting paid to do so) and who genuinely has a positive experience with it. Your pitch will highlight their experience and what led them to use your service/product and the difference it has made on their life.

Secondly, you need an expert; whether it’s yourself or a designated spokesperson for your company. This role is to discuss how the service or product benefitted your main character. They should also discuss what they personally did to help this person and what their work means to the community. This role does not include showing off, gloating or trying to steal the spotlight.

Is there a conflict and resolution?

In order to have a story, your main character needs to have a conflict that your expert has solved by his/her service or product. In addition, you need to make the case that this is something that can help all of the reporter’s audience as well. It can’t be something that will only benefit one person.

Once you have your two main characters, the conflict and the resolution, you can plug your information into a simple format. I’m going to coach you through this format using a recent story I worked on that resulted in coverage for one of my clients, Dr. Oleg Tcheremissine. Claire and the Oosterhuis's

Introduction of main character

Example: Peter Oosterhuis, a former golf pro and CBS sports commentator, is incredibly popular and respected among his peers, fans, and family. He has a long and storied career in golf and is known best for defeating golf legends such as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Describe the Conflict

Recently, Peter and his wife began to notice lapses in his memory and professionalism. He struggled with everyday tasks and was growing increasingly frustrated with the mental changes he was experiencing.

Introduction of your expert

Peter went to go see a doctor in Texas. The doctor diagnosed him with Alzheimer’s disease; and suggested that he go to Charlotte where the experts there would be the best to treat him. Peter went to Charlotte where he began seeing Dr. Oleg Tcheremissine, who enrolled him in a groundbreaking clinical trial.

Resolution

While we don’t know if Peter is receiving the actual drug or a placebo in the trial, he and his wife are on a mission to raise awareness and funding for the treatment and research of Alzheimer’s disease. They want to let others know that this trial is significant for the development of a drug that may ultimately lead to a cure for this devastating disease.

Impact- Why should anyone care?

Alzheimer’s can happen to anyone- even the greatest athletes like Peter. The more we talk about this disease, the better the chances of finding a cure. Everyone in Charlotte would appreciate that the world’s best doctors and researchers are located in their backyard and should they or a loved one ever need treatment for Alzheimer’s, they won’t have to go anywhere else.

Results:

WCNC, the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, covered this story and ran it during their nightly news cast.

The Alzheimer’s Association shared this story as a message of hope and education for all of the patients and caregivers that follow their YouTube Channel.

Peter’s story remains one of the most viewed on the Carolinas HealthCare System’s Daily Dose blog, which is followed by thousands of people in North and South Carolina.

The Charlotte Observer did an in depth piece on Peter and his wife and describes the clinical trial that has the potential to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

B-Roll

To provide an additional incentive to reporters, you must find b-roll to support your story. According to the Content Marketing Institute, b-roll is the extra footage captured to enrich the story you’re telling. Instead of featuring only talking heads on video, you want to include additional video footage, still photographs, animation or other graphic elements.

In the case of Peter’s story, we reached out to the Quail Hollow Golf Course who allowed us access to film Peter playing golf there, we supplied reporters with old photographs of Peter and his wife and coordinated with Dr. Tcheremissine at the neurology clinic to film a checkup with Peter. Those visuals really made the story come to life and allowed the viewer to see what it was like to experience what Peter was going through.

Fact Sheet

If you are pitching a story idea to the media, it is your responsibility to know your topic inside and out and you must be able to teach the reporter about it. Often times, the expert may be so advanced they don’t break down the information in an easy to understand way; so the reporter will often rely on you to explain it to them. Or if you are doing the interview yourself, you must absolutely be prepared for every potential question they can ask you. Plus, reporters are on tight deadlines so they don’t often have the time to research each topic. This is where you can be a huge help to them. I like to supply reporters with a fact sheet before and after each interview with suggested questions, key messages, and data. You can even go as far as to write the story for them and supply quotes, photos and links for more information.

Recently I worked on a story about a young woman who got married in her father’s hospital room just days before he passed away. A reporter with People Magazine was at the airport so couldn’t be there in person- so I took photos for her and provided as much information as I could so she could write her story.

Share and Follow Up

Now that you put in all that work to get your story in the spotlight, it’s time to share it! Post the link on social media, your company’s YouTube page, and email your family, friends, and contacts. When the share the coverage with their networks, it gets even more exposure! Plus, it’s a great way to build relationships with everyone involved and if the experience was positive, it will be that much easier to work with that reporter on another story in the future. When reporter Lena Sun with The Washington Post covered the behavioral health integration model, we shared the link and connected with Lena on Twitter to immediately to promote the story, which resulted in greater exposure of the report and our behavioral health team.

Conclusion

According to research done by Paul Zak and his team at the University of California, Berkeley, stories “shape our brains, tie strangers together and move us to be more empathic and generous.” These are all the emotions we should try to evoke when reaching out to our target audiences. Anything less than that and they will change the channel, skip over the story, and stop engaging with you. I encourage you to put on your own reporter hat and ask questions to find that great story that will resonate with reporters and audiences to ultimately help you achieve your goal- showcasing the great work of you/your company and getting your audience to respond and connect with you.

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Claire Simmons is with the clinical public relations team at Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, N.C. She is responsible for developing strategic communications initiatives and coordinating public relations activities for women and children’s services, behavioral health and neurosciences. Claire develops and manages annual communications plans that promote new programs, facilities, services and other activities for her various clinical specialties. As a former news producer and reporter, Claire’s favorite aspect of her work revolves around telling stories that connect with the community while promoting her clients. Connect with Claire on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].

The WIMS Guide Pivot

I originally launched my blog, The WIMS Guide a little over a year now, and have been writing sporadically ever since. I mostly receive positive feedback with each post, which is nice, but to be brutally honest with myself it wasn’t going anywhere. And to keep doing it in that perpetually half-assed manner is just not in my nature. So I made it a point to redo the blog in order to breathe new life into and to tweak the approach as well. Here’s a brief overview of the concept, let me know what you think and perhaps even go one step further – and actually subscribe.

Now I read a ton daily, not just books but lots of blogs and how-to articles like “The Top X Things to Improve Your Y” type stuff. A lot of them are just subtly trying to sell you stuff, and usually they’re written by some intern but placed under the by-line of a famous entrepreneur or a partner at a large firm who most likely didn’t even read it before posting (I know this because I used to and still write for some).

I’m not just trying to bash Inc., Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Elite Daily, etc. of the world as a lot of their content is quality. However so much of what’s out there is the same. Its lessons learned, tips to keep in mind, success stories from people who have already made it. At times I love reading them of course, but other times I’d prefer a different approach and angle.

So, rather than focus solely on the destination, I want to create content that focuses more on the journey. I want stories, insights, and life hacks from the people who are still in the trenches, scratching and clawing their way to success but haven’t quite made it yet. I want to read the words of the hungry hustlers and learn what they’re doing on a daily basis to achieve their goals.

We live in a world today that anyone can realistically become a pseudo-celebrity. With the compounding nature of our social networks, any one of you can create a massive following and loyal audience. I want The WIMS Guide to help enable that, not by only writing content myself, but with A LOT of help from my friends.

I’ve enlisted the help from members of my network, spanning across an extremely diverse range of backgrounds and expertise. The content will be primarily geared towards entrepreneurship and ways to enhance the daily grind in the lives of young professionals but with an occasional curve ball thrown in there to keep you on your toes.

We’re going to have entrepreneurs, consultants, health care professionals, bloggers, MBA students, lawyers, bankers, accountants, real estate brokers, investors, and on and on. The main goal is to provide an outlet to empower and raise each other up rather than focusing so much on celebrity entrepreneurs that we don’t even know.

If you have a compelling story you’d like to share, or know someone that does please send an email to [email protected] with an overview of the concept. If you’re not a writer but want to share your thoughts on the concept, I’d love to hear that too.

Finally, to end with a shameless plug: please make sure to subscribe and share!

Start Preparing for 2016 NOW: Gain Momentum Heading Into Next Year

It’s now December 2015 (wow that’s crazy to think about!) and we have one month left in the year. While New Year Resolutions typically get all the rage around this time, this year I’ve been trying something much different so I can hit 2016 with serious momentum. Why wait to get started on getting better at a mostly arbitrary point of time?

Personally, it’s the beginning of week 7 of sticking to a legit workout/training regime. I’ve been working on improving my Spanish almost daily in the same amount of time as well. And, I just relaunched my new website and blog. Sure I could’ve waited until January 1 to begin, but why when now is the perfect time to begin getting better (or even better: yesterday).

Of course that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the holidays and indulge in the parties, family time, and especially great food and drinks. However, you should simultaneously begin planning for next year as well, both personally and professionally (this post will stick to the “professionally” part). Otherwise January 1^st is going to smack you in the face with the inevitable onset of panic and regret.

Here is my list of the top 5 things to consider, plan for, and think about implementing in your business, etc. for next year. Of course there are about a million others, but for brevity’s sake (if you’re into the whole brevity thing) I’ll keep it short so you can get back to your holiday shenanigans.

Rethink Money.

This may seem obvious but cash, checks, and credit cards aren’t the only way to pay for things, nor to get paid for the products and services your business provides. Electronic currency is extremely convenient and safe. For example, it’s quite common that I get paid for a project via PayPal (whether via their PayPal account or their credit card), and subsequently pay a company expense via my PayPal debit card or by transferring immediately afterwards. All this without having to deal with a bank in the middle or crazy credit card transaction fees.

There are also a ton of benefits in using Venmo, Square, Apple Pay, etc. Lastly, while it may take a little more time to yet to go mainstream, I’d also be thinking about how to implement BitCoin into your business as well.

CRM & Marketing Automation

I’ve been preaching this one for years now, yet people still keep pushing it off because of the perception of extremely high costs both monetarily and in resource allocation. Sure a well implemented and administered CRM and Marketing Automation program remains a relatively expensive investment. But the cost of not utilizing these tools is even greater, and the ROI more than makes up for it.

While you may not want to admit it, your competitors most likely have a program either operational or at least in the works. Soon just having one isn’t going to be enough to remain competitive either, as economies of scale will be reached and adjustments will be made. There are approaches and methods to get a program implemented in a cost effective manner, and I’d love to be your resource to show you how.

Content Marketing: Video in Particular

Content marketing includes your blog, social media posts, ebooks, how-to guides, white papers, podcasts, etc. (You do have a content marketing strategy, right?) All of these will remain extremely valuable in 2016 of course and leveraging them is still a great marketing strategy, however the one that will continue to trump them all is video. Again, this isn’t anything new, however the impact of video is going to continue growing even more. Whether you begin leveraging 6 second Vine clips, hour long webinars, or 20 minute “fireside chat” videos like my boy Gary V, you really need to think of creative ways to incorporate videos into your 2016 strategy.

I’ll admit this hasn’t been a strong suit of mine in the past either, which is why I made it my mission to partner up with an excellent team to not only deliver video services to my clients, but for my personal/WIMS, Inc. 2016 video content strategy as well.

Online: Improve Mobile

You most likely already have a website, and maybe you’ve even incorporated some SEO to the back end as well. You’re absolutely set now right? Not quite. The numbers showing how many people are now solely viewing website content on their mobile devices is staggering. Fortunately, most website publishing and template companies like WordPress and Wix come with complementary mobile optimization capabilities. But if you created your website a long time ago, or if you haven’t tested your mobile site recently there may still be some issues. It’s well worth getting this right now.

Extending this further is the still growing world of mobile apps. I won’t say that you absolutely need to create an app right now for your business to survive, but if you can identify potential value in having one then it’s at least worth exploring. Costs to create them have been significantly reduced due to economies of scale and improved technique. There’s even a free tool called Yapp that allows you to build a bare-bones version of an app, and it’s definitely worth taking a look.

Operations: Reduce Costs; Increase Productivity & Sales

You may think you’re already operating on a bare bones budget, and perhaps you are. But there are always areas to cut back on, especially for mid-large professional services firms. The biggest area is human resources, and by extension the overhead to support it. You may love having an in-house marketing department and beautiful office space for vanity purposes. In reality though, rather than allocating such extensive resources that aren’t very efficient you could pay for work output and space as needed, rather than 24/7 in the form of salaries, benefits and a huge office location. You can dramatically reduce costs while improving efficiency and productivity, which in turn will increase revenue and profit margins. There obviously isn’t one perfect way to go about this but it certainly worth thinking about objectively.

Hopefully you’ll find at least one or two, if not all of these insights valuable as you begin winding down the year and preparing for next year. If nothing else I hope they at least get you thinking and the wheels turning. The main thing I want to reiterate is to not forget your goals and lose focus for an entire month. There are 31 days left to do great work, crush some of your lingering goals, and hit 2016 with serious momentum. I guarantee you won’t wake up on January 1^st regretting that you did.

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The New WIMS Inc: Putting In-House Marketing Departments on Notice

Unlike my typical blog posts, this one is certainly going to piss people off, including current and former colleagues, friends, clients, and prospects. While I usually try to avoid that, I can’t any longer as some things just need to be said. Change can be a scary and complicated thing, but there’s just a better way to do business and it’s nothing personal.

Now, the trend of outsourcing is far from a new or innovative concept. Yet companies like professional services firms continue to allocate extremely high budgets of $500,000-$1,000,000 and often much more to their in-house marketing departments. They do this despite the fact that they could spend a fraction of the cost while simultaneously getting significantly better service and results.

Regardless if you prefer to keep your team in house or to use a consulting firm, one thing is constant in either case, you need to DEMAND to see ROI. There are some advantages to keeping the team in-house I’ll admit that, but you should at least be able to make an apples to apples comparison between both approaches.

The way to do that is ROI, the objective metric that evens out all playing fields. I’ve seen many CMO’s apply the “smoke and mirrors” strategy year after year. They avoid accountability by overlooking past failures while waving the amazing, shiny new “marketing strategy” that they’re going to deploy this year. This is often just the old strategy repackaged to appear new however. CEO’s looking to avoid conflict accept it as a cost of doing business and then proceed to kick the can further down the road.

Now while there are plenty of exceptions, as there always are when dealing with people, there’s something I’ve often observed in the corporate world, I call it the “comfort theory.” Essentially, when you’re paying someone a predictable and stable salary it inherently allows most people to start cutting corners and reducing the quality of their work because they can get away with it. Not only is there a reduced quality of work, but why subsidize employee’s internet browsing time and social media addiction when you can just pay for the work that’s actually done. Besides, I doubt they’re going to give you a cut of their fantasy football winnings despite squandering hours a week of your time managing their team.

Don’t just take my word for it, conduct your own experiment and see for yourself. The next time you’re in a meeting with your marketing department demand more out of them or suggest changes, and watch the level of pushback, reluctance, and resistance you get. On the contrary call a consultant about a new project idea and watch them passionately geek out about all the possibilities.

I understand the comfort of familiarity and the status quo believe me, but is it really worth spending $50,000-100,000 on a salary for someone to just write an occasional blog post or article, blankly stare at a twitter feed, or create an occasional ad. You can get the same result or better for a tenth of the cost in many cases.

As another experiment, this Friday afternoon say around 3pm, take a walk around your building and see how empty the offices and cubicles are. The mentality of being an employee and working for your boss vs. being a client and working for your business partner can’t be compared. Working with independent contractors that need your business takes the quality of work to another level. They are mini-CEOs trying to better their lives, they’re not just punching a clock while desperately waiting to leave the office early on Friday afternoon. They’re the ones working at midnight on a Saturday because they’re hungry and ambitious.

You create the best work when you absolutely need to, like when writing a paper the night before it’s due. There’s something about having your life depending on it that generates this hyper-focus of productivity. Imagine having a team of people producing this kind of work every day because that’s how they approach their live, very deliberately.

Typical counter-arguments for in-house departments include things like, “oh but we know the brand so well,” or “what if someone urgently needs a brochure for a sales call?” It may not be a popular sentiment, but people are easily replaceable. We work with various brand guidelines all the time and pick them up very quickly. Also, I’ve seen countless desks with stacks of brochures piled high collecting dust, as much as marketers may try to convince you otherwise, your beautiful brochure is not what’s going to win you new business, relationships are.

Perhaps this post is like that old “Magician’s Greatest Secrets Revealed” show where the masked magician showed you how the tricks were really done and made a lot of magicians extremely angry. If you’re feeling that way right now I hope you take this opportunity to step your game up and prove me wrong.

Changing a decades long mindset of keeping marketing teams in-house is going to require evolution and a rebuilding process, but there’s definitely hope. It will force people to BE BETTER. Think about the Golden State Warriors a few years ago. They were very bad, but they had some decent and promising players, they stuck to their long-term plan to build their team, make a few strategic moves and then a few years later they won a championship. The metaphor is very relative in business as well.

For the sake of full transparency, this long-winded blog post has the additional goal of announcing the new WIMS, Inc. We now offer a complete suite of marketing, CRM, and business development services that are provided for literally a fraction of the total cost you’re paying for your entire marketing department. By leveraging strategic partnerships and a deep team of independent contractors we are now able to offer literally any marketing service, and to any size firm in any industry. If you’re interested in video, we can develop the content, build an entire distribution network, and even create your own online channel. If audio is your thing, we can help with the creation, publishing, and promotion of your own radio show and/or podcast. If you need a website, an ad campaign, online content creation, or social media network, whatever it is you’re looking for, we can help facilitate.

Give us a call or send us an email and we’ll be happy to provide you with a FREE consultation to see if our companies would be a good fit to work together. Part of building strong long-term relationships includes occasionally offering some free advice, which we do happily. What do you have to lose by at least evaluating whether it’s worth pursuing a potential 6-figure a year cost reduction in your marketing expenses?

Cut Your Teeth

Little did I know when I first heard this rather graphic and cringe-worthy phrase how literal it could be. If you haven’t heard it before, this will explain it for you.

But first to quickly digress, after receiving such positive and encouraging feedback from my post last week (if you haven’t read it yet, you can check it out here) I figured why not tell another embarrassing and self-depreciating yet important lesson learned story. That being said, if you want more of these types of posts please let me know, and on the contrary if you’d rather me go back to providing more practical marketing/entrepreneurial advice I can accommodate that as well, regardless I’d love to hear your thoughts! Now back to the story.

A couple months ago on a Friday evening, I had just arrived to Miami for a business trip. I had driven about 11 hours straight on limited sleep as it is after a few late nights working. Needless to say, I was extremely relieved to arrive at my best friend’s place where I was staying that first night and immediately poured a glass of wine after walking through the door. I didn’t even make it through the first glass before getting up to walk to the bathroom. But on the way, disaster struck!

Somehow out of nowhere I fainted, falling face first into his granite sink and literally cut my tooth in half, while chipping several others, and bit through my lip. To add insult to injury my limp body subsequently collapsed into a kitty litter box, which thankfully at least had recently been cleaned out. I came to a few minutes later laying in the litter box, and lots of blood all over me. For full disclosure’s sake, the picture above is not of me, my accident looked much worse.

Luckily my friend and his girlfriend were there to help clean me up, and get me back to the couch where I promptly received 1950’s era medical treatment, i.e. a towel, a bag of ice, and aspirin. Of course I didn’t have health insurance at the time (nor dental) so I essentially had to just suck it up. That’s one of the trade-offs you have to sometimes make when going from a corporate gig to becoming an entrepreneur.

I spent the rest of the weekend sleeping, recovering, and mulling over whether or not to just head home with my tail between my legs and finish recovering with my fiancé in the comforts of my own home. Considering I can be a little vain, and didn’t want people to see me looking like that, I came very close to making that decision. Not to mention I had a feeling my reputation as a partier would generally be considered the culprit for my accident, and I wanted to avoid the condescending, “uh huh, sure that’s how it happened…” comments that would likely ensue.

Obviously, I didn’t make what in hindsight would’ve been a very poor decision or I wouldn’t be telling you this story now. Come Monday morning I decided that despite how much pain I was in, and how bad my face looked, I needed to rally and make the best of the trip.

As an entrepreneur you don’t have the luxury of taking a paid sick day. I knew I desperately needed to close business while I was there so I mustered all the courage I could, bought a BIG bottle of ibuprofen, and got to work.

An hour after making this decision I got a call about an opportunity I hadn’t even anticipated with a potential dream client. Since I was still in town I was able to make some moves, and ended up landing it! That client then led to another big opportunity with another client in Miami as well. Not to mention I was still able to attend the HYPE Awards with an interesting yet lisp-y story to tell.

Not only does being an entrepreneur, or any professional for that matter, require skill, intelligence, and hard work, but it also requires a little grit and relentless determination as well. The easier and comfortable decision is always to give up and call it a day, but that’s not what’s going to make you successful. Sometimes you have to learn by figuratively cutting your teeth, and sometimes it takes literally cutting them to learn what you’re capable of.