This is a guest post by Sarah Worsham, CEO & Web Strategist at Sazbean Consulting and blogging at Sazbean.com. Sarah is passionate about helping companies reach their business goals by using the web effectively. Sarah provides guidance through Internet Marketing, Strategy & Business consulting.

One of the things we talk about in leadership training at U of M is change – being in control of it and turning negatives into positives (which can often be easier said than done).  For an interesting exercise, try plotting a timeline of your life (or your business’ life) vs. your level of happiness.  For many people, particularly unhappy periods are following by very happy ones.  Sometimes life deals us a losing hand, but that may lead us to make changes we wouldn’t have otherwise made – leading to being in a better place for the long run.

It’s not necesary to wait for fate to force you into a situation where you have to change.  If you’re aware of negative aspects of your life or business, then you can take steps to turn towards the positive – by changing course.  Take a few minutes to think about whether there’s anything you wish you could change – then take a few more and brainstorm ways to change them.  You might be surprised that things you were just living with actually have fairly easy solutions.

What can you change?

Do you take every opportunity to be unique and different? Do you jump at the chance to do something fun, new or just out of the ordinary? Are you memorable?

Too often small business people and salespeople try to be just like everyone else. The problem with that is then everyone remembers you just like everyone else, or else they forget. Be unique, be different, have some fun, and dare to be different.

If you happen to be at an event where you can pop in the photo booth and have some fun (tastefully), please do it!

Thanks to Julie Hall of Jewel Occasions for asking us to speak to the ABC (American Bridal Consultants Group) Waldenwoods for hosting the event, and Kim Gottschalk from Shutterbooth for bringing the opportunity to capture the moment.

Where do your moments bring you? How are you memorable?

We find our selves surrounded by instigators at the InSights Group. We’ve got a Tribe of people who like to be creative, interesting, and forward focused.

Does the world need both leaders and followers, or does the world need leaders who will follow and followers who will lead?

This is a guest post by Sarah Worsham, CEO & Web Strategist at Sazbean Consulting and blogging at Sazbean.com. Sarah is passionate about helping companies reach their business goals by using the web effectively. Sarah provides guidance through Internet Marketing, Strategy & Business consulting.

As business professionals sometimes we get caught up in blogging, twittering, facebooking and networking.  It seems like we’re putting hours and hours into blogging and networking.  We’ll ask for feedback at the end of blog posts, but no one usually replies.  We’ll ask questions on Twitter but don’t get many responses.  Is anyone listening?

The lack of replies may seem disheartening, but often times people will just read and monitor what you say but won’t take the time to actually engage in a conversation.  According to Forrester Research, consumers can be classified into different levels of participation (the supporting book, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, is well worth the read).  Depending on the industry, country, age group and gender, up to 80% of your readers may just be spectators – meaning they’ll only read what you have to say, but they’ll never post a reply.

So how do you tell if anyone is listening?  First, take a look at your statistics.  If you’re blogging, how many visitors and visits do you get per day? per month? (Hopefully you’re using a stats program like Google Analytics, which filters out visits from bots, which are just computers visiting, not real people).  How many people are subscribed to your RSS feed?  Your newsletter list?  For Twitter, how many followers do you have on Twitter?  How often are your tweets re-tweeted? Try using a url shortening service, such as bit.ly or hootsuite, to find out how many people click on the links you tweet.

Whatever numbers you’re looking at, take a look at the trends – are more people following and looking at what you write over time? Then you can be sure that people are listening.  While your marketing efforts are not complete, you’re at least on your way….

I just read an incredible post by Seth Godin. He refers to the out of bounds areas businesses define for themselves based on what the do, and what they could do.

I find this interesting in two aspects. First, as Seth talks about, if your focus is one product or service, will you give a second the time and attention it deserves.

The second aspect is that of focus. Too often small businesses and entrepreneurs try to be all things to all people. Is diversity always best, or should you focus on what you are really good at instead of growing a wider line.

The answer, I believe, lies somewhere in the middle. We should focus on what we do, and do it best. If our customers need further solutions, that we can provide, we need to add. It takes more effort to find new customers and clients, than it does to keep the ones we have. If we can add valuable solutions, why would they need to go anywhere else. Make sure to keep your boundaries, however. If you have to completely redefine yourself to help this customer, you need to know where to draw that line.

I don’t do headstands, I’ll leave that to those who do. Surround yourself with great people, and they can pick up those extras.

How are you working with your customers? Are you defining your limits, or are you adding headstands when you’d rather be sitting down?

(photo by Louise Starbird of Photoworks Studios)