Instigator Blog

Every so often Darren Rowse at ProBlogger runs a group writing project. Lately, he’s been getting some very nice prizes donated from people.

This week’s group writing project is all about “how to” blog posts — posts that provide instructions, advice and step-by-step help. The posts can be on any topic, so it’s flexible enough for everyone to participate. “How to” posts are generally quite popular anyway, so it makes perfect sense for Darren to take this approach.

I like the “how to” format…it’s often quick, easy to get to the point and straightforward for readers.

With that said, I’m declaring this How To Week at Instigator Blog. Every post from this point forward will be a “how to” post.

I’ll submit the first one to Darren’s group writing project. I hope you enjoy the rest of the week! And I would encourage you to check out the ProBlogger Group Writing Project…

The Great Big Small Business Show is a weekly podcast on small business. It’s done by a group of contributors, each recording a 3-5 minute segment on a specific topic (although there’s some deviation from time-to-time.) The format is great — you get a 20+ minute show chock full of small snippets of “to-the-point” info.

This week’s episode is all about getting organized.

There’s some great contributions this week, with lots of ideas on how to get organized. Of course, don’t spend so much time getting organized that you forget to do the actual work!

This week’s contributors include:

• Ted Demopoulos
• Becky McCray
• Chris Brogan
• Heidi Miller
• Steve Rucinski
• Colleen Wainwright

I encourage you to check out each contributors’ website/blog — they’re all excellent resources for small business owners and entrepreneurs, with a range of topics including marketing, public relations, operations, management, technology, etc.

(PS. I contributed too! It’s always a blast!)

I hope you enjoy this this week’s episode of The Great Big Small Business Show and please continue to send us your feedback.

I know Technorati indexes millions of blogs. I know they’re very busy and I’ve even heard that they’re having major technical problems … which no doubt leads to many sleepless nights for them.

Fair enough, but that doesn’t help me.

When I moved over my business-related content from IGotNewsForYou I claimed this new blog immediately.

Immediately, something looked wrong. It claimed “http://instigatorblog.com” without the “www”. I actually deleted the claim and tried again. No luck. All of my other blogs show in Technorati with the “www” — they’re all hosted in the same place, and were setup the same way.

The reason I thought this might be a problem is because Technorati wasn’t picking up any updates from me. I’m pinging them too, so that’s not the problem.

Click the Technorati URL to see what it’s showing about Instigator Blog. You’ll see the lack of “www” and the fact that the rank isn’t updating.

It claims I haven’t updated in over 2 weeks; but I post daily. It shows links coming to the blog but it’s not counting them. As such my rank stays in the millions…pretty dismal.

Now, I’m not obsessed with my Technorati rank, far from it, but it is frustrating when something doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to.

I emailed Technorati a couple weeks ago explaining the problem. I received no response. I’ve just sent another email, and I expect I’ll get the same response. None whatsoever.

I’m just a speck of a blog in the enormous blogosphere, true, but I’m the guy that powers Technorati. I’m the guy that promotes it, uses it, and generally makes the blogosphere go round. Without the little guys like us, Technorati would show you a few top blogs and nothing else; which in my mind isn’t particularly interesting.

So Technorati … are you there? Are you listening? Or have you abandoned me?

This is too good a resource not to link to.

Wendy Piersall runs the site eMoms at Home. It’s a great site/blog for stay-at-home entrepreneur moms, but there’s plenty for those of us who don’t fit that bill. Her comparison guide on blogging platforms is one such example.

Take a look here.

Wendy’s reviewed 7 blogging platforms, focusing on features/value for business bloggers. She has a number of criteria that are critical for any decision making on blogging platform, including cost, blog traffic stat management, categories, using your own domain name, static page creation, and more.

If you’re thinking about blogging or switching blogging platforms take a look at her comparison table — it’s a good start.

[tags]wendy piersall, emoms at home, blogging, blogging platforms, blogging software, blogs[/tags]

In a moment of stunning revelation, Jerry Seinfeld says in an episode to Elaine, “Sex to save the friendship. If we have to, we have to!”

Somehow this pops into my mind when I think about mission statements and tasks we don’t want to do. I’m clearly deprived in a number of areas in my life, right? For one, why am I thinking about mission statements so much, and secondly, how does that have anything to do with Seinfeld and having sex with friends?

People look at mission statements as something grandiose. Something “big” … with big goals and bigger rewards. Here’s a sample of Walt Disney’s mission statement and subsequent value statements:

“To make people happy.”

• No cynicism
• Nurturing and promulgation of “wholesome American values”
• Creativity, dreams and imagination
• Fanatical attention to consistency and detail
• Preservation and control of the Disney “magic”

Mission statements are grandiose. They’re meant to infuse an organization with long-term vision and set the tone for all company goals, accomplishments and efforts. For small business owners and entrepreneurs that might feel like a lot to chew on. Most small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t have the “luxury” for strategic planning, vision planning and long-term goal setting.

But as we’ve seen, writing a mission statement and planning longer-term shouldn’t be considered a luxury.

Still, some small business owners and entrepreneurs might be skeptical. Fair enough. But here’s the bonus benefit to having a mission statement:

A mission statement can help you power through tasks you don’t want to do

Like Jerry’s revelation about sex and friendship with Elaine, small business owners and entrepreneurs need to have an “aha” moment when it comes to mission statements and tasks they don’t want to do.

We all deal with work we don’t want to do; whether it’s tedious tasks, complicated work that we’re putting off, sales (when we’re not sales people), marketing (when we’re not marketing people), dealing with frustrating vendors, etc.

In fact, if you’re a small business owner or just starting out you’re probably responsible for more of these types of tasks than the ones you really want to be doing. And getting this work done is tough. It can be de-motivating, frustrating and put your entire business and purpose into question.

Not if you have a mission statement.

The mission statement is your safety net against letting work that you don’t want to do not get done. It’s there to remind you of why you got into business, what your purpose is and how you wanted to accomplish it. It’s there to bolster your motivation and spirits when the going gets tough, boring or just plain irritating.

Without a mission statement it becomes that much easier to avoid work and situations you don’t want to deal with. There’s less of a foundation off which you can build.

So whether you believe in the “ra ra ra” of mission statements or not, recognize the value when it comes to the everyday, nitty gritty of running a business and you’ll be more successful.

Good luck!

Photo by flippin*sweet on Flickr.