Librarian of Fortune

What lessons can we learn from the TSA?

I just read a great article in the Wall Street Journal, by the former head of TSA, titled Why Airport Security Is Broken—And How to Fix It. His conclusion is that "To be effective, airport security needs to embrace flexibility and risk management—principles that it is difficult for both the bureaucracy and the public to accept."

Those principles - flexibility and risk management - are what enable organizations to adjust to changing situations, opportunities and threats. Instead, TSA focuses on "Easter egg hunts" for banned items. Are you encouraging your employees to follow rules or to take the risk of failing while evaluating risk and innovating in response to the current environment?

Ten Top Tips for Searching LinkedIn

Want to pick up some tips on searching LinkedIn more effectively? I just posted the first of a series, MEB's 123s -- 20- to 30-minute webinars focusing on practical advice to info pros and knowledge workers. The first webinar, Ten Top Tips for Searching LinkedIn, is available at batesinfo.com/meb123 or on YouTube.

More stats from info-entrepreneur survey

An aspiring info-entrepreneur contacted me recently to ask for some additional analysis from my 2011 Info-Entrepreneur Report: insights on information businesses (BatesInfo.com/2011survey). While the report included some information about people who have part-time businesses, she wanted to know more about owners of part-time businesses who have a net income (i.e., profit) of at least $20,000 in 2011.

Here’s what I learned about that group:

• They averaged 20 hours/week on their business
• Of those who gave their age, 1 was 30-39, 4 were 40-49, 6 were 50-59 and 3 were 60-69
• Two-thirds have MLS degrees
• They had an average of 20 years of professional experience before they started their business

 She also asked about the income for info-entrepreneurs with under 10 years of prior professional experience. I compared the income of full-time businesses whose owners had 10 or more years of prior experience with those whose owners had under 10 years of prior experience.

I found it interesting that those with under 10 years of prior professional experience were more both more likely than their more experienced colleagues to be earning under $20,000 as well as earning $60,000 or more. This certainly goes against the belief that people in the first half of their career should not consider starting a business! My hunch is that the key to profitability isn't in the number of years you have spent doing whatever you did before, but rather whether you spent that time keeping on top of your profession, building your network, and learning to take a strategic perspective.

What are your thoughts about these numbers?

When conversations go bad... was there informational inequality?

One of the many insights I have gotten from my partner, and one that has helped keep my relationships with people solid, is to take 100% responsibility for any conversation. Not 50% and not 150%.

That sounds strange to most people; shouldn't each person have 50% responsibility? Actually, that means that no one is entirely responsible for their own participation. Instead, I take 100% responsibility for what I say, in whatever manner I want to say it, and I am entirely responsible for however I feel - no one can "make" me feel happy, scared, angry or sad.

Likewise, I can't take any responsibility for the other person's reactions. I have no idea what triggers her, or what her mood is right now, or whether she has 10 other things on her mind. It's her job to show up 100% on her end. If that means saying that she doesn't have time now, or that she feels angry, then it's her job to speak up.

Taking that into account, I have become more aware of how to communicate in ways that make it easy for others to take in what I say. That doesn't mean taking responsibility for the other person's reaction. Rather, I have started considering whether there is any "informational inequality" between us. I might have a background in whatever we are talking about, and the other person may not, for example. In that case, I can cut to the chase and blurt out "We really need to do it this way. Trust me on this." And I will probably get some resistance. Fair enough; that would be my first reaction.

Alternatively, I could say "You know, I did a survey about that last year. One of the things I learned was {such-and-such}. And I realized that my initial assumptions about {whatever the other person probably thinks} didn't reflect reality. So that led me to thinking that we probably need to do ..."

The difference is that I paused to consider what the other person might not know, and to ensure that we both know the same things. If it turns out that we disagree about the underlying assumptions, at least we have identified the problem without anyone sounding like a playground bully.

When you I hear yourmyself thinking "I am surrounded by people who have no clue what they're talking about", I take a moment and think about what specifically I know that others may not. What are their underlying assumptions? Do I share those assumptions?

Yes, my inner Eldest-Child/Know-It-All isn't happy, but I find that a lot more gets done through the less-direct approach.

Learning About a Market

Are you considering starting your own professional services business? Do you already have a business but want to expand into a new area? If so, how are you deciding whether to go into a particular area of business? Gut instinct? Years of experience?

I encourage new business owners, and anyone who is considering expanding into a new area, to conduct some interviews with people already in the field to test their assumptions about what’s involved in starting their practice, especially during the first year or two. Whether you are a business analyst, a life coach or a grant writer, there are certain questions that will help you figure out if this is an area in which you will thrive.  Be sure to talk with people who are already successful in their field, not others who are also in the beginning stages of their business;  the point is to learn from those whose choices have kept them successful.

What to ask the experts:

• What was the biggest challenge during your first year in business?
• How did you get each of your first five clients? How did they learn about you?
• What do you think is the biggest challenge right now in your field?
• What piece of advice would have been most helpful during your first year?

And if you really want a reality check,

• What would it take for me to make $X {your salary/income goal} after a year?

You may not like the answers; my coaching clients sometimes tell me how surprised they were after interviewing several long-time entrepreneurs, and learning what challenges and hurdles new entrants into the field face. Well worth the time invested in making the calls!

Is there planned obsolescence for information?

I attended a talk last night by John de Graaf Dave Wann, co-author of Affluenza, hosted by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SLA. He's a tendentious speaker; I don't like getting an hour of politics, even when I agree with the point of view. So I amused myself by looking for ways to relate his screed about over-consumption to the information industry. Yes, I'm an info-nerd.

One of Wann's topics was planned obsolescence. Having spent way too much time dealing with Intuit and its customer-hostile upgrade practices regarding QuickBooks, I couldn't agree more. But then I started wondering whether there was such a thing as planned information obsolescence. Are there instances where information is designed or presented in such a way that it has an artificially limited life span? By the end of Wann's talk, I'd thought of several.

• When data is delivered in a physical medium such as a DVD, it requires the continuing availability of equipment and software that can read data in that medium. The digital photos I took 10 years ago are still on Iomega zip drives, and I have neither the hardware nor software to read the disks.
• Business software is often complex enough to require some level of customer service and maintenance. Most software companies discontinue support for their products after a certain period of time, requiring customers to pay for extended service or newer versions of the software.
• Textbooks are notorious for being frequently updated, and consequently repaginated, requiring students to buy new editions rather than used copies.
• E-content subscriptions, in which the archive is only available as long as the account is active, turn subscriptions into rentals. 

Some of these issues can be circumvented by relying on open source software and open access publications. Yes, I now store all my digital photos in the cloud, and I download all the software I buy.

But it will take a radical change in the market to eliminate the financial incentive of information providers, in all their forms, to build obsolescence into their products. As with iDevices with their virtually unreplaceable batteries, sometimes we just hold our nose and, well, consume.

 

An Introvert's Guide to Networking

Check out this Harvard Business Review blog post from Lisa Petrilli, author of The Introvert's Guide to Success in Business and Leadership, reminding us introverts that we can harness that energy and manage to network, darn it.

Key points:

• I learned to appreciate my introversion rather than repudiate it.
• I stopped being afraid to be the one to reach out.
• I learned to prioritize time to re-energize.

As a world-class introvert, I appreciated her perspective. And if this interests you, check out Marcy Phelps' blog, Power Networking For Introverts.

 

 

Another take on the elevator speech

Over in the LIS Career Options group in LinkedIn, nurtured and managed by Kim Dority, a discussion started recently about the dreaded elevator speech. As I was thinking about what has worked for me, I realized that 90% of the "message" in a successful elevator speech isn't in the pitch. So, here's my approach.

I want to have a conversation with the other person, not do a pitch. So instead of declaring who I am or what I do, I just send a signal that this will be a fun conversation and that I absolutely love what I do. As a died-in-the-wool, card-carrying introvert, I've found this to be a really comfortable way of having this conversation.

Here's an example, with my {editorial asides}:

Networker: So, Mary Ellen, what do you do?

Me: I have the most fun job in the world! I get paid to make my clients really really smart. I love it! {end of talking. Now I shut up.}

Networker: Really? How do you do that?

{VICTORY! My goal was to intrigue the other person enough for them to ask me to tell them about what I do. That way, they'll actually listen to it.}

Me: Oh, every client is different, which is what I love so much about my business. So, let's see, here's an example.

And here I tell a three-sentence story, tweaked to whoever I'm talking with, that describes a client's situation, what I gave the client, and what the client was able to do afterward. I don't ever talk about the details - I just talk about the outcome, which is all that most people care about anyway. And this proves that my focus is on the client, not on me me me.

When the only conversational fodder I offer is about the value that my client gets, then that's what the conversation gets focused on. I don't think it's particularly interesting or revelant to my client, in most cases, what specific steps I take or databases I search. The value I offer is in what I do with the stuff and what the client's end result is, so that's all I talk about.

What's your elevator speech? How do you get a fun conversation going?

New blog - MEBaddsValue.com

I just launched a new blog, MEBaddsValue.com, focused on how info pros can add value to their client projects. Come on over and check it out. Your comments and ideas are welcome, and guest-bloggers are invited to contribute.

Info-entrepreneur survey report is out!

Every few years, I conduct a survey of people who own their own information businesses, also known as info-entrepreneurs or independent info pros. I just finished my 2011 survey and it's available at BatesInfo.com/2011survey. Highlights:

• 40% of long-time info-business owners have salaries of $60K+
• 70% of info-business owners in their first 3 years make under $20K.
• Two thirds of part-time info-businesses make under $20K.

I also asked the respondents what words of advice they had for new info-entrepreneurs. Here's a word cloud of their responses:

I also asked what would help their business the most; here's the word cloud.

 

These reflect what I see -- new info-entrepreneurs have to see themselves as a business and focus on clients, and most info-entrepreneurs know they need to focus on marketing and getting new clients.