Chris,
How does take a lot of ’scratching around.’ For me, that’s one of the exciting parts of being in business – I get to come up with concepts, put them into action and then test how well they work. Do this again and again and you’ll learn what works for your specific business.

I know what you mean on being considered a consultant. I don’t like the term either. And I certainly don’t give my clients busy work to justify my fees. Rather I think of myself as an advisor. I engross myself in each client’s business, help them create a track for success and then monitor their progress. The whole time they’re with me, since I’ve learned how their business operates, I can guide and advise their choices, actions and solutions and help them decode what’s working, what’s not and why.

A little different than a consultant. Love to compare notes on how each of us work sometime.

Paula,
I agree. Once you’re clear on what you’re doing and who you’re doing it for, it gets down to strategy, tasks, action and tracking.

So why do you think it is that so many small business owners focus on tasks so much and strategy and tracking so little?

Peggie,
It is important. Just be sure you’re asking how at the right stage of your business’ development. You want to ask how after you have a clarity in your offer, your market and a solid strategy for how the two meet. Then ask how and see what happens. So many small business owners are asking how before they ever get to what or who.

In reading all these comments I’m laughing at myself, because all my life I’ve been asking “HOW” and am trying to learn that the idea and then the implementation is key. Meaning, if I don’t know all the rules, nuances and ways at the very beginning of my endeavor, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t start. It means that I need to learn the how as I go.

Now I’m also realizing that documenting my “how” is important for serving others that may come along and need that information.

Thanks for the great dialogue!

The majority of ‘workers’ are relegated to the ‘doing’ and thus want to ask ‘doing’ questions. True design will define that via the ‘what’ and ‘why’…because the ‘do’s should be optimized to those answers.

We’re struggling not with the ‘do’ gap, but with the working together to transition to the ‘how’. It’s not a ‘feakin’ recipe…anyone in Colorado can tell you how horrible following a recipe is (I had to give up making peanut brittle the whole time I lived there).

Everything has a context and we’re too much in denial about it all.

The reason I correct people when they call me a consultant is that most consultants that I’ve observed try hard to come up with projects that keep them busy for months and months. My method is different: I like for someone to pay me once, and for me to give them everything I think they could possibly use to solve their problems, and then let them do it.

Give a man a fish, and he’ll have smelly hands. Teach him how to fish, and he’ll learn how to make excuses. : )

Yiwu,
True. And a real business needs real marketing. They’re just different things.

baby swings,
Sure…what did you get most from the post?

Baby Swings,
There’s a number of strategies you can use.

When I started blogging, I first got people interested in my site by using a couple of the blog networks – like MyBlogLog and StumbleUpon. That drew readers to my site and my content kept them.

The other thing I did was use my site as a source for interesting conversation. Not just comments, but asking questions and responding to comments as though we were sitting around a coffee shop.

Lastly, link out. The more links I’d put in a post, the more bloggers I’d have visit the post. And if the content was helpful, I’d get people writing about it and linking back to me.

There’s three ways. There are many others. Best to decide what you want from your site/business and create a strategy that best fits your needs and meets your audience.

Do you have any sources on creating a blog content strategy?

Michael,
The difficulty to answer is what makes it a secret.

Jonathan,
But why do you think it’s left out so often?

appel,
You do, but do you share it with your audience? Do you show your clients? Do you produce products that display it?

Sleep,
Sure. But there’s no harm in making mistakes. Don’t you have to try something to learn something?

James,
Most of the information you’ll find does this – it gives you a taste and make promises, but never shows you how to reach what you want. Why do you think that is?

Finance,
What methods do you want to utilize to make money? There’s lots of ways.