How do you define success in your business? It’s a question I ask every client – and most of the prospects I ever speak with.

The interesting thing for me is how often the people I speak with don’t have a specific answer. Sure, we can come up with just about anything on the fly. Yet it’s not difficult to tell the difference between established, well-thought-through business goals and those that we sort of find when we need to talk about such things.

Having a way to measure the success of your business, however, is one of the most vital parts of running a business.

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As small business owners, we tend to make things so much more complex than they need to be.

Think about it. If you run a small business, where do you usually put the majority of your focus? Marketing? generating revenue? Your work with you clients? Things like this?

So often the question you have about your small business deal with how or what, right? You know – how do I generate more revenue or what do I need to do to get more from my marketing? Aren’t these the questions you most often find yourself asking?

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Before he passed, my grandfather used to teach me many things – about sports, about nature, about gardening, and about life. He was a very learned man who at one point read every volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover just to learn.

I remember much from our conversations – though truthfully, he was often doing most of the talking as I’d just try to absorb what he was teaching me.

One of the things he said again and again is, “what you focus on expands.” He said it often, in many different ways. But the core message was always the same – whatever you think is – is.

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Ever lose your client calendar? Well, neither had I…until Friday.

By some odd combination of keystrokes, I deleted my client calendar within Apple’s iCal.

iCal is neat in that I can have multiple calendars that can service different puposes. I have different calendars for family, home, personal appointments, holidays, birthdays, etc…and, of course, my work calendar where I keep detailed track of all my client work.

But not any more. The client calendar is gone. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking…just select ‘undo.’ Tried it, it was grayed out. Next I spent two hours on the phone with Apple trying to get the calendar back – only to be told that once it’s deleted it’s deleted. Not in Trash. Not in cache. Gone. This I found odd that the file wouldn’t end up in Trash or that it couldn’t be rebuilt.

Funny thing, I wasn’t asked to confirm if I wanted it deleted. It just got wiped away. And I still have no idea what keys I hit that made it happen. Could this be rare? Do I feel safe using iCal for business anymore? Not sure yet.

Yes, there is a backup feature. But it’s manual and I’ve never bothered with it. That will change.

In the meantime, I’m looking for a new calendar program for the Mac. I do like iCal, but am thinking maybe it’s time for a change.

I’ve been running all my client work through iCal, Address Book and Merlin (project management software) because they all easily integrate. I do have Filemaker Pro and use it to store client passwords, etc. I’ve been thinking of moving my address book and calendar to it, but I’m not fond of the learning curve nor the time it’ll take to create the database layout I’ll want.

Any suggestions on other calendar systems for the Mac? And remember, back up your calendar.

I blog for a number of reasons. The primary reason, however, is to create interesting and engaging conversations with the hope that those conversations turn into long-lasting relationships. And, of course, some of those relationships will turn into business opportunities. But I’m not blogging first and foremost for business. I’m truly blogging for the conversation.

Just a couple of days ago I asked the question are you the whole or just part of the whole? That lead to a very interesting conversation around whether we look at ourselves as whole beings or beings made up of parts. I’ll let you read and add to the conversation, if you like.

So when I was considering Darren Rowse’s lastest Writing Project, I wanted to write something that tied into that conversation. Yeah, sure, I could write the standard, top 5 blogging tips list. But that’s boring, really.
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The goal of your website copy is to get your prospects to identify themselves in your business. You want to show them clearly that you understand their problems and can provide a unique and workable solution.

One way to do this is through testimonials and case studies. You know, something like this…

When Judy called me, her business was struggling, her website traffic was stalled and her newsletter list was all-but stagnant. I helped her see what she was doing wrong. I corrected those problems for her and now he business is thriving.

Sounds fine, right? My client needs to be rescued and I can save them from their peril.

I thought so too until I read Drew McClellan’s post Are We Playing the Wrong Role in Our Stories. Drew’s post changed my thoughts on how I approach case studies and testimonials. He suggests that when we tell out clients story we have the classic setup…

We have a hero, a problem/villain, a victim and a glorious solution.
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Last week I had the priviledge of speaking with blog consultant Mike Sansone of Converstations.com and BlogTalkRadio. Mike is one of the organizers of, and a speaker at, SOBCon07 this May in Chicago.

Mike and I talked for quite some time, covering many topics. There certainly were highlights I took away from our conversation.

But one comment Mike made to me stood out. At one point, when we were talking about how we found each other’s blogs, Mike said, “I saw your name come up constantly in blogs I read and comment on. I had to find out who this ‘Dawud Miracle’ was.” (note, not a direct quote)

This moment in our talk really stood out for me. Why? Because that’s exactly how I sign all my comments – Dawud Miracle.
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