It ain’t pretty – rather messy – but I am sure it is worth while…
You better love what you do and enjoy the ride.
Johanna
Business Going South… or Not. September 30, 2011
Back in September two years ago, right before leaving my full time job – with a vision but without a clear strategy in mind – I signed up for the following April Mighty Ventures workshop called “CEO Freedom Formula” with Christine Comaforde. By the time the event was about to happen it had changed name to “7 Figure Business Summit”. Not quite there yet – but working on it…
In the introduction Christine played a sequence from the Underpants Business presented by South Park Studios. (You can click and play).
You know – sometimes magic can happen – and most of the time, it is really good to have a plan. These were the top level 7 steps worked through during the weekend:
1. Motivation Why – Endgame – Condition of Fulfillment
2. Model Perfect Market – Product Path- Plan
3. MVPs Most Valuable People – Internal & External – Self Assessment/Recruitment
4. Money Capital Acquisition Strategy – Pitch – Timing – 5 Revenue Streams
5. Momentum Needle Movers – Tangeable Plan – Annual and 90 Days
6. Mentor Info + Implementation help = Transformation
7. FIGURE BUSINESS
The content shared was great and put together in a neat way, including quite a few real smart tips you could implement right away. What I also got out of it was the connection with high quality entrepreneurs that I met, including my mentor since that date – a “MVP” for sure. And right now I am gathering more… fingers crossed for the Herringbone software, and the quite exciting prospective clients we are hopefully starting to work with. (You current ones, you know you are awesome!)
Do you have a plan?
Business coming from south is a much sweeter deal. To success!
Johanna
Home, Sweet Home – Twilight Zone September 27, 2011
Back in San Francisco, back in business. It is a wonderful city to visit… if you do – be prepared to be drawn into an alternative way of living… it’s not like everywhere else. 😉
I am sure there is room for you to join, and kick butt in the play ground. I just had the first addition join the Herringbone team, Anna Sandgren – that is worth celebrating!
Let’s have fun,
Johanna
You are invited. March 20, 2011
As I was walking home from the cafe, thinking of the project I had been working on, my train of thoughts relating to lead generation and lead conversion online were suddenly interrupted by painted flowers on the path way.
Unexpectedly they appeared and once they caught my attention, I wanted to know where they lead. Such a great example of a physical hyperlink offline. They spoke to me: “Click here”. “Step here”. “Come, you’re invited”. The flowers led to the entrance with the “Welcome” doormat of the Irish bakery down the block where I live(d).
I am not too sure if the owner actually was aware of how brilliant it was. How would he know, unless people told him, or if he asked? That is the beauty of online hyperlinks and marketing: if you use a proper system you will be able to know exactly which link your customer clicked on before he or she entered your store, from where they came, what time, also in best case what nationality, age and gender, did you buy something, what did you buy and did you share it with or recommend it to others? That can give you knowledge to really drive your business.
Those flowers on the sidewalk by the Irish bakery have made me walk in there more than once. And I’m sure I was not the only one. Last Thursday, I went there twice. And walked away empty handed both times. Two deliveries and sold out within the hour! The flowers were washed away – I guess Saint Patrick’s Day was the contributing factor that day… and I am sure: had the flowers not been there, many clients had not noticed the place to the same extent.
When preparing for my temporary move to Sweden the same day, I came across an old Irish poem called Take Time in one of my books. I think it is well worth sharing:
Take time to WORK … It is the price of success.
Take time to THINK … It is the source of power.
Take time to LAUGH … It is the music of the soul.
Take time to READ … It is the foundation of wisdom.
Take time to DO CHARITY … It is the key to heaven.
Take time to PRAY … It is the greatest power on earth.
Take time to PLAY … It is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to be FRIENDLY … It is the road to happiness.
Take time to DREAM … It is like hitching your wagon to a star.
Take time to LOVE and BE LOVED … It is a God-given privilege.
You are invited.
Be loved,
Johanna
What’s holding you back? February 4, 2011
DON'T GIVE UP!
Coming back from NYC this time I had one new thing to unpack: a package of magnets with the look of iPhone apps. Hm. As I put them up on my fridge, I was thinking – I guess it’s official: I am an apple nurd! Or fan, to choose a more flattering word.
My fridge has a number of photos of family and friends, and a few motivating cards and statements etc. The one card that draw my attention, that got surrounded by iPhone apps, had the message “DON’T GIVE UP!”. They had one thing in common. This very card I got when visiting a friend in London, the summer before starting my business studies at Stockholm School of Economics. I was spending a whole day in the city – shopping – and came home with one thing: this card. Summer of 1995. Since then I have moved more times than number of years that have passed, and it is still with me…
So now it sits on my fridge, surrounded by a reminder of my original business idea of Herringbone. The software – and app – that will support and inspire stories of change and positive impact. Maybe, if the idea still holds, I will get there one day. But there are many roads to Rome.
The main software I use today to get voices heard for positive change is another one. Objective Marketer, the social media marketing campaign manager. The core reason why I am doing what I do is still the same. It’s not about marketing. It’s creating a positive impact by using social media to reach out with your story or offering, making yourself accessible and provide others with something valuable for them to gain from, because they choose to listen. And at the same time reach those who express that they want what you have to offer, because social media can help you find them. Real time. Globally. Or locally. And create a social media community landscape of likeminded where demand and supply meet. I think that is a beautiful way to serve the world.
Now – what is your story? What is your dream to create? And is something holding you back?
A friend of mine shared the video in this link from Harvard Business Publishing on this topic: What is holding yourself back? with special focus on leaders and entrepreneurs. Maybe that will give a kick in the right direction.
Enjoy,
Johanna
Diaper Dude November 18, 2010
Today is a special day. A special friend of mine is having his birthday. He is very smart, ambitious, intellectual, generous, considerate, respectful, loving and… humoristic. Maybe I should also say practical.
When there is a birthday, or an important occasion happy or sad, he always remembers to deliver an appropriate message. When his best friend had become dad for the first time, he sent a very generous gift: diaper supply for a full year. (That is the story at least what I heard). What he didn’t expect was that up to this date today, whenever a diaper needs to be changed, they think of him.
All marketing is good marketing… no?
I came to think of this story when I read the Toilet Paper Entrepreneurs blog post this morning: Short Entrepreneur Stories: Why Did You Decide To Start Your Business?
Who would imagine creating a movement out of diapers? Check #35 in the blog post or check this Diaper Dude Website out. 
I also like what the grandpa of Linda (#5) had said “You go through life planning for the future. Then, one day you realize you’re living your future and there’s no sense in planning any more”. What ever you are planning for – Diaper Dude business, or something else – how about making that shift today? Really. What are you waiting for? What if it was easy?
I have 3 more things to say relating to this:
1) What if you are the one wearing the diapers!? Meaning – you have gotten the gift of starting all over. Draw on your resources, do what you need to do, to find a way to identify and create what really moves you and have a good impact on your environment.
2) Special Opportunity: Spark Your Fire and Fuel the Dream – spend Dec 9-11 in Carlsbad and ignite a lifetime of entrepreneurship with Michael E. Gerber. If you want to attend this, and don’t know how – contact me, and let’s talk.
3) Happy Birthday original “Diaper Dude”, Mr Creator and Deal Maker Vikram Lamba! I know that you have sparked more than one movement so far!
Now to you dear reader: Which movement are you about to create? Or join? Or create value added to?
I am just saying… enjoy the process!
Johanna
Maybe I should add – starting from scratch and creating from nothing can be a huge challenge. I am not undermining that. However – the perspective of “What if it was easy?” can definitely open up to a whole lot of ideas, opportunities and short cuts to making it happen. Just give that perspective a try.
I met Yoda! October 1, 2010
Help you I can, yes. -- Yoda
I met Yoda! At which Starbucks is that possible, if not the one in Presidio Park by Lucas Film Institute.
The fact is – I actually had to ask which movie he was in. Yes I know – it’s chocking. I haven’t seen Star Wars. I tried to – a video night in Geneva, with a French voice over. We all fell asleep.
My partner in crime initially and predecessor in my current role when working with Michael E. Gerber on his social media, Cindy Lin, believes that Michael is like Yoda.
I wouldn’t know. But I know Michael, and I am about to meet him next week to participate in his Origination Dreaming Room Facilitator Certification Program. The program I am promoting. The program that provide a place where entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs come to discover how to make their dreams a reality.
One of his statements are: Create an impact that will blow your clients mind away. #Origination Dreaming Room Facilitators!
If you would do just that – what would you do? What would it take to create that extra impact? I am ready to have my mind blown away.
May the forces be with you (#quote Yoda;),
Johanna
9/11. A New Beginning. September 11, 2010
9/11/2001. I was in the air, one hour from landing in New York, when we suddenly turned around due to a message saying, “No airplanes are allowed to enter US air space”. Needless to say, it was turbulent times that followed.
After three days on the Irish west coast I arrive in San Diego via Atlanta. Viveca, the president of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce greets me at the airport and smiles: “Welcome Johanna, people stay here”.
I was supposed to stay four months – maximum nine. Today it is nine years.
This morning at 5:46 – 7:28 a.m., Urban Flow Yoga opened up their doors for a Meditation on Universal Peace in conjunction of 9/11 and Ganesh Chaturthi (Ganesha’s Birthday).
Ganesh is the elephant-headed diety of India, known for his ability to remove obstacles and bring success to new endeavors.
Whenever you have wishes or issues you can express that to Ganesh, with his fan-like ears, he hears everything you are expressing.
Towards the end of the meditation we were guided to meditate on what we wanted more of in our lives. “If something doesn’t work in your life – it may be time to let it go. Make room for new. Ganesh hears you – if it was your birthday today, what would you wish for?”
We sang a Ganesh mantra. Per Himalayan Academy one may always use it before beginning a journey, a new course in school, new career or job, or before entering into any new contract or business so that impediments are removed and your endeavor may be crowned with success.
Urban Flow shared this slightly modern version later today on facebook:
We ended by singing “the most ancient mantra there is” to celebrate this day:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Rusty Wells and Urban Flow – you always bring a smile to my face.
To a new beginning,
Johanna
The Crash… September 8, 2010
I was sitting in a conversation with Amita Paul, the CEO of Objective Marketer – THE social media marketing campaign management software company – talking about partnership (provide promo code Herringbone if you sign up for it! ). I shared some statistics from one of the recent campaigns I had run on her software, and she said “that is great – we should do a user case about that one – you have a website, right? We have a PR deadline this Tuesday, or next.”
The shoemaker’s son dilemma was pretty present. I had been in business for almost 5 months, but acted incognito on line. Doing social media marketing for others, you don’t really need to have a presence yourself. But if you want to expand your business, there comes a point when that is necessary in this day and age, whatever business you have.
Three thoughts passed my mind instantly: 1) Amita had already referred me to a site where I could have a website created over night for $150, 2) I did create my blog in a day last year, so this should be doable too, 3) If Christine Comaford could offer employment to all temps at Microsoft with her business, that she hadn’t yet created and didn’t know exactly how, then I could commit to getting a website up in a week and document the user case.
After a few hours of figuring things out, having the web host support on the line, being talked down by a San Francisco based contractor who only sign up minimum 10 hours of one on one tutorial or 1 month web creation projects a $2K, reaching out to freelancing contractors – in Vietnam and India – working through the night with them on skype, and about $75 later + template and hosting $100 approximately: the website was up!
Now, there are a few things that need to be checked and added – it may not automatically work on the mobile phone for example. And you may want to do some enhancements. And it may go wrong… Which it did. Waking up and seeing a crying icon on your skype message from your joomlanser is not what you want to see…
Hoping and begging that tonight’s shift will lead to a solution and not a recreation. At least the process would go a little smoother… For all of you who are tempted to do the same, below are some tips and lessons learnt. Hopefully it speeds up your process.
Begin again… hopefully not.
Johanna – aka web master (so many hats to wear as an entrepreneur!)
OPERATION CRASH COURSE IN WEB DESIGN:
The http://www.herringbone.fm website is coming soon...
1) Get your URL and web hosting account – GoDaddy is a good alternative (does not work for .se domains) They have great support.
2) Choose a template from www.joomlart.com – open source web design, comparable with wordpress, but more professional look and apps/extensions
3) Create your content off line first (just in case the database fails without you having made a back-up…)
4) Study Joomla – www.joomla.org – how to make the installation, template configuration and content update. There are a bunch of tidbit movies available all over the place for specific functions. These resources are what I found particularly helpful:
Even if you won’t do all of the updates yourself – it might save you a lot of valuable time to outsource the creation – it will help you make educated decisions when it comes to finding a consultant to help you. You will have an idea of how complicated some updates are, and how long time they will take to do, and be able to evaluate a proposal accordingly. Some updates might actually be easier to do yourself, such as installing google analytics. That was a piece of cake.
5) Get help. If you find it difficult or run into a time crunch, post your project on www.joomlancer.com and await bids from all over the world (unless you specify differently) from professional freelancing joomla webmasters. Before you choose one:
a. Wait for more bids to come in – my first one was $50, and I ended up working with lamtv for $15, and got the job done perfectly.
b. Check the profile and reviews of the bidders. You can also see how much they have earned so far and how many reviews they have – that will give you a picture of how established they are.
c. Have a conversation on skype – for me it was very important to be able to communicate my questions written and verbally, to be understood and understand the answers. My first contact in Vietnam was super friendly, but the communication just didn’t work.
d. Just be clear that the bid is $ per hour, or per total project. I have seen bids that are not clear on that.
e. Keep it professional and be respectful. You don’t need to work with a seemingly young kid because he looks begging at you to give him the job and saying “so I don’t speak English good enough?” I am sure he will be great for a different project, but if you want to learn in the process, that might not be the right guy for you.
f. Be prepared for a consulting services live bidding process if you connect with them on Skype. “I will do it the cheapest for you”, “I will provide the best service”, “if you don’t trust me go somewhere else”. What are the key criteria for you to select your contractor?
6) Clarity. Before you post a project on Joomlancer, make sure to specify your project clearly. Have it ready to go in an email with links, documents, photos etc.
7) Timing is key. If you post a project on Joomla during the day pacific time, you can have a contractor chosen by the evening, and the work done by the next morning. Many of them are located in Asia – I got help from Vietnam and India. It is possible to create a website in Joomla in 24 hours if you know what you want and what content you want to add. Since I wanted to be part of the process, check and learn (which is not a bad idea – the contractor may have questions that you can respond to in real time), I created a nice 29 hour workday for myself… which I don’t recommend to anyone. But it was fun to see the website created.
8) Document all the login IDs and passwords. There is an array of login information to keep track of. You don’t want to have the same password to all accounts. Create a different for the accounts you will share with an external consultant. And if you have a joomla freelancer install your template, then make sure to document the database password, and joomla password.
9) Create different user accounts for security. If you create a different super user account for your web master in your joomla website, you can provide a different password than your own, and you can see when your webmaster or anyone else is logged in to the system.
10) Assign an account executive with godaddy.com, to separate the webmaster’s access to a specific domain host only. This is if they need to access the database.
11) Add necessary extensions from joomla and others that will fit your needs. What do you want to create? A community? Photo gallery? List of recommendations:
a. Social Joomla for web 2.0 features such as like, tweet this etc.
b. Mobile Joomla to make the template look good on mobile applications, phones etc.
c. Google Analytics to track and learn about your website traffic.
12) SAVE a back-up of your database through the web host. IF something goes wrong in the process of installing and tailoring, then you can go back to the last saved version. I didn’t, so keep your fingers crossed please, that whatever issue there is, will be fixed.
13) Consult the Joomla Forums. If an error has occurred – search for an answer in the Joomla forums or post a request for help. You know what you did to create it, and a consultant may not take the time to figure that out. The answer may be very simple, and the Joomla users are very helpful in providing solutions.
I guess these were the key learnings. If you want a San Francisco based joomlancer, I will be here. By the end of this process I will be real good. 😉
AND – sometimes you don’t need to stress things. Natural time is good. The PR deadline got moved. However, the user case is ready and up – check it out on Slideshare by clicking here.
Get Unstuck. Savor the Success! August 20, 2010
Savor the Success posted the following on facebook this week:
Savor the Success Women entrepreneurs! We all have our ups and downs… What do you do to motivate yourself when you you need a “pick me up”?
There were many responses – including mine – here are some of them:
Allison T Moore I always remember the “why” …The reason why I do what I do. http://www.allisontmoore.com/
Tieast Smith I look at my children and that helps
Lisa Meloche I go to the bookstore and browse books while drinking hot chocolate. Somehow I always find something to inspire me there and can’t wait to implement when I return.
Bridget Hogue I dance around my home office to Motown hits…for some reason this ALWAYS works for me 🙂
Todra Payne Take a few hours off and walk along a creek not far from my house. Very relaxing.
Mendy Cleveland I put myself around people who are positive and who influence me.
Savor the Success Wow, these are FANTASTIC words of advice. Go, ladies, go!
Felicia B. Wright icecream (lol) and positive thinking…it doesn’t help to focus on negativity
Dequiana Brooks I do a couple things when I’m down: 1) Have a good chat with a funny friend who always know how to pick me back up, and 2) Remind myself of how many people I won’t be able to help if I give up now. http://www.inspiredmedia.net/
Justine LadyLuna Lackey Ug I am a Debbie Downer today. Its a simple “put one foot in front of the other” sort of day. Other days I use music, aromatherapy, good friends, and lots of laughter.
Inna Shamis Indulge in a piece of chocolate!
Judith George Go on to Ted.com and find an inspiration talk.
Debi Rose Stay connected. Attend a Meetup of like-minded women or get involved in an online discussion. Also a good hard workout!
Ruth Stroup I clear my desk.. but dancing around the office sounds so much better. Chaka Khan, Chaka Kahn.. I feel for you….
Angie Walker Griffin Listen to Lincoln Brewster songs (This is the day and Everlasting God).
Johanna Nilsson Movement for me is key. Love dance. However, Rusty Wells yoga at @urbanflow is unbeatable. Not enough words. Makes magic.
Savor the Success Movement is so important when you feel stuck… physical movement! I was feeling down the other day because all my employees were sick and I had to keep the ship moving. I decided to cook, go to a family spa… all physical movement that was healing! Love your answers, ladies. –AJK
Now – I need to say a couple of more words about that. I know yoga is not for everyone. Vinyasa Flow yoga is now for everyone. But if it is, and you don’t try it out, you miss out of a great great gift. It is Rusty Wells and the Urban Flow Yoga team I am taking about. And here are the details:
1543 Mission Street
San Francisco, California 94103
415-355-YOGA.
Enjoy. What ever you need – what you put in, you get out.
Johanna
Loving Life Blog 
Recent Comments