Channel and focus

To do what you do, best, you need to ruthlessly concentrate on your passion, which is hopefully also your area of expertise.

Think customer

There’s an old saying that I literally just made up based on paraphrasing the words of a genius from way-back-somewhere:

When you line up the stars, the constellations smile down at you.

Understanding the value of sharing everything starts by channeling your efforts. Meticulous attention pays big rewards.

You simply cannot underestimate how when you spend hours a day evolving and mastering your cause, your value to your customer community rises exponentially.

In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to get to enlightenment – but spend just one more hour on your passion and you’re one hour more expert than anyone else you know.

Share for the greatest chance to shine

Small businesses, in their being nimble and agile, have the greatest opportunity. Chances are the few employees you have (and should) possess wildly different personalities and skillsets.

There’s Cherry, who is obsessive about reading the latest news on your industry segment and takes notes at meetings. Bob loves writing a blog on your product category and you’ve given him free rein – within the realms of your company’s social posting guidelines – to scramble the Harrier jump jets of content and create a tremor of delight among your customers with the latest buzz from the industry (content curation) and news from your company (content creation).

Let your imagination run riot

Sharing isn’t just about content, though. Yesterday I learned from Springwise how Chicago-based insurance company State Farm was sharing its expertise not just online, but at its own Next Door cafe – helping to educate customers about all things financial over a frappacino.

A public space, with classes for those  yearning to learn more about managing money. A beautiful synergy and symbiotic with my vision to create uCafes – essentially seats of learning and sharing all over the world where tasty beverages and erudite smorgasbords of wisdom are dispensed for and by anyone and everyone.

The truth is this…

If you find what your customers want, and you know your business, then it shouldn’t be a troublesome bridge to put the two together with content that appeals, intrigues and excites.

Most of all, be yourself. Dan Zanzarella shows that when it comes to communications, it’s uniqueness that matters most. And there’s only one of you, which is a bit of a Brucie*!

Sharing everything should be part of your DNA. Let it happen, and let the magic begin…