I recently asked readers of this blog to tell me about the greatest challenge they face in their occupation. Here is a sampling of responses. Then I’ll tell you why I asked this question.
Finding good talent. Less than 5% of product professionals I have interviewed in the past 2 years have “decent” product launch/marketing experience.
Krishnan Hariharan, Advisor/CMO to OneHive, @krishnanh42
Biggest challenge I have is wrangling over 25 direct reports who are all excellent, but who all have completely different personalities, likes and dislikes, and goals professionally. It’s fun though!
My biggest challenge is marketing my art.
Dona Lyon, Rico Arts
My greatest challenge is delegating sufficiently so others can do the work.
Kevin
In my consulting job, I struggle with technical writing. Hard to stay focused and efficient with that. I’ve found that the “Pomodoro technique” helps.
Nate Neville, Compliance Help
Biggest challenge: New business.
Randall Smith, Modern8
Relying on other people needed to feed you information or resources to move a project forward. Countless hours of follow up.
Anonymous
Finding customers.
Andy Mayer, Albion Green and English Language Consultants
Biggest challenge right now is to write for other publications like Forbes, TechCrunch, Mashable and Fast Company. I write weekly and syndicate out to the usuals, but would like to get it out via the influencers.
Michael Chase, CMO, St. Joseph Communications
Why Do I Ask?
I asked this question of my readers for multiple reasons.
- I wanted to reward some of my most loyal readers by giving them a shout-out in this post.
- I want to understand what my readers care about so I can create content they will care about.
- It’s an easy way to create a blog post that is authentic and interesting (feel free to steal this tactic for your own blog).
- I like meeting new people.
- Just curious.
There is also an over-arching reason I’m asking, which is that in 2016 I will be branding myself, and I’ve been refining exactly what that brand will be. I wanted to see what responses I got to validate the direction I’m heading in, which is to help people do what I’ve done over the past few years, things like:
- Get published in major publications
- Appear as a guest on TV, radio, and podcasts
- Get a book deal
- Get paid to speak
- Increase readers/followers on blogs and social media
And use all the above to grow your business.
Some of the responses from readers above might seem like they don’t fit, or that they won’t have a lot of use for what I’ll be focusing on, but I can see a fit for every one. For example, Krishnan says he needs to find good talent. Do you think being published in Forbes, Mashable, TechCrunch, etc. helps me recruit talent? You bet. That’s still marketing. It’s not marketing for sales, it’s marketing for talent recruitment, but that’s still marketing. Kevin talks about delegation. I’ve learned a TON about delegation as I’ve grown my writing and speaking careers, and I’ll be sharing a lot about the technical details about how I’ve done it and continue to improve it.
So stay tuned as I gradually rebrand. You probably won’t see huge shifts all at once. You’ll see a slight change in the kind of posts I put out with an increased emphasis on helping you do the things I’ve done. You’ll see the website change slightly, and then perhaps more radically later this year. You’ll see me launching ebooks, courses, and other tools to help me connect with more people. I hope you enjoy the ride with me. The best way to keep up is to sign up for my email newsletter below, and if you know someone else who may benefit from what I’ll be sharing, please share this post with them.
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