Killing Them with Kindness - all Random-Like

Post by Megan Potter for the Kindness in Business series.


painting by bluegiraffeartist on Etsy

Killing Them with Kindness - all Random-Like

“I see you dressed in a baby chicken suit, behind you are, like, three white boards. Written on each of them is something someone else has told you, or that you think you are supposed to be doing with your business.

This is you in your business, trying to do things the way you are supposed to.”

I’m listening to my Vroom session from Fabeku for the second time through. I know that he’s absolutely right, I have been dancing to some other “this is how it should be” drum in the way I’ve been doing my business.

Typical of me, my first plan of action is to figure out exactly where I’ve been going wrong so I can stop doing that. (That seems logical, doesn’t it?)

But I’ve been stuck. Fabeku had said there were three very specific tactics I’d been following that weren’t working for me. Three white boards with one specific marketing plan each. For the life of me I just can’t put my finger on them. I know they are there - these insidious good ideas of other people that aren’t working for me. But naming them. Understanding them. That just wasn’t happening.

Revelation!

What if, instead of wasting all this time worrying about what I was doing wrong I just went ahead and re-wrote the rules for myself?

Extra Revelation!!

And, I already had all the tools I needed to make my own rules, I had the pattern of my very nature to pull from!

I mean, that’s my job isn’t it? To know who people are and how they show up in the world. And I do know who I am. And how I best show up in the world. So, shouldn’t it be simple enough for me to grab my mental white board spray, a few mental paper towels, wipe down those boards and replace them with marketing rules that are exclusively ME?

Yes, I think so too.

I never figured out what those white boards originally had on them, but this is how the new ones read:

#1: Selfishness is Awesome, otherwise known as “I’m the Center of the Universe” - This marketing rule builds on my natural magnetism and inclination to feel I’m super important - and then translate that into the logic that you therefore must also be super important and full of awesome and worthy of some healthy selfishness!

#2: I’m a Long-Term Investment Kind of Chick - I like to give my peeps lots of opportunities (and ways) to stay in my world, and I even make services that are meant to be used over time. And I know that I’m in this for a long-haul relationship, not a Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am kind of service. If you don’t sign up today that’s cool, you’ll be back - cause you can’t resist me (see point #1).

#3: Guerrilla Warfare Generosity (GWG) - Is not your everyday kind of generosity. But extraordinary and surprising acts of one-on-one generosity that are truly meaningful and valued. It’s an irregular kind of generosity because each skirmish is entered with absolutely no expectation of return - it’s all out giving for Giving’s sake.

As defined by Wikipedia: Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare... [that] use[s] military tactics of... the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility ...

And these three things have made all the difference. They’ve transformed my business and my relationships with the people in my circle of influence (peeps if you will).

So, ok, selfishness and long-term investments aren’t everybody’s thing - trust me, I know - but I’d like to make the pitch on why Guerrilla Warfare Generosity works and why you need to consider taking this on into your business plan too.

We online business peeps are no strangers to the war cry of “Free” - anyone and everyone will tell you that you should have something you give away for free. A pink spoon, big banana, sampler, taster, free eBook, mini-session, a worm on a hook, a way to catch your peeps. And who am I to argue with conventional web-marketing wisdom? (Plus I’m thinking that’s a whole other blog post right there, anyone? anyone?) But I do feel like Free is now expected. People expect to be able to walk up to your Virtual doors, knock, and be handed a little present.

And when you expect something it loses a little of it’s value.

Plus, honestly, you think they don’t know what we are doing? That it’s a worm. On a hook. They see the hook, they just decide they like to worm enough to make the exchange. To them it’s a fair trade, and by evidence of your offering it you consider it to be a fair trade too.

Just so we’re clear, fair or equal exchange is not an act of generosity. It’s an act of trade, like, you know, when we buy things.

But Guerrilla Warfare type generosity is so named because it’s unexpected. It can’t be anticipated. And no exchange or trade is involved.

It’s like free hugs. Or a gift of peanut butter M & Ms when you’re down. It’s just what you needed, but didn’t know you needed. It’s offering a whole cone when someone expects a pink spoon - out of the blue. Random-like.

And it never fails to convert.

Never.

To loyal followers. To people who sing your praises or share your wisdom or recommend your genius to others. To newsletter sign ups. And sessions booked. And one more relationship to cultivate long-term. And sometimes, it’s even converted into random acts of payment (or donations as one GWG receiver called it).

(An important lesson of giving is that it goes two ways, so while I never ask for anything in exchange for my GWG acts I always allow the receivee to give something in return if they ask to. Though I make it clear that nothing is expected.)

Guerrilla Warfare Generosity is part of the new way to do business from a place of open hearted trust in yourself, your business and the Universe.

The best and most effective marketing plans aren’t the well-worn paths of others but the ones that come from your very nature. Making everything about your business an expression of YOU in the world.

Rock that!

Megan Potter is a Chinese Face Reader and Limitless Woman Extraordinaire. She's an Earthy soul with just enough Fire thrown in to keep her fun which is why you definitely want to come play with her! She LOVES working with women leaders who are eager to transcend their limits and is gifted in the art of immediately recognizing your patterns (and blocks) and then using Chinese Face Reading and the 5 Elements (a tactic of Chinese medicine) to unleash the Super Hero in you.