Apparently Seth Godin is going to help me out this week with my Starbucks analogy:
Starbucks didn’t become Starbucks by getting discovered by Oprah Winfrey or being blessed by Warren Buffet when they only had a few stores. No, they plugged along. They raised bits of money here and there, flirted with disaster, added one store and then another, tweaked and measured and improved and repeated. Day by day, they dripped their way to success. No magic lottery. [Read the entire post here.]
So this week’s question for you is: What do people already thank you for? Not what value do you think you provide. Not what would you like to be at the center of your writing career.
Later in his post Godin says:
Here’s another way to think about it: delight the audience you already have, amaze the customers you can already reach, dazzle the small investors who already trust you enough to listen to you. Take the permission you have and work your way up. Leaps look good in the movies, but in fact, success is mostly about finding a path and walking it one step at a time.
So what have you specifically been thanked FOR?
There is crucial information in a thank you. I’d even say that there is crucial information in every thank you, from your very first to your very last, meaning your first day in business and your last day in business and every day in between.
Because if you are doing your job well, then you should be being thanked pretty consistently. And when you are thanked, this is a great opportunity to ask for more detailed feedback or a testimonial.
And then, over time, you start to notice patterns in the feedback you receive. And the consistency either tells you what you are doing right or where you need to improve.
So you tell us right here and right now: what are you doing right? Tell us what others tell you.
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Christina,
Thanks so much for sharing your points on writing. I agree that thank yous are a great marker to track your progress. I'm enjoying sharing ideas with others to move them forward in their quest towards their dream lives.
Val 🙂
I've been getting the most thank-yous for the the T-shirts I've been giving away as part of our pre-order contest. I was surprised when they started rolling in, b/c I thought people would regard it like we regard swag in LA — like stuff you always get. But as it turns out, people just love winning stuff. It's nice to win. I'll definitely remember that going forward.
On another note, I usually read blogs on my iPad, but your commenting system isn't compatible w/ the the iPad. Ironically “Disqus” has kept me from commenting on quite a few posts from you and other bloggers. Just thought you should know. M/b ask Disqus to make their comments system compatible. If they get enough requests from people, maybe they'll adjust their coding to allow people to comment on their iPads and iPhones.
That's a really interesting question: What have I been thanked for? I'd have to say most of my blog commenters thank me for making them feel like they're not alone. They're not the only moms struggling to get it right, balance everything & stay sane. I love getting that feedback.
You're so good…. Been working on this. My readers thank me for making them laugh. So that's what I'm working on doing better. What could be more fun? And this is great building on that core offering stuff from last week. Consider me a new groupie. Looking forward to the class this fall.
Thanks for commenting, Val. 🙂
Good to know, Ernessa. Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
That sounds very clear. Nice espresso! 🙂
You are funny, Lela. I've noticed that. 🙂
I wish I could say someone would say, “thank you” for the things I have been through and the work I have done to build my child's brain connections so that he is achieving as much as he is achieving, given his diagnoses.
I want to educate parents to be proactive in their parenting to use sensory integration techniques to improve brain connections throughout early childhood and beyond. However, when I point out all I have done for my child, and ask why the school or the therapists can't continue to do what I have been doing, they just say, in amazement, “Just keep doing what you're doing.” Like, I KNOW what I am doing! Babies don't come with handbooks, especially those missing the mid parts of their brain and have adrenal insufficiencies that are life threatening, born to mothers that had 22 hours of brain surgery at age 15 (but, who did not have baby until age 32). I don't get thank you's, only get, “oh, bless your heart”, and before I had him, “you should be a comic.” Any advice? I do great on YahooAnswers.
The nut of this idea sounds good, but be careful. Don't do something in order to get thank yous. That's not what I meant. I meant if you are doing something that gets you thank yous, analyze them. But do it because you are passionate about doing it and the doing it is its own reward. Does that make sense?