heartharmony.com.au

For the past few weeks I have been helping an international speaking client, Steve Major, totally rebrand to decisionhq. This meant constructing all new marketing collateral assisted by the brilliant Paul from Brandrally, who has created amazing branding & design & Geoff McDonald from Ideas Architect for the awesome game design. (Did I mention we had 2 1/2 weeks to do this 6 month project, as there was major event that the branding had to be ready for?)

One of the areas Steve talks about in his speeches, is his early career as a professional bull rider (as is the normal career path for all Chartered Accountants). Bull riding is also known as “dancing with thunder”, which seemed a great analogy – except our ride lasted for more than 8 seconds.

In 2 weeks I wrote the copy for Steve’s handouts, banners, business cards, website, presentation slides, game, polished Steve’s speech, while working with Paul & Geoff on design, graphics, images and refining the branding elements. Sleep has been in short supply!

Given the deadlines for printing, we used multiple printers across Australia to complete parts of the project. This meant we had printing flying in from different capitals to the event. This week I have been in Sydney helping coordinate everything on site, while Paul looked after the Brisbane end of the project.

Our dance with thunder included:

• Presentation folders streaking & only 100 out of the 1000 being able to be printed to the particular colours that were designed.  The balance we compromised on.
• Another printer not collating the copies of the 18 individual pages of copy for the kit – which meant a late night of all hands on deck around a dining table, manually collating pages & inserting them into the folders.
• Only the business cards arriving – the letterheads & envelopes were delayed.
• Pull up banners being delivered to the site according the courier – only problem was they weren’t & in fact had disappeared into a black hole, so we had to organise same day reprinting of the banners (they were still damp when they were delivered that night).
• The airlines losing one suitcase which contained all the printed games being flown in from Melbourne – so we had a very nervous 12 hours until they were found.
• 4pm change of plans for trade booth display the next day requiring rapid re-nogotiation with the hotel, catering staff combined with a quick race to the shops to buy the new strategy.
• And quite a few other little “challenges” – luckily the copy was perfect (of course).

And even with all of these challenges, we improvised like crazy when things didn’t quite come in the way we wanted, and scraped it over the line. Luckily the event went off brilliantly! So what is the point of this story?

At times if can feel like all of us are dancing with thunder in our jobs. There are days or weeks, when we are just hanging on & hoping like heck that we won’t get bucked off.

There are times when we just have to rely on our colleagues & friends to help get us over the line & there are times when things don’t go the way we hope, which is when we have to roll with the ride.

There are also times where we are so exhausted that we don’t acknowledge all of the people who have pulled together to make our project a success. So, from the bottom of my heart Paul, Geoff & Steve – you are truly amazing! Thank you! Paul in particular, you have gone above & beyond the call of duty – if anyone needs a brilliant Brisbane graphic designer or web designer – then Paul from Brandrally is truly superb.

And in case any of my other clients get ideas … I’m heading off for a few days break before my own speaking gigs for AIM on Tuesday at the Gold Coast & Cairns Workforce Council on Wednesday.  And won’t be tackling impossible projects again for at least a few more weeks.

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter & Miracle Worker

Yesterday I attended the Thought Leaders Summit in Brisbane and had my first experience of an open spaces format. This approach could best be described as the anti-model of traditional conferences. In open spaces, the participants work out what they want to talk about, when they want to talk about it and then move to where they want to be. If they find the conversation not for them (translate that to being boring) they are encouraged to wander off and find another conversation.  As a facilitator, conference leader and control freak from way back, I can tell you that the approach would be enough to have given me a lot of very grey hairs if I was running it.

The people who attended were successful business leaders and were given the very strong boundaries of  “sell through not to” – meant the pressure came off in terms of people trying to flog their wares.  This was not the place for elevator speeches – but for building a community of peers. Any direct marketing was frowned upon.

So what happened? Well for starters a lot of brilliant topics hit the agenda – Getting stuff done, How much free info is too much?, Building a community around your business, how to engage your employees, effective networking, using social media effectively, charging what you are worth, what is a Thought Leader as well as a whole pile of useful discussions on best Apps/books/videos for business.

People were encouraged to be “self-full” – to actively get their needs met through the discussions and not wait and hope that someone would cover their issues for them. And as result, people wandered in and out of the conversations, adding their insights as well as getting ideas and strategies to apply in their business.  In terms of participation, some people participated boots and all. Others sat back and watched. Still others dipped their toes into the odd conversation and then shrunk back.

This to me was a metaphor for how people approach business and life. Some leap in and take action (even if they make mistakes), others watch and wait for the perfect moment and others flip between action and inaction. I am not sure there is a “right” answer – just it pays to know your natural tendency, and at times challenge your approach to see if it is helping you or hindering you.

So where would you place yourself – a watcher in life or an active participator? An observer or a leader?

Me, well I had a ball. I enjoyed the intelligent conversations with great people and have a few insights to work with over the coming weeks.

And if you are interested in the whole concept of Thought Leadership, there are regular summits held around Australia and New Zealand throughout the year.

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

Social networks are more than just ad hoc links between people. Recent research shows that social networks also can transfer emotional traits  between people including happiness, anger and jealousy.  This is a great talk by Nicholas Christakis,  highlighting some of the latest research suggesting that network emotions are contagious.  Makes you look at businesses, schools and online networks in a totally different way!

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

We all get the odd time in our life when we stare at the digital clock on our bedside table at 4am and wonder whether we are the only person awake on the planet. Years ago it was because I was pacing the floor with crying babies, trying to help them learn the difference between night and day. Every now and again I would pop the latest baby in the car and take them for a 4am drive, waving to all the other bleary eyed parents doing the same thing as we did laps around the local area. I learned then that there was a surprising number of other people with the 4am blues.

Then there was the hyper manic years when I was buried under killer deadlines doing government reform. We would work until 11pm, duck home for a few hours sleep and get up at 4am to do it all over again. As I would walk to my car at night, I would wave at the other hyper manic workers in brilliantly lit inner-city buildings. It was almost as if there was a private club in the CBD that only those powered by adrenalin could join.  Those years were unsustainable … if ever so seductive.

Running my own business, there were the 4am cold-sweat blues in the early years, worrying about everything including the leap of faith into the unknown.  There was also the odd “all-nighter” thrown in to meet deadlines.  Now though,  I generally sleep the sleep of the peaceful and content, with the odd 4am thrown in to remind me of what once was.

So how does sleep deprivation impact on business? If you look around your business, you will find a good handful of your team have the 4am blues. That’s where mistakes are made, industrial accidents occur and less than positive decisions get made.  We expect parents of new babies to be “business as usual” within a few weeks. We drive our team to impossible deadlines. We don’t consider the impact of life changes on work performance.  We feel lack of sleep and tiredness is a badge of courage to be worn and worked through.

What if there was another way?  What if you chose to take a different approach? There is a lot to be said for siestas, snooze pods, for nanna naps in the late afternoon. For sending that tired person home early (on full pay) to catch a few hours of precious sleep. After all, you are responsible for creating a safe place of work  and reducing all known work hazards. Don’t tired people fall into this category?

For me, this morning after I pick dad up from the hospital (yes, his heart surgery went well this time), I will take my day more gently. I will step away from the keyboard, put down the pen and do less dangerous things.

How do you deal with the 4am blues?

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance writer

My dad is 80, and has lived a very full and successful life as a scientist and University Lecturer. But like many kids, until recently I had not had much conversation with my dad about his hopes and dreams for his life when he was growing up. It is funny how we assume our parents spring fully grown and are happy with their lot in life.

Last week while we were waiting for dad to head in for another round of heart surgery, we spent a few quiet hours in conversation. This time we talked about what he had dreamed he would be when he grew up – a journalist it turns out. And why he didn’t follow his dream, and moved into science instead. We talked about what his experience of school was like – not particularly a great experience thanks to some very abusive Christian Brothers.  We also talked about his relationships – what worked and what didn’t.

Dad is a brilliant story teller, and many was the moment when I had tears in my eyes from laughing at tales of Claude the lab lion who used to tackle dad around the ankles as he walked past; and his university pranks that these days would put him behind bars. I also learnt of the untold story of how my grandfather, who was head of one of the RAAF Airforce bases, thought they were sinking a midget sub off the coast of NSW during the war – only to discover they had sunk a very surprised whale.

But the questions were not all one way. The biggest question he asked was if we had our time over again, knowing what we know now, what job would we do now? What career would we follow? What would we do differently?

These are brilliant questions, and ones we forget to ask ourselves as we travel through life. Life passes so swiftly – in a blink of an eye it is gone.  We need to make sure that we live every moment to the maximum – that we are following the paths of our heart.

Dad is due for another round of more complex heart surgery in 5 weeks time and you can be sure that there will be many more questions and quiet discussions in the interim.  I am truly valuing his insights and wisdom (and humour).

So what would you answer? Would you choose the same job? What would you do differently if you had another go at life? What would it take for you to do this now?

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

This is a truly inspirational and amazing story about a vision impaired, intellectually impaired young man, in a wheelchair – who ended up a one of the lead trumpet players in a marching band. The  story of Patrick Henry Hughes makes you take a whole new look at gifts, the power of music and the wonderful love of a Dad for his son.

I really loved the quote – “the music of opportunity and the sound of potential”.

What did you think?

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

Sometimes you look at a picture and go hmmmm … there may be something in this. Loved these photos doing the rounds at the moment in Australia (for our non-Oz readers, the guy on the left is our Prime Minister). The question is, is this product placement at it’s best, coincidence or something more sinister?

If you want to understand the psychology behind why this may be good for Kevin Rudd, the Psychologist Magazine has a great summary of some of the studies about why the familiar is more popular. Expect to see a whole new range of products wearing politicians avatars in the near future!

Separated at birth

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance copywriter

Ever been really excited about something … I mean really excited …  so excited that you are bouncing up and down in anticipation?

What about if you have seen it all before, you are a tad cynical and you are over the hyped up behaviour of some of the people around you?

People are a lot like animals really. I took this video of two of our animals the other day and couldn’t help reflecting on some of the offices I have worked in. Are you the dog or the cat in this scenario?

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

PS: Milly finally did get to the bowl of cat food. She just waited for half an hour till the cat had left before making her move.

Think Geek TV remote wand

ThinkGeek.com is one of my favourite online shops (even if it is in the US). This time they have excelled themselves with a Magic Wand programmable TV remote.

Think back to your first Harry Potter book … now try and tell me that you didn’t wander around the house madly waving a ruler trying to levitate the cat (OK – maybe that was just me).

In most houses the fight over the remote is a long standing battle, with battle lines drawn between the men of the house and the women. Imagine what would happen if you replaced all the remotes with these wands – life could get very interesting and the battle over the remote a heck of a lot more fun.

Just train your new wand to replicate your existing remote, and then swish and flick to your heart’s content. You can change channels or adjust the volume all with a flick of the wrist.

You can even recognise a number of remotes – so with a flourish you can turn on the air-conditioning, zap – you have turned on the radio and swoosh you have turned the volume down on the kids (perhaps that function is just another of my fantasies).

Yes, it is awfully geeky … but oh so much fun!  Much better than their torch that can fry eggs (I ask you why … aren’t torches to see in the dark with?) or lip balm that is flavoured with Bacon (again I ask you why).

If you haven’t explored ThinkGeek.com …BEWARE. It is a magic portal where hours pass in minutes and your sides end up sore from laughing at all the cool toys for grown ups.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance copywriter

“Do you get seasick?” Not exactly the sort of question you expect from an optometrist fitting you for frames. “Because if you do, you might want to put in a stock of seasick pills”.

“Oh. Great!”  I muttered. You see, I had finally succumbed. My arms were no longer long enough to hold my books, and my computer screen was sitting on another desk beyond arms length. I had to get bifocals (in my parlance) or multifocal lenses according to the optometrist.

They showed me mocked up pictures of what my vision would be like with different priced lenses.  I plumped for the ones that cost the national debt of a third world country in the vague hope the seasickness wouldn’t be too extreme.

The day finally arrived and the disgustingly chirpy young assistant popped the new glasses onto my head. “Can you read this” she asked thrusting a cardboard document in my hands. “Well I would be able to if the words stopped dancing around like Britney Spears”.

“Don’t worry- it will settle down in a few days. But until it does, don’t drive with them on, watch out so you don’t walk into walls and whatever you do, don’t walk down stairs with them on. Oh … and don’t go back to your old glasses, it will make the inevitable transition twice as long”.

“Oh goodie” I thought “I’m moving into the ground floor of my house for a few weeks and walking everywhere”.

For those of you young enough not to need multifocals let me explain what it is like.You are supposed to move your head like a laughing clown to try and find the right focus point on your glasses when you look around. No longer the joy of simply reading a broadsheet newspaper – I now looked like a baby bird trying to find its mother on each page.  When you look out of the side of your lenses, you get the same experience as when you look into the mirrors on Coney Island – everything is slightly warped (and not in a good way).

So how is it going? Well the first day everything was peachy – I did everything I was supposed to and felt right chuffed with myself that I had survived. Piece of cake.

Day 2 and things went downhill. My eyes rebelled much like a kid who loves their first day at school, only to cry on day 2 when reality set in. Yes, I do get seasick. So for the past week a ginger beer bottle has been my constant companion in the vain hope of fending off the woozy feeling.

As the days clicked over, I now have moments of clarity when my fingers can once again find the right keys on the computer keyboard, and the screen looks once again normal. Yes, these moments are increasing in duration, but my eyes need a nanna nap every afternoon in order to be able to survive the evening. I am exhausted by the end of each day. And I forgot to take off my new glasses when I climbed the ladder and hopped onto the roof to install the Christmas lights – made the experience more terrifying than the big thrill rides at Dreamworld, but hey the lights look great!

Yes, there have been times when I have dropped back into using the old glasses in order to meet a particularly pressing deadline – but they are reducing in frequency.  I know by going back to old habits things will take longer – but reality steps in and clients come first.

Seeing the world through different eyes is much like learning any new skill. You start with conscious incompetence where you know you have absolutely no clue what you are doing. You then move onto conscious competence where you have some vague control over your new skills (as long as you concentrate really really hard). You finally move onto unconscious competence, where you now know what you are doing and don’t have to think about it in order to do it.

You have moments when you are a master and other moments when you crash and burn. You have to relearn how to do the simplest things, and everything takes twice as long as it used to. You burn with envy over people who cheerily tell you they were perfect first go, and you fantasise about giving up (but know you never will). Every skill worth learning has a similar journey. But it is learning from the journey that is the most useful part of the process.

Roll on unconscious competence I say. Until then … yes I will be a tad slower and there will be more typos than normal … but the end result will be worth it.  And if you see me looking like a bobble head toy at that local shops when I am trying to read a price ticket …  pop over …  pat my hand … and remind me that in a few days this will all be but a memory.

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance writer