11 Things you can learn from Tim Brownson

1. Know Your Identity

Tim wrote about this in a guest post on Problogger

Your blog is not you; it’s not your identity. If it crashes and burns that doesn’t mean you do too. We all want a successful blog with people lining up to comment and pay us homage (I know I do anyway), but it’s really not life and death.
Keep some perspective. Go all out to achieve your goals (you have got written goals, right?), but don’t stay attached to the results. Not only will that mean you keep a sense of balance, but conversely it will make you more likely to achieve your aims anyway.

This is something I strugged with early on in my blog. I assumed when someone criticized my content, they were criticizing my personality. It has helped so much to seperate my online and offline identities.

2. Find ways to get the answer

Tim discussed this in a post on Kitchen Table Medicine

If a client tells me they don’t know the answer to something, I’ll often ask them “If you did know, what would the it be?” A ridiculous question, but a brilliant one too that I can’t take credit for devising. It usually gets them to shift their thinking and 80% of the time I then get an answer that moves us forward.

This is a really useful trick - and one that has helped me learn a lot about myself. It can apply to problems in your online and offline life.

3. You get what you give on social networking

Tim talked about this in a post asking if social networking is good for you

I think it is the individuals approach that decides its effectiveness.
If you are on Twitter all day purely to get as many followers as your ego can stand and throw spammy links at people, then I don’t see how that can be anything other than stressful and damaging to your health and sanity.
That is not Social Networking or even Social Marketing as I see it, because there is no ‘social’ element. That would be like going to a face-to-face networking event, shouting your company details from the doorway and hoping people will rush over to hug you and give you their hard earned.

This is something that I learned early on. I've tried to focus on giving on social networks, and people have helped me out so much by reciprocating. Its been really amazing.

4. Its ok to fail

Tim expanded on this in the ultimate goal setting post

The surest way to fail is to adopt the belief that it isn’t ok to fail.
Failing is a fact of life so you may as well get used to it or find yourself a nice snugly warm cave to live in.

I hate failure but have embraced it as part of the learning process. It has made it so much easier and even exciting.

5. Making it easy for your customers to spend

Time talked about this in his post on making it easier to sell onlne

If you are trying to sell anything and I do mean anything. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to part with their money. I accept that I made errors but I also know that it is possible for a site to retain information that has already been entered without making you do it all over again. I also know about auto complete and that I could set up my PC to use that if I wanted, but that isn’t really the point, I was trying to give them some money and failing!

This is an underestimated tip. If I face too many obstacles when making an impulse buy, I simply wont proceed with the purchase. It has turned me off ordering from that site again.

6. Look for customers before you need them

Tim wrote about this in an Ittybiz guest post

One final thing. If you wait until you need customers before you start to look for them you’re already in trouble. You should be filling your pipeline as a matter of course because this is a process that takes time and people can sniff a desperate sales person quicker than my dog can sniff my dirty boxer shorts kicked under the bed.

This is a tip that I have ignored thus far - and sometimes, it shows. I've been in the launch cycle for a month but sometimes, people have been able to pick my desperation when asking for an interview. I now try to make sure I have a flow of clients and interviews.

7. Fine yourself to help acheiving your goal

Tim recommended that you fine yourself if you want to make a quick change.

If you really, really want to change some behavior either personal or in business then you may want to try and incorporate a fine system to help you achieve your goal. It supposedly take 30 days to form a new habit so it shouldn’t be something that you have to do for too long, and when you are eating out of the garbage bin because you have no money I am guessing you will make some pretty rapid changes.

I think this is a really awesome idea but know its something I couldn't stick to. I can see it working for others though.

8. Tell more stories

Tim talked about this in a post asking whats your story

If you have any desire to make positive changes in your life you have to tell better stories. And not just to other people either, but more importantly, to yourself.

People love a story that can help them connecting with your material. This can be in person, in a post, in a talk or even on your about page.

9. Know your material

Tim wrote about this in a post about conquering your fear of public speaking

Unless there is a specific reason why you need to do so i.e. you’re reciting somebody else’s material, do not try and learn the entire speech verbatim.
Know your start and end and know the structure and then cut yourself some slack. If you’re trying to recite something word for word and you lose your flow you’re in trouble. It will be very difficult to recover your composure at that stage.

I have had huge problems with public speaking. I never did well at this in high school, but I always got good grades because people were able to pick up that I knew my material quite well. It may take some time and experience to get good at this.

10. Watch the greats

Later in the post, she said

It’s easy enough by visiting sites like YouTube or the excellent TED to see great speakers in action. If you want to join their ranks watch what they’re already doing and copy them. I don’t mean mimic accents or styles of delivery, just look for common themes and if they resonate with you, adopt them.

This is something that I will be doing, and reporting on. It is a great way to find, and adopt, techniques that you like.

11. Take a vacation

Tim gave this advice at Evan Carmichaels blog

Your body needs time to rest and to re-charge itself, otherwise you see a slow decline in performance that can even lead to complete individual collapse. That is why so many people flit from job to job and why the retail and sales industries have such a high churn of staff.

I haven't had any breaks since starting this series and can see a decline in my performance. I plan to integrate frequent days off into my work schedule instead of a holiday to give me time to rest and recharge.