Certainly, my three children may have altered my career from a traditional corporate trajectory, but I think the necessity of flexibility resulted in an even better, more innovative career.

And because I had three children in five year — and I loved what I do — I created a company called High Tech Connect. Over the past 14 years, my business has benefited hundreds of clients and consultants, connecting people who otherwise would not have found each other, generating millions of dollars in business.

Will three (or more) kids kill a career? Only if you think it will. And if you think you can, you can create an even better, more rewarding and prosperous career.

Then the client calls stopped. Business screeched to a trickle, coincidentally right before the Big Move. Holy crap. Sleepless nights and anguished days dragged on with one nagging question: “What if I just made the hugest mistake?” Of course, new business is coming in again, and we’re thriving in an environment that will generate even more success. Still, even after 14 years as a profitable, successful business owner, it’s still a challenge to push past my fear of failure.

Sara Blakley was selling fax machines until she decided to cut the feet off her pantyhose. She invented Spanx. Of course, she didn’t exactly ride a rocket to success and fame and fortune.  It was two long years from the time she grabbed those scissors in 1998 to founding Spanx and then to today with 105 employees and a presence in 10,000 retail locations.

“When I cut the feet out of my pantyhose that one time, I saw it as my sign. I had been visualizing being self employed prior to this happening. It was my mental preparation meeting the opportunity in that moment.”

For me, living and working in Silicon Valley is the equivalent of getting an MBA in entrepreneurial chutzpah and prepared me for my own “ah-ha” moment.  After working on both sides of the freelance world, I knew lots of people looking for senior marcom professionals to work on long and short-term projects and I knew many more people who were a perfect fit for those projects.  I realized I could monetize my address book if I was willing to invest my own reputation and hard work.

But what if you move to a nice new building and nobody ever calls you again?

Sara says,

My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn’t have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don’t be afraid to fail.

I didn’t have the early mental training like Sara, so I find strength in her words and encourage you to read the interview, prepare yourself to be a wildly successful person and seize the opportunity when it comes by.

One communications consultant I know likens the discipline as that like working as a veterinarian. The vet deals with animals ranging from the parakeet to the potbellied pit and the myriad of dog and cat breeds in between. Here’s the best part: None of the vet’s patients can tell the vet where it hurts, how bad it hurts or, in general, what’s wrong. And that’s why some people maintain it’s harder to become a veterinarian than a medical doctor.

Do you see any similarity with clients? Let’s not go there.

Smashing Magazine, one of our regular reads on the web, recently ran an article entitled, Turning All Clients Into Dream Clients (or Common Client Difficulties) and you should take a look. In a nutshell, here’s their advice:

• Doesn’t Know What They Want
• Feels Left Out of Process
• Changes Mind Midway
• Doesn’t Understand Web Design
• Doesn’t Provide Enough Information
• Expectations Are Too High
• Struggles to Pay on Time

Complain, complain, complain.

Look: Here’s my point: You are working, for the most part, in the communications business and, by definition, are supposed to be better a communicator than your clients. That’s why they hire you in the first place. All the complaints listed above are just the table stakes required for you to even think about playing the game at the big table with the high rollers. If what Smashing magazine has outline above is the stuff that makes you crazy, then you need to get with a career counselor before you waste any more of your precious time … or that of the clients. Really.

What do you think?

The project begins. The client has a clear expectation about what the deliverable should look like.  The texture, color, shape and size.  You’re the marketing communications person, not the client, and this puts you at a disadvantage. By definition, you’re the better communicator of the two, or you should be.

Then there’s the second scenario:  The client has, at best, a vague notion of what she wants but will let you know when she sees it and now you’re working in Nordstrom, hoping you have something on the floor she’s going to love. And that you don’t burn up so many hours letting her try things on that the project becomes hopelessly unprofitable.

Freelance Switch has a post you might want to read, A Method for Meeting Client Expectations.  I sincerely hope you don’t learn too many new things in this post because you probably need to be at a more advanced, competitive level.  On the other hand, you really need to have these lessons incorporated deeply into your consulting practice. For example…

On some instances, I’ve shown clients clips of my work to show them the different options in tone they can use; otherwise, they may think all copy is the same. For example, do they want short, punchy headlines? Do they want the content with bullets? Do they want things written in first- or third-person tone? I go right to the nitty gritty, because the more information you have, the better you can produce what the client has hired you to do. Just because they cannot articulate themselves doesn’t mean it’s a free for all–you have to know how to get your clients to express what they want. (And most of you know, that’s more than asking, “What do you want?”)

Here’s a link to the entire post. What tips can you share?

Adam Vincenzini, the senior communications consultant at Paratus Communications in London, has written a great post about the lessons Don Draper can teach us about social networking.  Here’s a great sample:

You are the product

People don’t buy things, they buy feelings. Feelings come from people. Therefore (drum roll) people must be at the centre of your social media marketing efforts. [more]

It’s a fun post and I learned a couple of things too.  So take a read and let me know what you think.

Take a look at this link and you may want to share it with friends. With the current economy, most people are contemplating options and working on safety nets to ensure their survival. Thank you, Wall Street Journal, for giving everyone reliable, practical guidance.

10 Things You Can Do to Keep a Customer Today

Where are you spending more time; getting new customers or growing and expanding your relationship with the customers you already have? If you’re like most companies, you’re probably spending more time and money looking for and wooing new customers than finding new opportunities within the customers you already have.

When the economy gets tough, everyone tends to go into survival mode and think that they don’t have enough customers, or that they need new customers to replace the business that they lost. But the truth is that focusing on the customers you already have is your highest value strategy when times are tough.

If you’re afraid of losing a customer or just want to keep the customers you have loyal, here are some easy, low-cost strategies that will help you keep a customer today.

Calculate your customer net worth. The best way to inspire increase sales to existing customers is to see how much these customers have already contributed to your bottom line. The formula is actually simple: Take the total profit of your ideal customer over the lifetime of your relationship. Subtract all the costs associated with acquiring that customer. That’s all there is to it. If you’d like more detail, here’s a wonderful tool that you can use to see how much each of your ideal customers is worth.

Identify what’s most important to your customers. Focus on specific benefits that your customers are looking for such as 24/7 access to technical support instead of just service. The best way to find out is to literally get on the phone or schedule a meeting with a handful of your best customers and simply ask them “What’s important to you when you’re buying what we’re selling?” Then be quiet and let them just talk. Listen for golden nuggets that may not have anything to do with WHAT you provide, but HOW you provide it. That’s where real value lies.

Review the next customer letter you see and remove all elements of “corporate-speak” from it. You can spot fake, empty and inauthentic language (corporate B.S.) from a mile away – so can your customer. And they don’t like it. Customers are drawn to real people who use plain and simple language. Here’s how to test your document’s readability in Microsoft Word 2010: Click the File tab, and then click Options. Click Proofing. Under When correcting spelling and grammar in Word, make sure Check grammar with spelling is selected. Select Show readability statistics.

Get employees involved in building your brand and communicating with customers. Some companies shy away from having employees on Facebook while they are working. But creating a social media presence and then actually encouraging employees to connect with customers and communicate with them via Blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is a terrific way to put a personal face and connection to your company. Before you jump into this strategy, be sure to create a social media policy and clearly outline what’s acceptable and not acceptable. Also be sure to create corporate identities for your employees i.e. Scott Simon, the NPR personality’s Twitter ID is @nprscottsimon.

Create a “Key Account Plan” for a Critical Customer. The most profitable customers are the ones who purchase across your product and service offering. Yet, many of us have customers who purchase one or two products or services – when they might actually have a need for (but not know about) the other products we have available. A key account plan puts your focus on your customer and all the different ways that you can serve them – not just with products, but with other value added services. Think of it as a marketing plan for that one target customer. If you’re still in a bind, you can download this strategic account plan template here.

Offer an insane guarantee. BEFORE your customer starts threatening to go to a competitor, create and offer an insane guarantee. Business owners are often afraid of offering guarantees because they think that they will lose money. But if you’ve done the customer net worth calculation (tip #1) you will see that offering a risk-free guarantee costs NOTHING compared to what that customer has already contributed to your bottom line.

Give them the star treatment. Identify your key customers and create a “concierge” team to service their every need. Have a member from key areas such as sales, marketing, service, production or technology serve as the customer concierge team. Give them a broad latitude and freedom to get things done. If this proves successful for you, think about making this an added service that other customer can subscribe to. I know one company that added $2 million straight to their bottom line by using this strategy.

Create an advisory board. Instead of wondering what new products or services would most interest your customer – get them involved in the development process by inviting them to participate on an advisory board. The investment in time and money in creating this engaged customer community will pay off in spades. Create events where you educate your customer advisory board on industry trends and then ask them the questions that keep you wondering if there’s actually demand for your idea. You can even keep these virtual with tools like GoTo Meeting that have chat screens, polls and the ability to create recorded sessions.

Monthly “Surprise Gift.” We’ve all heard of a book of the month club, how about a surprise of the month “gift” for your key customers. I’m not necessarily talking about the kinds of gifts that get you in trouble – maybe it’s something like “This month’s order of widget “x” was on us! Enjoy” Again, if you look at your key customer’s net worth to your business, isn’t it better to spend your money on keeping them loyal than throwing your money away on hopes of gaining a new customer? Reciprocity (along with quality and service) is a powerful loyalty tool.

LOVE them. When you love a hobby or another person you take an interest in what’s happening around them. Do the same with your customers. If you know that your customer contact is a fan of pink flamingoes and you see a postcard or figurine in a gift shop – pick it up and send it to them. It says that you know who they are and you listen and care. Do at least one nice, selfless thing for a customer because you love them.

This is a short list of 10 ways to keep customers. But YOU’RE somebody’s customer too. Why not take this opportunity to share what you’d want to see from the companies you do business with that would keep you loyal and get you singing their praises.

* * * * *

Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.

Sharlyn Lauby writes: One of the keys to being a successful consultant is information – having it at your fingertips the moment you need it.

While some sources might come and go depending upon the projects I’m working on or the hot topics of the day, there are a few that I keep bookmarked and ready, because I seem to need them on a regular basis.

My top 11 suggestions for online resources that cater to the needs of consultants are listed here. This is just a starter list — add your own suggestions in the comments.

Stick To What You Do Best

Clients are paying top dollar for an expert, not someone who requires a learning curve. Consultants should be honest about their strengths and previous experience, including limitations. If you want to broaden your expertise beyond your sweet spot, learn by watching your client’s internal experts (on unbilled time), take courses, or trade services and advice with a fellow professional who’s already mastered that skill set.

Let Your Passion Show

It’s so obvious when you meet someone who truly loves what they do. They aren’t watching the clock or waiting to be asked for the next instruction. Clients love working with consultants who exude confidence and have a zeal for their profession. Consultants who are clearly “in the zone” will endear themselves to any overworked client by helping to anticipate needs and suggest creative yet cost-efficient solutions.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Over the course of our business, there have only been a handful of times when we needed to swoop in and salvage a project. In almost every case the problem was simply mis-communication, or no communication at all. It is the consultant’s responsibility to over-communicate and provide regular updates in the manner most preferred by the client (email, phone, weekly 1:1, written report). There should be no surprises!

Proactive and Professional

Anticipating the needs of your client is an essential element of successful consulting that requires maturity and sensitivity. And moving-target clients who never have time to meet or non-communicative managers who can’t make decisions require heroic tenacity to keep the project rolling on track. Conversely, when a consultant will be unavailable while volunteering in a classroom or tending to other family needs (which is why consultants become consultants), clients should be notified well in advance of schedule conflicts. The best consultants remain professional all the time, offer great flexibility and accessibility, and limit the personal details.

No Prima Donnas

Contrary to some beliefs, consulting is not about the consultant. It’s not about showing off, whining, back-stabbing, making excuses or generating awe and admiration. It is about taking away the pain for clients and making them look great at all costs. Consultants who put their client’s needs first have long-term fans who happily and promptly pay invoices.

What do YOU think the best consultants do to become indispensable? Post your comments here. Next month, look for our thoughts on What Makes a Great Client?

The Wall Street Journal describes a real crisis for millions of freelancers in this country. Nearly half of all independent sole proprietors struggle to get paid by clients. Even projects that have been approved for payment.

What follows is an excerpt of their article, “Freelancers Fight to Be Paid.”

About 40% of freelancers had trouble getting paid in 2009, according to a survey released in mid-April by the New York-based Freelancers Union, a 135,000-member organization for independent contractors across the country in fields such as media, technology, and advertising. It was the first year the group asked the question on its member survey. And more than three out of four freelancers said they’ve had trouble getting paid over the course of their careers over the course of their career, according to organization.

The problem could become more acute as independent contractors emerge as a more central piece of the work force. The financial crisis and the resulting high unemployment thrust many professionals into the ranks of freelance workers, which may continue to grow despite signs of an economic recovery.

Littler Mendelson, a San Francisco-based employment law firm with 49 offices nationwide, predicts that in 2010 half of previously eliminated positions filled will be filled by contingent workers—such as independent contractors, freelancers, and temp workers—accounting for as much as 25% of the work force nationwide— based on client interviews and a survey conducted by a staffing analysis firm.

Since independent contractors aren’t covered by most federal employment laws, they don’t enjoy the same legal protections on wages as permanent employees, says a spokesman for the Department of Labor. If a permanent employee doesn’t get paid, federal or state labor departments can fine companies and even prosecute company executives. But independent contractors often have to turn to the court system, in most cases small claims, if they go unpaid.

To some, small-claims court can be more trouble than it’s worth, says Sara Horowitz, executive director of the Freelancers Union. Depending on the state, it will cost about $50 to file a claim and it can take months for a case to be heard. Even if a freelancer wins, small-claims judgments must be collected by the plaintiff.

Read the entire article here.