Day 13: Where is your comfort zone?

Before I begin this ridiculously scattered rant, you may be wondering why a tile guy popped out of the woodwork.

That’s right, a tile guy.
I’m not a writer (a point which this post will undoubtedly prove). I don’t make a living writing. I’m not trying to, I haven’t even monetized my blog in any form and it’s almost two years old. I don’t coach. I don’t consult. I don’t affiliate, promote, market or dance (well). (At all).

So why am I here?

Because I’m out of my element. Make sense? Of course not! But being out of your element has curious effects. I purposely force myself out of my comfort zone, sometimes painfully so, and in doing so I’ve expanded it. Not so much that I feel like an expert at anything but tile, but I’m semi-comfortable doing things at which I’m not an expert. This is a huge step for me and probably would be for you, too. Give your comfort zone the day off.

So what does this have to do with customer love?

(Don’t you hate it when people ask a question and answer it themselves?)

The first customer love challenge was exactly that for me – a challenge, and not just because I’m a jerk (I’m not, but I play one on the internet). As you probably know it was inspired by Naomi Dunford’s post Make Them Love You. THEN Ask For Money. Since I follow Naomi’s blog, when I saw LaVonne’s challenge, I jumped in – without thinking, without planning, and without alcohol in my system (LaVonne did tell me I could be the weird one.)

I wasn’t comfortable. And not just because I’d had no alcohol. This isn’t my thing – I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. Become insanely active on Twitter??? What had I gotten myself into?

But something strange happened.

By stepping (plunging head-first blindfolded) out of my comfort zone and into this challenge, I began making connections. Not my normal connections, like people who want to learn about tile, Vegas bookies, or bartenders. I made connections with people who knit! A math(s) tutor, numerous writers and a voice coach (which is strange, since I sound like a drunk leprechaun).

Now I’m absolutely positive that these connections will help me in my online journeys – wherever those happen to be. But they have already helped me with what I do every day, in the non-virtual world. I have applied lessons from the first customer love challenge into my day-to-day business. I have made connections, I have learned about what makes others happy. What they love to do. In doing so, I have extremely happy customers who think I’m the greatest thing to happen to tile since Rome. Cool, right?

So Just Do It!

If you’re still having trouble getting started or making those connections like I did at first (tile guy, remember?) it’s actually fairly easy and totally painless. Start small, with the simple things that take almost no time (unless you get sucked into the twitter vortex – careful, it happens.)

• Start following people on Twitter. Follow people who do things you know nothing about. You never know what you may actually find interesting. They will often follow you back – make that connection. Be sure to check out their profile, though. Make sure they tweet in a manner you can tolerate. Take me, for instance, I’m an acquired taste – like wildebeest jerky.
• Retweet. You may not think that what someone has tweeted is important, but it is important to that person. Help them spread the word to people they may never have reached. A lot of tile contractors follow me. They often wonder why they get my retweets about knitting and math. I let them wonder for two reasons: 1) They will click on the link in the retweet, and 2) they know I’m weird. I’m copacetic with both of those. By simply clicking once to retweet something, you are helping someone else build their audience. They will probably return the favor.
• Become a fan. If you find someone with a FaceBook page become a fan! Again, it’s just one click and fairly effortless.
• Create a FaceBook page for your business or blog. When you love your customers, they usually love you back. Give them a place to find out what you’re up to without specifically seeking you out. When they ‘Like’ your page, your updates show up in their timeline. Just be there when they want to show you the love. Don’t know how to do that? Give me a shout, I’ll set one up for you – gratis (that’s Elf-Latin for free).
• Comment on blogs. I don’t do this nearly enough and I apologize in advance for not getting to yours (yet). But comments are important to people – they let them know they aren’t just screaming into the void.
• Respond to comments on your blog. When I started my blog almost two years ago that was the one rule I set for myself – and not just because I can only remember one thing at a time. I respond to every comment on my blog. Some days it is an incredible time suck and some days I really, really don’t feel like talking about tile anymore – but I do anyway. If someone takes the time to comment or ask a question, give them a minute or two and respond – it lets them know you are actually at the other end listening. That you love them.

All of the things I’ve suggested are things I’m absolutely certain you have read before. I’m simply asking you to do it in a manner that may be outside your normal routine, field of interest, or comfort zone. Stop limiting yourself. If you’re a writer or marketer, you have plenty of like-minded people with whom you can connect. As a tile guy, I’m fairly limited (insert snarky remark here), so I connect with writers, marketers, mathematicians, voice coaches and knitters. Why? Because I’m now the only tile guy on the face of the planet who knows that ‘layette’ is a reversible stitch pattern – cool, right?

So don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

Give your status quo a day off and be someone completely different, interested in different things, different people, and different skill sets. Show other people that you are interested in what they find extremely important. They may end up being interested in what you find important. Who knows, you just might learn something in the process.

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