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Yesterday marked exactly 3 months since I kicked off my foray as a start-up by setting up my small business as a consultancy specialising in social media, digital PR and personal branding.

In those 3 months I have learned many things, so thought I could give a little back by jotting down 5 tips based on my experience.

Long and Winding Road

1 – Believe in Yourself

Sounds obvious right? But you need to have the courage of your convictions during the first three months because it isn’t going to be smooth sailing. You have to get your head around a ton of new stuff from accounting, to invoicing, to marketing, to sitting in a café on your own, to the highs of getting a proposal accepted, to the lows of not having phone calls or emails returned.

You shouldn’t be going solo unless you really think you can do it, and really thinking you can do it means you have to have done lots of research and have psyched yourself up into a frenzy of self-belief.

 2 – It’s OK If You Fail

Really it is. I had a lot of self-belief when I left Microsoft, but what has also kept me going is that friends and family have admired my courage and helped me understand that if I gave it my best shot, if I was truly prepared and gave it everything I had and it didn’t work out, then at least I could say I tried.

How many people do you know have started their own business even though they have had a slew of lucrative job offers waiting in the wings? I bet it’s not many. So to branching out on your own is a pretty unique escapade in the grand scheme of things, so if you fail, you fail, but people will think more of you for having given it your best try, and you will think more of yourself.

3 – Know Your Value

When you start your own business a curious thing happens. People get a whiff that you’re just starting out and try and get your services for free or at radically reduced fees “because you need the experience right?”

My advice is to stick to your guns and know your value. If you truly trust your experience and worth then charge accordingly and don’t do free stuff as it sends you on a spiral you’ll find it difficult to get out of.

I don’t charge by the hour. I charge by the project or on a retainer basis because if you charge by the hour, there are only so many hours in the week that you can bill for. You’re restricting your potential and your value to time.

With 12 years experience in digital marketing, companies are paying for that experience and my connections. That doesn’t translate into an hourly rate. It translates into a fee that adds that experience and value into that client’s company and people.

Know what you’re worth and know that you’ll respect yourself better if you turn down work because it cheapens your value.

4 – Keep It Small

After I left Microsoft, I must have asked 50 people for their opinion on what I was about to do. Many had small businesses, agencies or consultancies themselves and most of them them asked if I had grand plans for Delightful. When I said I did, I was repeatedly warned to keep it small. It might sound awesome to be heading up an agency of 25 people with hundreds of clients being billed tens of thousands of dollars a month, but how much of that money is actually going to go into your pocket? How many of those clients are you actually going to interface with? How much of your experience and value will actually be used on real work?

Chances are you’ll be the CEO and buried in payroll, tax disputes, legal wranglings, HR issues and marketing conundrums, instead of actually doing any of the work you love to do. Chances also are that, unless you plan on selling the business, you could earn as much, if not more by being a one man band with a couple of contractors on hand for busy periods.

Keeping it small reduces headaches I’m told and I’ve not had to reach for the professional Advil once in the last 90 days.

5 – Know Your Niche

When setting up your business really try and research your market to find a niche. I knew setting out that if my business specialised in something I could potentially charge more. It would be crystal clear exactly what I did and (sometimes more importantly) what I didn’t do, and it created talking points with potential clients that built trust because I was demonstrating I understood their business problems and could really, REALLY help.

I’ve hung my consultancy on three specific pillars: Social Media Integration, Digital PR and Personal Branding. I tell the story that these were the three areas I had the most success with during my time at Microsoft and it’s true that businesses struggle very often with these channels. I’m not a catch-all marketing agency. I won’t set up your Twitter account or Facebook page. I won’t manage your social online reputation on an on-going basis, but I will set you up and teach you how to do that. I know my niche.

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P.S. Also, read “Million Dollar Consulting” by Alan Weiss. The book sounds ghastly but was recommended to me by Jun Young, so I thought I’d pick up a copy. It’s a remarkable read packed full of advice from how to market yourself, how to write a killer proposal so it gets accepted and how to navigate the minefield of fees and what to charge.

It’s been a little over a week since I picked up the new Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone from AT&T and I’ve been putting it through its paces. Whenever I get it out people ask me what I think, so I’ve consolidated those thoughts in this post that I hope you find useful when thinking about buying one.

The major selling point for the Lumia 920 is the camera. I was given the Lumia 900 when I worked at Microsoft so I could evangelise about it and I found the camera to be lacking.

18 months ago I’d  picked up the original Samsung Focus and the camera was faultless. It did me proud through the birth (not the ACTUAL birth) of my daughter and her first year on the planet. When I got the Lumia 900, it took so long to take the picture the adorable thing Maggie was doing was over and she’d invariably left the room!

I can happily report that the Lumia 920 has got its camera act together and it takes good photos. I have a Panasonic Lumix G2 with pancake lens that takes amazing photos. So it should, it’s an expensive camera. The 920 is a phone with a camera, so don’t expect Leica quality.

Let me take you through a few photos I’ve taken. The coffee cup above was the first photo I took and it’s not bad. Notice the slight blurring of the background. Nice!

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Reposted from the Pioneers of Digital blog.

We love new technology. We especially love simple, useful and beautiful technology.

A current darling of the iPad App scene is Haiku Deck, a Seattle-based start up headed up by Adam Tratt.

The tagline – “Set Your Story Free” – couldn’t be more apt as you scroll through our Pioneers of Digital deck.

Please take a look and feel free to share…..

I’ve been told my hosting service is doing some upgrade work tomorrow, so the site may be down for a bit.

Follow all the latest on Twitter…….

After nineteen months of living in this town I’ve finally bagged a speaking slot at a Seattle event next week…..

The Seattle Interactive Conference is a fabulous couple of days full of insight and cutting edge discussion and I’m thrilled to be talking about Pioneers of Digital on Tuesday 30th at 10.10am in Room 205.

Here’s the blurb:

Tales of the Unexpected from Pioneers of Digital

By 2016 there will be six billion mobile devices, two billion PCs and nearly a billion tablets in the world. As internet consumption keeps growing and the web becomes more crowded, brands will need to stand out and be brilliant like never before.

Taking us on a whirlwind journey showcasing campaigns and Pioneers of Digital from all over the globe, Mel Carson – founder of Delightful Communications & former Microsoft Digital Evangelist – will demonstrate how these examples have stood out and been successful by adapting quickly to new technology and consumer trends.

My talk on the book at the Online Marketing Summit earlier this week went very well. I was slightly disappointed at the lack of real-time tweets until someone pointed out that they were all actually listening to the stories I was telling, so that was nice to hear!

“Captivating” seems to be a word people are using most to describe the content and that’s exactly what Paul Springer and I set out to create!

I hope to see you in person next week at #sic2012, if not you can buy the book and leave a comment on the blog as to what you think and who we should include in the sequel!

Thanks to Morgan Bradley at BPR for helping me get the slot at the Seattle Interactive Conference too.

That Howie has some rock stars working for him you know!

I am as guilty of procrastinating as anyone who puts off certain tasks until the last minute!

A few years ago I wrote about the book Eat That Frog, which is an excellent quick read to help you get over your stalling.

More recently I’ve read Procrastination too, and found out I’m a maladaptive perfectionist!

The above video is an excellent two minute explanation of why we procrastinate from ASAP Science.

Watch it and learn about “present bias” and “hyperbolic discounting” and then…………………stop procrastinating and get back to work!

This article has been reposted from the Pioneers of Digital Blog

Anyone who has used Google has been exposed to the groundbreaking work started by Vanessa Fox in 2005.

That’s a lot of people.

The 7th in our Pioneers of Digital series we’re blogging before the book launches in the UK and the US, is now founder of Nine By Blue, a Seattle-based marketing intelligence firm and author of Marketing in the Age of Google.

During her time at Google she took on a project that was described by her boss at the time as, “an experiment that will either fail miserably, or succeed beyond our wildest dreams, in making the web better for webmasters and users alike.”

It succeeded. And you can read in the book all about the way Vanessa, who was working out of their tiny Kirkland office at the time, persuaded engineers at Google’s Mountain View HQ, and the industry as a whole to help her create one of the most visited intelligence tools and community on the web.

Pioneers of Digital launches on October 3rd – pre-order your copy now by visiting Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon for the next ‘reveal’.

Thanks,

Mel & Paul

PS: If you liked this snippet from the book, please share it with your friends and followers using the buttons below and help us spread the word!

Update Weds 26th September 5.05am PST: I’m not publishing any more comments (or gossip) about the individuals involved or any opinion on whether the allegations are true or not. As I’ve said we don’t know if they are. That’s not the point of this post. It’s an opinion piece on the “evolution” of social media and news, not a playground for internet trolls.

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Anyone in the media industry in the UK, if not the world, has been exposed today to the #Shicklegate social media explosion radiating out of London right now.

A disgruntled employee resigns and sends out an email with a flurry of accusations about the conduct of their boss. Someone sticks it on Dropbox and it goes viral…….in a big way.

Thousands of people have commented on Twitter using the hashtag and probably millions of Twitter accounts have been reached as a result.

As many are pointing out, this sad episode just goes to show the power of Twitter if the content is juicy enough, regardless of whether it is true or not.

The Sun has run an article which it has now taken down. There’s already a Hitler “Downfall” video live on Dailymotion, but I gather that’s been deleted too.

I think it’s sad because two people’s careers may lay in tatters.

Shickle’s because whatever he says in his defence, it’s unlikely anyone will fully believe him, and Allen because he’ll probably get sued if these allegations are not true, and who’s going to want to work with someone who appears to be logging your every move anyway?

What else lays in tatters is the reputation of journalism for going after page views in lieu of actually checking facts. I know it’s The Sun we’re talking about, but still, the attitude of “publish” and then “oops sorry, unpublish” is starting to wear a little thin.

This one’s set to roll with a lot of Tweets asking if the BBC will talk about it on tonight’s news in the UK.

Let’s hope not eh?

There’s plenty more wrong with the world without worrying about this little spat.

Today is the official launch of my new business: Delightful Communications

Ever since I was 12 years old I have wanted to start my own company.

At school I would ask the teachers to stock the library with all manner of entrepreneur-type magazines and books, and you could often find me voraciously reading them, pausing only occasionally to stare out of the window and daydream about what it must be like to be your own boss.

Well, when fortune forced me to pull a sad face 8 weeks ago, those dreams started to become a reality as I realised now was the time to make them real.

The reaction to me leaving my seven-year role at Microsoft was overwhelming. Literally hundreds of people emailed or commented either wishing me well, or wanting to talk about possible new jobs or business partnerships.

To everyone who contacted me, I’d like to thank you very much again. The words of encouragement were the well-needed boost to the inkling that now was the time to set up on my own. I thought long and hard about the positions I was asked to try out for, and am grateful for the time people took to uncover potential roles for me.

After many discussions with my wife and family, coupled with the wise counsel of some of my closest industry friends, Delightful Communications was born.

The consultancy builds on the three areas I had the most success with during my time at Microsoft:

– Social Media Integration

– Digital PR

– Personal Branding

To understand more about how I’ll be helping my customers, click through to the site that has been so beautifully put together by Dave Naylor’s team at Bronco.

Clients and partners I’m already working with include: Sociagility, Nine By Blue, 3 Monkeys, Haiku Deck, Zaprica, Barokas PR and The Seattle Theatre Group.

I’m also thrilled to be getting into the “Big Data” space by taking on a part-time role as “US Ambassador at Large” for Majestic SEO. I’ve been watching their impressive development, and the strides my friend Dixon Jones has been making in the industry for the last few years. I am looking forward to learning from the team, and helping them reach more people throughout the US who are in need of the wealth of actionable information their platform holds.

As I said eight weeks ago, my time at Microsoft was an incredible experience. I spent seven years working with some of the smartest and most astute minds in technology and advertising, and I’m sure our paths will cross again over the next seven.

With my book – Pioneers of Digital – launching in just twenty five days, and a growing list of speaking engagements, I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me over the next few months!

Thanks again everyone for all the support and words of wisdom. It’s meant so much to me and my family!

Thanks too to the guys – Blake and Jess – from the video production company, Cherry, who put together this video of my career highlights. We had quite a ride shooting all those interviews over the years.

Cheers,

Mel

This article has been re-posted from the Pioneers of Digital Blog.

Sohu.cn in China has the largest combined search, social and entertainment portals in the world. With over 505 million internet users – more than the entire population of the USA – Sohu contains many of the world’s most populated sites.

Zhang Minhui managed Sohu’s brand advertising and commercial content across its digital platforms during the key years of growth from 2002-2010, which makes him one of the most influential pioneers of digital.

Minhui negotiated how marketing would work through search, social, gaming, mobile, news and interactive media. Where Sohu created the formats, Minhui made it commercial.

A chapter profiling Zhang and Sohu also traces the four key periods in China’s recent and groundbreaking digital history.

Pioneers of Digital launches in October – pre-order your copy now by visiting Buy Pioneers of Digital Book and check back soon for the next ‘reveal’.

PS: If you liked this snippet from the book, please share it with your friends and followers using the buttons below and help us spread the word!

Thanks,

Paul