As a writer, I’m always interested in my audience. Business people also need a clear understanding of their prospects and customers. Marketing pros often focus on demographic statistics, but those might not provide an integrated picture of prospects and customers as individuals.

Prospects and Customers as Fictional Characters

A persona is a brief, but detailed, description of a software user or, more generally, a typical prospect or customer. Think of the persona as a description of a fictional character. The persona doesn’t describe an actual person, but may incorporate the characteristics of many real people. Some of the characteristics that a persona might include are:

Write Personas for Your Marketing Plan

Here’s an exercise for you; write three personas for prospects or customers of your business. Remember to keep them brief: 250 words or one double-spaced page should be enough.

In the past few years most of us have experienced insecurity, particularly during this recession. You may not have been disposed of by an employer or had to close down a business, but you probably know someone who has gone through that experience. You may think your turn may come soon.

Taking action reduces the anxiety from insecurity

Based on my experience, you can reduce your stress and anxiety by taking positive action to change your situation. The world will change around you. You must adapt to that change and take action, however small, to improve your situation.

After I was disposed of by an employer, I suggested to my wife that we move halfway across the country to be closer to her family. I was ready for a change of scene; she was ready for a less work-oriented lifestyle. Moving your home is one of the top ten stressful life events (along with not having a job), but we were moving toward a new and hopefully better life.

Your employer isn’t secure, neither are you.

So far, our move to a new home in Des Moines, Iowa has been successful. I don’t wake up at 2 am gnawing on my insecurity anymore.

I’m working, but don’t have a job. Some people may cling to the false sense of security that a job gives them, but they should understand that all jobs are temporary. The world around them continues to change. They can become victims of that change or they can change with it. Working for a big employer may provide some buffer from the negative (and positive) changes in the world, but eventually even big corporations have to change or fail.

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. “

–Stanley Horowitz

Be part of the scenery, don't just look out the window.

Now that it’s fall, too many people put their bicycles into the garage until spring. You may not want to bike in the snow (I have to check to see if my studded tires arrived at the store yet.), but don’t your bike away too soon. Put on a sweater and pedal out. This morning I rode my bike to work through the woods along the Raccoon River and realized how much I enjoy biking in the fall.

Why should you bike to work this fall? It’s–

Fresh

Leave your stinkbox at home. You know how bad your car smells. Which do you dislike more, the smell of burned gasoline or the toxic ‘new car smell’ of plastic and adhesives? And, don’t get me started on ‘air fresheners.’

Fun

WTF? A detour! Where should I go? Oh, I have to find my way? But, then I would see something…different. I crossed over a different bridge, but found my way. Hey, I got to explore. For a few minutes, I got lost, then found my way. Doesn’t that sound like more fun than the same ol’ boring rouitine to work? No? You need to get out more.

Sunny

Or at least overcast. Either way you need the sun more than you need to spend more time inside your home, office, or car. We don’t get enough sun during the winter. Not enough sun, not enough vitamin D. What does that mean…less sun, less vitamin D, more depression.

Beautiful

This year, after 20-plus years of California’s un-fall, I’m enjoying the changes. I had forgotten fall’s messiness, the sound of leaves, and the crispness in the air. Sometimes I meet deer in the woods. I enjoy the scenery much more than staring at the car ahead of me.

Healthy

My bike ride today took less time than my usual morning run. Do NOT go to the gym! That smells as bad as your car. No, you’re not too obese to ride a bike. Waddle down to WalMart or your local bike shop. Buy something cheap so that you can give it away in a few months after you’ve lost a chunk of weight.

Did you enjoy your drive to work today? Tomorrow, ride your bike.

Heat indexes? Bike/ped trails? Flooded river? Back in Cupertino, California, we rarely dealt with such things. Some summer days would reach the 90s, but we would console ourselves that it was “a dry heat.” Here, in Des Moines, with humidity about 70%, my eyeglasses fog over when I step out of an air conditioned building. This is a wet heat. As a NorCal bicycle commuter I was used to painted bike lanes or cycling in the right lane with traffic. Here, riding on paved, wide trails seems…wrong. Bikes shouldn’t be on sidewalks, even if they’re called trails. And, yes the Guadalupe River has gotten high a few times and flooded a freeway underpass. Here, cities build flood gates that can be lowered to complete a flood wall (and block a major boulevard).

So, I haven’t yet re-established a bicycle commuting routine. When the weather cools, I’ll start doing sprint intervals near Grey Lake park. When the summer turns dry, I;ll establish my new commute routines. For now, I’m coping with the disruption of old routines and establishing new ones. Yes, disrupting routines can be disconcerting, but I like watching thunderstorms, biking without cars, and walking along the river.

Disruption has both cost and value.

My primary strength is Communication. Since I’ve been a technical writer for over ten years and a public speaker for a couple of years, that’s not a surprising result. I suspect that my sister, a lieutenant colonel in logistics, might find that her strength is Discipline. The results of the Strengths Finder may seem obvious, but should be helpful if you need to refocus your work.

In the past few months I’ve taken several interests / values / aptitude assessments and explored work alternatives. Although the result of my Strengths Finder assessment may seem obvious, it feels like a validation that I’ve been on the right track for the past several years. The Strengths Finder helped me refocus on my primary strength. It provides a rationale to develop and use my specialized knowledge and skills. The Strengths Finder also identified four less-obvious strengths as complements to my primary strength. Working on these won’t be a priority, but understanding and integrating them with my primary strength should be valuable.

Recommended Reading
Soar with Your Strengths, read Chapter 3-Find Out What You Do Well and Do More of It. Donald Clifton and Paula Nelson

Strengths Finder 2.0, provides access code to strengths assessment. Tom Rath

Initially, I felt surprised to be so easily dehumanized. However, in that corporation’s culture that was how managers routinely referred to lower-rank employees. It’s possible that at the time she considered hiring my replacement or offshoring the project to India. However, a few days later I was “allocated” to the project as I had expected.

This experience led me to do a bit of research and thinking about my role as an economic resource.

One of the primary responsibilities of managers is the efficient allocation of labor and capital, the basic economic resources. In a knowledge-based business first- and second-level managers have limited opportunity to allocate capital. A newly-acquired human resource only requires a cubicle and a PC. The only capital allocation involved in integrating a new employee may be a squabble with another manager over an open cube. The PC is often a hand-me-down from a former employee.

As I thought about the manager as resource allocator, I began to consider myself as a self-allocating resource. Beyond a basic level of compensation, cash or tiny bits of equity may be insufficient compensation for a dysfunctional work environment. At that point I should act as a self-allocating resource and find another job, for my sake and for the success of my current and future managers.

“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” — Albert Einstein

“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”

What are you grateful for?

Charlie