I Can’t Wake Up Without You…
Or I can’t go to sleep without you. Or I can’t eat lunch, take a break, do work, exercise, drive, without you… whatever. I can’t do without you! You get the point.
This is a totally unfair post, because I’m not giving you the magic method.
You’ve got to be as essential as morning coffee to someone, to survive—whether you own your own business, or you’re an employee in a shaky industry, or maybe you’re a blog author. 
We all answer to someone: the buyer, the boss and coworkers, our readers, (even our spouse and kids!). And if you want to survive and thrive, you’ve got to be essential to someone.
Start today. Build your value so that you become essential to one new customer, new reader, or a coworker. Someone just has to have you, your product, or your service, as part of their day, because you __________ .
They’ll tell someone else, and you’ll have a chance to become as essential as morning coffee to a new contact.
Keep it going.
Are you as essential as morning coffee?
Who or what’s as essential as morning coffee to you?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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9 January 2009, 8:36 am
Gee, I’m kinda commented out from yesterday!
Friar’s last blog post…Unhealthy Crap I Love to Eat, but Probably Shouldn’t.
9 January 2009, 11:28 am
We actually have to be cautious doing this at the Factory so as not to go overboard.
Some people go beyond essential and become the single source for something.
Intentionally positioning yourself to be the only one capable of performing a task without a backup is actually grounds for termination with cause (I’m serious).
Of course, managers do it all the time…
I hear what you’re saying of course and it makes good sense, especially if you’re independent or at a small company – I just thought I’d add that angle from the psychotic megacorp mentality.
-Brett
Brett Legree’s last blog post…week 6 – final exam.
9 January 2009, 11:39 am
@Brett
Yeah, but then again, nobody is truly indispensable. People quit, retire, win the lottery, get hit by a bus…and someone will take their place. Large companies will still survive and thrive, like the huge parastic organisims that they are.
(Holy crap…I think I just commented something that was TOPICAL to Kelly’s post!)
Friar’s last blog post…Unhealthy Crap I Love to Eat, but Probably Shouldn’t.
9 January 2009, 12:37 pm
Oh yes, that goes without saying Friar. At the Factory, the only indispensable people I know of are “The Lads”, because no one else knows how to do what they do and you can’t learn it from the procedures. No one could step in there tomorrow. What they do would be on hiatus for probably at least a year.
But I think what Kelly’s saying can definitely be applied to smaller companies. You could nicely make sure you’re the only game in town for what you do so people have to have you, and you alone. That would be pretty cool…
Brett Legree’s last blog post…week 6 – final exam.
9 January 2009, 1:01 pm
I like this concept. It’s kind of what Starbucks figured out. We really want and need a neutral third place to our lives. That they warm our milk and know what we like to drink helps too.
Well, that and the addictive nature of caffeine and pastries.
But seriously, being the touchstone is a good thing to be if people can trust you to be just that. I think.
But we would get vacations too, right?
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Exploratory Drawings
9 January 2009, 1:15 pm
There are so many things people want: to be included, to be up to date, to get the best deal, to be smart, to look good, to feel good, etc., etc. If you can give something that fulfills one of those desires, and do it well, they’ll be back again and again and they’ll bring their friends.
Kelly made me feel good when she welcomed me here a couple of weeks ago. It made me want to come back and get a refill of that good welcoming feeling. Though I subscribed, ironically my blog reader wasn’t showing me posts for this blog until I discovered the problem this morning. Several times during the past week I was actually missing this blog, and thinking that I needed to somehow find the link again. I’m so glad I did. I would drive out of my way to get the coffee served here.
Todd Smith’s last blog post…Help me choose the best calendar size for 2010
9 January 2009, 1:43 pm
@Brett
Yeah. I see what you mean.
For example, if Kelly quit and someone else wrote this blog, it woudlnt’ be the same and we’d probably not visit anymore. In small businesses, you lose a key person, it’s pretty serious.
I think smaller businesses are more advanced life forms, compared to bloated big corporations.
Friar’s last blog post…Unhealthy Crap I Love to Eat, but Probably Shouldn’t.
9 January 2009, 4:03 pm
Friar,
You regained your commenting-strength. I’m so glad. And look, you do know how to stay on-topic! Thanks for your kind words, too.
*note to self: write about a.m. coffee to get Friar’s full attention*
Brett (and Friar again),
Well, sure, I can see that—there should always be procedures in place so that even a monkey can come in, in an emergency. Can’t have the nukes facility—or any other company—falling apart because one person decides to go AWOL.
At the same time, to be known for going further than your job description… having more knowledge than “any monkey” who might replace you, being able to do what is required and add your individual expertise and spin—even your own special joie de vivre, so that no other staffer is going to come in and fit into your team half so well—that can make you as essential as morning coffee, without making national security a problem, right?
Janice,
Essential people/companies/staff/bloggers can have vacations, yes.
I think the peril is letting people get used to time without you. Then they might discover ways to get along without you… ouch.
Todd,
Why thank you! That is the very nicest thing that has ever been said here. Gold star for you.
Voila. Exactly what led me to think about this. Who or what would I drive out of my way for… certain blogs, a certain brand of shoes, my hairdresser (!), certain restaurants, my favorite flannel pajamas, even. They’re essential as…
Well, for me it’s not morning coffee. For me it’s diet Coke. Just drop a truckload off at my back door, weekly. Now that’s essential.
Regards,
Kelly
9 January 2009, 4:26 pm
Mmmm, just got a refill. Happy again, and will be back tomorrow!
Todd Smith’s last blog post…Help me choose the best calendar size for 2010
9 January 2009, 4:39 pm
Kelly,
Oh, I know what you mean. The Factory is the only big company I’ve ever worked for, everything else has been less than 100 people (and most less than 20).
So I am known as someone who goes beyond the job description… until… the Factory.
I can’t count the number of times I did something above and beyond the requirements, and was then told “that’s not your job”.
They’ll give you recognition for getting more of YOUR work done faster and working longer hours.
Innovative solutions? Bzzzt. That’s not your job, they say.
Well, there is hope. Maybe the new CEO (gotta email him again soon).
-Brett
Brett Legree’s last blog post…week 6 – final exam.
9 January 2009, 5:07 pm
Todd,
As long as your RSS doesn’t try to foil me again!
Brett,
Ah. Now that tragic difficulty is the “angle from the psychotic megacorp mentality.” Yuck.
And yes, you have hundreds of readers hanging on the performance of your new CEO—do email him again, we’d love to hear that *he* exceeds expectations!
Until later,
Kelly
9 January 2009, 5:09 pm
Kelly,
I’m glad you caught that lest I sounded less than positive! He (the new CEO) seems a very proactive guy, both Friar & I have emailed him and received responses – that’s just so non-Factorylike, it’s scary
Brett Legree’s last blog post…week 6 – final exam.
9 January 2009, 5:32 pm
The poor guy has no idea the hopes of a couple of corners of the blogosphere hang on him. Good on you both.
9 January 2009, 5:40 pm
No worries if my RSS fails me. I’d miss you again after a while and be driving across town.
This is exactly the point you were making. This is not about tricking your customers or catching them somehow. It’s not about sales funnels. This is about fulfilling some deep value that they’d come back looking for even if their RSS fails or their email address changes.
Todd Smith’s last blog post…Help me choose the best calendar size for 2010
9 January 2009, 6:04 pm
Dang, Todd, you’re a keeper.
Thanks for totally getting it today!
10 January 2009, 8:38 pm
Asides my morning coffee, I can’t say that there’s one person I NEED in my day. I need people in general. Conversation, talk, sharing, idea brainstorming…
Pick ONE? Sheesh.
James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog post…Finding More Time For Yourself
10 January 2009, 8:47 pm
(psssst… James… you were supposed to say “Kelly”)
Brett Legree’s last blog post…week 6 – final exam.
10 January 2009, 8:52 pm
(…shit. Missed that. Thanks, bro.)
…AS I WAS SAYING… What would I do without my little ray of Irish sunshine and… and…
No, it’s not gonna work now, is it. Damn.
James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog post…Finding More Time For Yourself
10 January 2009, 10:23 pm
Let me just say, I am totally jealous because I didn’t think of this post’s title first.
Then you follow it with a great and highly relevant quote.
Then you make an extremely cogent point.
Ahhh, Hell! I’m jealous of the whole durn thing:-)
Well said.
Regards,
Glenn
Glenn’s last blog post…Customer Service Lessons From Two Hospitals
10 January 2009, 10:41 pm
James and Brett,
Bwah ha ha.
I wasn’t fishing for compliments, and I think I can safely say now, it’s a good thing I wasn’t.
Glenn,
Thank you! Turnabout’s fair. I’m often jealous of your posts. Glad you liked it.
Until later,
Kelly
*shuffles off, muttering* Yeah, someday I’ll be somebody’s little ray of Irish sunshine… aw, shucks. Maybe next birthday.