064 – editorr – An App You Need to Know with Heather Robison
Heather Robison is co-owner and creative director of editorr.
This is a professional copy-editing and proof-reading app where you get immediate online service 24/7 with editing done by real people.
Heather’s prior experience includes event planning and corporate marketing for shopping center developers.
She’s now in business with her husband, Brian.
While working in Singapore, Brian came up with the idea for editorr. The need for an on-demand proof-reading service was strong. Business in Singapore moves fast and many are not native English speakers & writers.
editorr launched to the public in April 2016 and they currently have over 5,000 registered users. Small business owners, bloggers, job seekers and students all use editorr for their day-to-day writing.
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration and Insights
The importance of proper grammar [5:03]
How the idea for editorr was conceived and an app is created [6:19]
Determining a pricing structure [14:28]
A chance interaction with Chris Brogan [22:46]
Candle Flickering Moments
A big customer issue right as they got started [19:12]
Dealing with a customer when there’s a problem [21:55]
editorr App
How the editorr app works [8:51]
Want to be one of their editors? [12:53] and [13:30]
Success Trait
Heather zeros in on her ability to remain calm. Not a lot “gets” to her and she doesn’t have many “freak out moments.” She also draws on her creativity to rev up her productivity. [25:44]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
editorr – Real editing and proofreading done by real people.
Omnifocus – Keep work and play separated with contexts, perspectives, and focus. Ignore the irrelevant, focus on what you can do now, and accomplish more.
Slack – Bring all your communication together in one place. It’s real-time messaging, archiving and search for modern teams.
Valuable Book
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Heather and Brian’s FREE Offer to Gift Biz Listeners
Enter code “Gift Biz” at checkout to unlock 500 free words of editing. This is their silver package offered to us, Gift Biz listeners, to try for FREE!
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 64.
Speaker:Why should I take your business seriously?
Speaker:If you can't take your message and your written information.
Speaker:Seriously, This is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gifted biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift is unwrapped podcasts.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insights to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I have joining us,
Speaker:Heather Robinson,
Speaker:Heather is co owner and creative director of editor.
Speaker:This is a professional copy editing and proofreading app where you
Speaker:get immediate online service,
Speaker:24 seven with editing done by real people.
Speaker:She's in business with her husband,
Speaker:Brian, while working in Singapore.
Speaker:Brian came up with the idea for editor the need for
Speaker:an online proofreading service was strong business in Singapore,
Speaker:moves fast,
Speaker:and many are not native English speakers or writers editor launched
Speaker:to the public in April of 2016.
Speaker:And they currently have over 5,000
Speaker:registered users,
Speaker:small business owners,
Speaker:bloggers, job seekers,
Speaker:and students all use editor for their day to day writing.
Speaker:So super exciting,
Speaker:Heather, welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Is there anything you would like to expound upon with the
Speaker:intro before we get started?
Speaker:I think you did a good job.
Speaker:It's pretty much your on-demand editing service for your day-to-day writing.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So what I really will want to do and just for
Speaker:our listeners,
Speaker:so you all understand how we're going to take this interview
Speaker:is we are going to chat with how they actually started
Speaker:to develop the app.
Speaker:We're going to talk about the app and then it's applications
Speaker:potentially for you and your business too.
Speaker:So you're going to look at two different sides,
Speaker:how something like this even gets started,
Speaker:and then the value that this particular one could have for
Speaker:you. But before we jumped into any of that,
Speaker:Heather, we like to start off with hearing what your unique
Speaker:motivational candle would look like.
Speaker:If you were to create your very own candle,
Speaker:what color would it be and what would the quote beyond
Speaker:that candle?
Speaker:Well, my favorite color is green.
Speaker:I don't know that I would choose a green candle,
Speaker:but probably we'll go with it.
Speaker:And a quote that I always think about it's not very,
Speaker:if at all is you'll find me somewhere between a juice
Speaker:cleanse and a donut bench falling because I always have really
Speaker:good intentions and sometimes just doesn't work out on a more
Speaker:serious note.
Speaker:A quote that I do like that I try to remember
Speaker:is from Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker:And it says you cannot escape the responsibility of by evading
Speaker:Today. And that one kind of resonates just because I hate
Speaker:to admit that I'm sort of a perpetual procrastinator.
Speaker:So kind of reminds me like,
Speaker:if I push it off,
Speaker:it's not going anywhere.
Speaker:Yeah. It's still going to show up and soon to show
Speaker:its nasty little head again later.
Speaker:So you might as well just tackle it right away,
Speaker:right? Yeah,
Speaker:absolutely. All right.
Speaker:Let's start talking about the editor app.
Speaker:Yeah. How in the world.
Speaker:Okay. So it's pretty understandable and very cool.
Speaker:How Brian uncovered the need for this,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because it's not just people who are in other countries who
Speaker:need to speak proper English.
Speaker:A lot of people here in the state,
Speaker:we're so easy with our language.
Speaker:It's so easy not to put correct grammar on paper these
Speaker:days. Would you agree?
Speaker:Yeah, it's I think just with so much typing and texting,
Speaker:it's kind of gotten away from us.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:when was the last time any of us really learned grammar,
Speaker:like seventh grade.
Speaker:So it really doesn't stick with you unless you reading a
Speaker:ton or a really honest,
Speaker:Right? And now all these apps that you have,
Speaker:you can just,
Speaker:or not apps,
Speaker:I don't mean that,
Speaker:but even a phone,
Speaker:you can just press the mic and speak right into it
Speaker:and send a text message.
Speaker:So it ends up being more,
Speaker:your spoken word that's written down versus real correct grammar,
Speaker:Right. And sometimes even a text to talk will get it
Speaker:wrong. I know a lot of people use dragon dictation and
Speaker:other dictation programs to write emails and write their papers.
Speaker:And unless you're really reading over,
Speaker:it could translate something incorrectly or say F O U R
Speaker:a few points for,
Speaker:and so things like that are just contextual mistakes that a
Speaker:spellcheck or something else isn't gonna catch.
Speaker:You're really gonna need human to be reading it and understand.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So Brian saw the need because he was in Singapore and
Speaker:saw it really prevalent there.
Speaker:So saw that there was an opportunity to fill that gap.
Speaker:What do you see is the value of making sure that
Speaker:you have your grammar proper?
Speaker:Why is that even important?
Speaker:I believe it's important just because it'll make me take you
Speaker:seriously. If I'm reading through a sales letter or an email
Speaker:and there's even two or three mistakes,
Speaker:I'm kind of going to think twice about,
Speaker:well, if you're not taking your message to me,
Speaker:seriously, are you taking your business serious?
Speaker:Are you,
Speaker:why should I take your business seriously?
Speaker:If you can't take your message and your written information seriously.
Speaker:So it's a whole credibility play and what your images out
Speaker:to the world.
Speaker:Yeah. I really think it's a level of professionalism.
Speaker:It shows you double-check,
Speaker:what's going on that you care how you're presented out to
Speaker:your customers and,
Speaker:yeah. Right.
Speaker:And I think in this day and age,
Speaker:there are so many options.
Speaker:So if you were a marketing company,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:and your brochures had misspelled words or your letters out to
Speaker:customers had misspelled words that could look like your company is
Speaker:less than the level that someone would want to use.
Speaker:And so they'll go onto the next one because there's always
Speaker:a next one these days.
Speaker:Lots of options.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So let's talk,
Speaker:I'm very curious.
Speaker:How in the world,
Speaker:once you have this idea,
Speaker:how do you build an app?
Speaker:Take us through the process of how this actually became a
Speaker:reality. I probably can just give you like a glossed over
Speaker:version because I am not a programmer and I didn't develop
Speaker:it. That was all Brian.
Speaker:So he kind of is like a self-taught developer,
Speaker:a programmer.
Speaker:And once he and his partner decided,
Speaker:well, this is something that we need.
Speaker:He also is a college professor.
Speaker:So he kind of was like,
Speaker:well, I have this huge network of teachers and professors that
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:And if somehow we could just dispatch this information out to
Speaker:people, they can pick it up and fix it.
Speaker:It was kind of when Uber was growing and starting to
Speaker:get really popular.
Speaker:So they just started sitting down and coding a lot of
Speaker:coding. Actually the first prep of developing an app would be
Speaker:kind of almost like writing a book.
Speaker:Like you have to write out,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what do you want to achieve?
Speaker:How do you want it to look how it looks today
Speaker:is not what it looked like,
Speaker:probably on its first through fifth rounds.
Speaker:So it is a lot of stylization and really just depending
Speaker:on how are people gonna work through it too,
Speaker:because when you're building something,
Speaker:it makes sense to you.
Speaker:And then when you give it off to a friend to
Speaker:say like here,
Speaker:try this out and you don't even tell them how to
Speaker:use it.
Speaker:You have to watch them using it to see what do
Speaker:they intuitively do.
Speaker:And sometimes it's not always what you think it's going to
Speaker:be, Right.
Speaker:Just the whole user experience.
Speaker:You have to look at it from that end as you're
Speaker:developing and as you're going through draft by draft,
Speaker:Right? So they took about a year to develop just actually
Speaker:the backend app.
Speaker:There's also an algorithm that we have that will filter the
Speaker:better editors to the top for when they get notified as
Speaker:they get rated and as their speed so that it will
Speaker:eventually naturally weed out any editors that maybe aren't up to
Speaker:par. Okay.
Speaker:You know what,
Speaker:at this point,
Speaker:I think it would be good so that our audience understands
Speaker:what you're actually talking about.
Speaker:Let's go through and talk about the process,
Speaker:what the app looks like now today.
Speaker:And then we can get back to what you're talking about
Speaker:with the better editors and all that,
Speaker:because I think it'll become clear to people.
Speaker:So if you would talk through how it works from a
Speaker:user perspective and then how you get your editors so that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:for sure you've,
Speaker:you're getting quality work done because you are not editing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's not just Brian and Heather on the other side,
Speaker:editing all of this.
Speaker:So walk through all that for us.
Speaker:Would you first from the customer standpoint?
Speaker:So if I wanted to submit something to you,
Speaker:I was interested,
Speaker:how does that work?
Speaker:Sure. Well,
Speaker:we have both a web app and a mobile app.
Speaker:What that is is you can go and use the service
Speaker:from your desktop on our website,
Speaker:which is editor with two rs.com.
Speaker:You would go there and sign up for an account and
Speaker:then you can get started.
Speaker:We have a,
Speaker:how it works tab with a great explainer video.
Speaker:Essentially what you do is sign up login and you can
Speaker:either cut and paste your writing into the work field,
Speaker:or you can type right into it.
Speaker:You would then click submit and that's it for you.
Speaker:Is there any limit on the length?
Speaker:We have a 2000 word limit and that's actually pretty long.
Speaker:That's about three pages,
Speaker:Sales letter or lots of different types of wording.
Speaker:Yeah. And we have it limited to 2000 words just because
Speaker:we really wanted it to be more of your day-to-day writing.
Speaker:We want our editors to be able to pick it up
Speaker:mobily in between what they're doing.
Speaker:Anything over 2000 words takes a lot more time to edit.
Speaker:So you're not going to submit a book.
Speaker:No, there's other stuff.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you submit your work and then what happens?
Speaker:Where does it go?
Speaker:That will then be dispatched out to our network of editors.
Speaker:They'll receive a text notification that says,
Speaker:would you like to make $2 and 10 cents pick up
Speaker:this job?
Speaker:And so then the first editor to pick up the job
Speaker:gets it,
Speaker:you'll then get a notification that says your job has been
Speaker:picked up and editors out of the unit.
Speaker:And it should be back to you within about five minutes,
Speaker:depending on the length,
Speaker:the editor will then edit it and press submit on their
Speaker:end. You'll get another notification that says your job is fixed
Speaker:and done,
Speaker:and you can check it out.
Speaker:You'll then see two versions,
Speaker:you'll see a marked up version so that you can learn
Speaker:and know what's happened.
Speaker:And then you'll also have a clean version so that you
Speaker:could either send it off right from the workspace.
Speaker:And it'll be emailed from the email that you used to
Speaker:sign up,
Speaker:or you can cut and paste it and put it wherever
Speaker:you need it.
Speaker:I love the fact that there's that learn aspect to it.
Speaker:Yeah. That was really important.
Speaker:Cause we,
Speaker:Did you have that right from the beginning?
Speaker:Or did that kind of evolve as you were going through
Speaker:all your different drafts?
Speaker:That was actually from the beginning.
Speaker:Yeah. We wanted people to be able to learn and know
Speaker:what they're doing incorrectly and why.
Speaker:Right. And how long is the turnaround?
Speaker:Approximately? Obviously it depends on length of course,
Speaker:but approximately hour,
Speaker:Our average turnaround is 5.1
Speaker:minutes. Oh my gosh,
Speaker:you guys 5.1
Speaker:minutes to make sure that everything is proofed and put together
Speaker:properly and it goes out and it comes back and it's
Speaker:ready to go.
Speaker:That is super cool,
Speaker:Heather. Yeah.
Speaker:It's really great to see it come back to you so
Speaker:fast. Cause that was the big thing.
Speaker:A lot of people,
Speaker:they want to get their email out quick.
Speaker:They want to get their blog posts posted and they don't
Speaker:like sitting around waiting for someone to pick up their email,
Speaker:read over it.
Speaker:So that was very important to us.
Speaker:Is speed.
Speaker:Okay. So then how on the other end,
Speaker:how did you get all of your editors and you offer
Speaker:24 seven service.
Speaker:So how that had to have taken a lot of planning
Speaker:to get that whole thing set up and ready to go.
Speaker:Yeah. The 24 hour service was challenging to kind of figure
Speaker:out at first,
Speaker:I'll let you know I was editing work probably around 2:00
Speaker:AM the first week or so,
Speaker:Because you just didn't have editors in the time zones that
Speaker:would be available to pick it up probably right.
Speaker:You just didn't have enough.
Speaker:And at the level and English knowing English.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So they're probably the first week or so it was Brian
Speaker:and they had a lot of sleepless nights picking up these
Speaker:jobs when they came in.
Speaker:So for the 24 hour,
Speaker:we have actually a few editors overseas that are English speaking,
Speaker:but they're just an ex-pats.
Speaker:So they're the people who kind of take our overnight medics
Speaker:and fighting the editors.
Speaker:We started out with solid group of professors who Brian knows
Speaker:who had to pass the assessment.
Speaker:So we found an English assessment that we've tweaked and rewritten
Speaker:and that's the first step.
Speaker:And then after you pass the grammatical English assessment,
Speaker:you will then edit three jobs,
Speaker:like three test jobs that we've strategically placed,
Speaker:common mistakes and just kind of a variety of issues.
Speaker:And that is checked on how fast you edit through it
Speaker:and how accurate your editing is.
Speaker:And so that's how the editors are vetted.
Speaker:So if someone wanted to be an editor who's listening right
Speaker:now, are they able to apply?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:If you go to our website,
Speaker:editor.com on the top right side,
Speaker:there's a small box,
Speaker:it says become an editor.
Speaker:And then you would just sign up through that button and
Speaker:apply there.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:let's get back to the app development.
Speaker:So now everyone understands how the app works,
Speaker:who the editors are and we're talking already about the quality.
Speaker:Clearly your result is only going to be as good as
Speaker:the quality of the editors.
Speaker:So you really took that seriously in terms of making sure
Speaker:that there was a process.
Speaker:And do you reject a lot of people?
Speaker:We do.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm excited about it,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:there's some people that just don't pass and unfortunately we need
Speaker:to maintain high standards.
Speaker:Right. That'll make or break your service for sure.
Speaker:Yeah. And so now you're creating this from scratch,
Speaker:not been around before.
Speaker:How do you decide what your pricing structure is going to
Speaker:be? The pricing structure was probably our hardest issue to tackle
Speaker:that. And right now it's on,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's good.
Speaker:Our pricing is staying the way it is,
Speaker:but this is probably the third round of pricing that we
Speaker:finally finalized on.
Speaker:There are a few similar programs,
Speaker:but they're not either on demand.
Speaker:They're not fast or they're not real people.
Speaker:So there were a few things that were similar to what
Speaker:we're doing that we're able to look to.
Speaker:And we also thought about like,
Speaker:well, what would we pay and broke it down that way.
Speaker:If I was sending a sales letter to,
Speaker:to someone who I wanted to become a tenant of mine
Speaker:or something like that,
Speaker:how much would I pay to just really make sure that
Speaker:that letter is buttoned up and started from there.
Speaker:And then we also asked around a lot,
Speaker:like, what would you pay?
Speaker:What do you think?
Speaker:Do you think this is too high?
Speaker:Do you think it's too low?
Speaker:And so I think it's really kind of have to ask
Speaker:around and do a lot of research to come up with
Speaker:what works.
Speaker:And then once we laid out the pricing and put it
Speaker:up there to the public,
Speaker:we even got more response and then tweaked it a little
Speaker:bit more.
Speaker:So I think the importance about that is just fluidity and
Speaker:being able to pivot to what your audience and what your
Speaker:customer wants.
Speaker:It needs.
Speaker:I just heard from you is there were really three steps.
Speaker:There was research.
Speaker:So identifying what was already out there and what the pricing
Speaker:models looked like,
Speaker:albeit they weren't real life.
Speaker:People like you had.
Speaker:So yours has a twist to it.
Speaker:Then a reality check in terms of how much you think
Speaker:would be reasonable if you were actually using the service and
Speaker:then bringing it to the customers and getting feedback from them.
Speaker:So kind of a three tiered thing in terms of the
Speaker:pricing and give biz listeners,
Speaker:we talk about pricing of your handcrafted products.
Speaker:And this can be a very similar type of a process.
Speaker:Now with you guys,
Speaker:you have materials and you have time in and labor and
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:But in terms of the steps of the research reality check
Speaker:and then live testing,
Speaker:these are three steps that you could easily apply to your
Speaker:businesses as well.
Speaker:The other thing Heather,
Speaker:that I thought was really interesting and important to bring up
Speaker:and underline here is there are several places where you did
Speaker:put something out,
Speaker:you tested it and you revised it.
Speaker:You put something out,
Speaker:you tested it and revised it.
Speaker:You'd mentioned that just in the app development,
Speaker:in the coding,
Speaker:you had multiple drafts before you landed on the exact thing,
Speaker:same thing with pricing.
Speaker:You had several passes before you've landed on what sounds like
Speaker:now you'll use for at least some time,
Speaker:right? You never know if there'll be a revision later or
Speaker:adjustments for a large corporate business or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever that might be.
Speaker:Again, the point is you don't always land at the first
Speaker:time you put something out there,
Speaker:you test it,
Speaker:you can always adjust.
Speaker:And even if you don't get it right,
Speaker:the first time,
Speaker:probably 90% of the time,
Speaker:you won't,
Speaker:that's not a failure.
Speaker:That's just an adjustment and an additional learning and advancement you
Speaker:make for your businesses.
Speaker:And that's exactly what you were doing here,
Speaker:Heather. Yeah.
Speaker:The people who are using my service now have no idea
Speaker:that it was priced differently six months.
Speaker:Well, we haven't been around for six months,
Speaker:but it was,
Speaker:it wasn't the same in April.
Speaker:So you kind of have to keep that in mind too.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:what you did wrong or was different,
Speaker:but like you said,
Speaker:90% of the people aren't going to notice.
Speaker:And just because you maybe got it wrong the first time,
Speaker:it doesn't really mean it was wrong.
Speaker:It just wasn't what was perfect.
Speaker:And really the service still isn't perfect.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm, I'll never say anything.
Speaker:It's perfect.
Speaker:It's always going to be growing and evolving.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right.
Speaker:So when we're creating our own products,
Speaker:whether it's a company or an app or a piece of
Speaker:jewelry, and we're our own boss in the beginning,
Speaker:when you first start off,
Speaker:everything's beautiful.
Speaker:You're going to create this product or this service and life
Speaker:is going to be beautiful,
Speaker:but we know that that's not reality problem set in.
Speaker:There are sleepless nights.
Speaker:Things can be a struggle.
Speaker:There's that gut wrenching moment when something you thought was perfect,
Speaker:all of a sudden is wrong.
Speaker:Can you tell us about something like that?
Speaker:That has happened with editor?
Speaker:Yeah. So she says hesitantly.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:absolutely the sleepless nights,
Speaker:the long working hours,
Speaker:the, are we ever going to make any money out of
Speaker:this? All those questions come to mind when you are building
Speaker:something like this and starting a business.
Speaker:I think as business owners,
Speaker:you kind of have to swallow the reality that you're probably
Speaker:the last person to be paid.
Speaker:Unfortunately, our editors are paid,
Speaker:but getting to that point is a slow point.
Speaker:And you just have to have faith in yourself.
Speaker:One kind of moment we had was right at the beginning
Speaker:of April,
Speaker:we had launched and someone bought like a pretty decent package.
Speaker:They were not only a user,
Speaker:but they were like a paid user.
Speaker:And they wrote up their sales newsletter inside our desktop.
Speaker:They didn't copy and paste it or anything.
Speaker:They wrote it in there and they submitted it.
Speaker:And some like wires crossed,
Speaker:well, not real wires,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:like wires crossed on the backend and they lost it.
Speaker:And they just freaked out because they,
Speaker:they were like,
Speaker:I just spend an hour writing this.
Speaker:Where is it?
Speaker:And it took Brian about a day to find it in
Speaker:our database,
Speaker:but he was able to recover it and fixed the problem
Speaker:that caused their connection to basically lose it.
Speaker:Like it would never really was lost,
Speaker:but it was hidden unless you were going in the backend
Speaker:database to find it.
Speaker:And so that was the biggest,
Speaker:Oh my God moment.
Speaker:Cause they were paying and it was in the beginning.
Speaker:And So how did you manage the communication with them as
Speaker:you were struggling frantically to figure this out.
Speaker:Brian had emailed them and said he was looking for it.
Speaker:It should be able to be recovered,
Speaker:please. Don't panic essentially.
Speaker:And he would let us do the panicking.
Speaker:He's like,
Speaker:I'll get it back to you.
Speaker:He actually gave them his direct phone number.
Speaker:He's like,
Speaker:if you need to call me,
Speaker:you can,
Speaker:but no we're looking into this and we'll get it back
Speaker:to you.
Speaker:So customer service is really important to us in being transparent
Speaker:and being accessible.
Speaker:We're On pins and needles.
Speaker:Did it all end?
Speaker:Well, yes,
Speaker:It didn't work out.
Speaker:Oh yay.
Speaker:He recovered,
Speaker:the writing found the job.
Speaker:It was fixed and they're actually still customers.
Speaker:So it was good,
Speaker:but that was probably the biggest problem And big point.
Speaker:All of us as businesses.
Speaker:Now you were in development stage yet.
Speaker:So you were still early in testing the systems and all
Speaker:that, but still,
Speaker:if you ever fall short of what your customer is expecting,
Speaker:that'll happen to all of us.
Speaker:And we can just assume that there's a time and a
Speaker:place where that is going to happen.
Speaker:But the big point I'm so glad you responded as you
Speaker:did, Heather is communication with your customer and not having them
Speaker:feel like they are out there and not being recognized,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and that their issue isn't as important to you as it
Speaker:is to them.
Speaker:That communication goes miles in terms of just while you're resolving
Speaker:the problem or working through any situation,
Speaker:because that really shows on,
Speaker:I honestly think this separates quality businesses from those who really
Speaker:don't care,
Speaker:who aren't going to put in the time.
Speaker:And you may end up on the other side with a
Speaker:more loyal customer than just a regular customer where everything goes
Speaker:perfectly all the time.
Speaker:Would you agree with that?
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:And I feel like if people have people don't share really
Speaker:their good experiences,
Speaker:people will share like exceptional experiences and terrible experiences.
Speaker:So if you're able to go above and beyond and really
Speaker:help the person,
Speaker:I think it will come back to you because then they'll
Speaker:tell people and say,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I had this problem,
Speaker:but they totally took care of it.
Speaker:It all worked out.
Speaker:And I think that will come back to you like later.
Speaker:Okay. Agreed.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Now I'm going to make you tell a story and we
Speaker:did not prep for this.
Speaker:So get ready Heather and I saw each other at social
Speaker:media marketing world in San Diego a couple of months back.
Speaker:And I want you to walk through and tell the story
Speaker:kind of quickly.
Speaker:We don't have to go through the whole thing,
Speaker:but tell the story about Chris Brogan and his comments about
Speaker:the app and just the whole situation,
Speaker:set it all up and give us that story.
Speaker:So he was speaking and we were sitting there with Brian,
Speaker:my husband,
Speaker:and he's kind of always been a fan of Chris Brogan.
Speaker:He's read his books,
Speaker:but my husband is also not a fan boy.
Speaker:Like people don't impress them in that way,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:he was still kind of excited to be there during Chris's
Speaker:speech. He challenged us to all do something that was out
Speaker:of her comfort zone.
Speaker:Something that we wouldn't typically do.
Speaker:And he also mentioned something about failure is just part of
Speaker:life and how many sticker,
Speaker:like startup business stickers.
Speaker:He peels off his website or his laptop every year,
Speaker:which is funny because my husband and I's laptops are full
Speaker:of stickers.
Speaker:So after the talk,
Speaker:Brian walked up and introduced himself and then handed him an
Speaker:editor sticker and was like,
Speaker:here's a sticker for your laptop.
Speaker:Hopefully you don't have to peel it off in a year.
Speaker:And that kind of just keep the conversation going.
Speaker:He didn't want to go up and sell them anything.
Speaker:He just wanted to like be funny and give them a
Speaker:sticker. And so then Chris asked like,
Speaker:well, what is this quickly told them about it.
Speaker:And he was like,
Speaker:this is awesome.
Speaker:So many people mean to use this.
Speaker:I think it's great.
Speaker:And so Brian did something that was out of his comfort
Speaker:zone. He wouldn't have normally gone up to someone that he
Speaker:didn't know to talk to.
Speaker:And then later that day I was walking by and Chris
Speaker:Brogan and Steve Dotto and a few other people were sitting
Speaker:at a table and I'm just walking by the table.
Speaker:And I say hi to Steve Dotto.
Speaker:Cause I know him a little bit better.
Speaker:And Chris Brogan stops me and he's like,
Speaker:Hey, Brian's wife.
Speaker:But he actually did remember my name too,
Speaker:but he's like,
Speaker:you're going to tell all these people about editor.
Speaker:And before I could even finish telling people what editor was,
Speaker:he kind of interrupted me and like finished the pitch for
Speaker:me. So it was pretty awesome that he got it immediately
Speaker:and really liked it.
Speaker:And so Brian and Chris can email each other back and
Speaker:joke and they're like friends now.
Speaker:So it's really great Is super and to get some recognition
Speaker:and some eyes on the app from someone who has quite
Speaker:a following and is very professional,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in and of his own right.
Speaker:Is so cool.
Speaker:So you never know when those things are going to come.
Speaker:Yeah. I think it's just about being like real and honest
Speaker:and, and funny.
Speaker:Yeah. Brian didn't even really know what he was doing,
Speaker:but he drew attention to himself just because it wasn't the
Speaker:same old,
Speaker:hi Chris,
Speaker:I'm Brian and you know,
Speaker:love your book,
Speaker:great speech,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever. He came with something different,
Speaker:which really started the conversation in a different direction.
Speaker:And I'm sure captured Chris's attention.
Speaker:Yeah. All right,
Speaker:Heather, I want to go now into our reflection section.
Speaker:This is the dive into you and what makes you productive
Speaker:and how you go through your day,
Speaker:which might give us clues that we can capture and use
Speaker:for ourselves.
Speaker:If you were to think about something that's innately in you,
Speaker:that you pull out every day to be more productive and
Speaker:to be successful as you are now with this editor app,
Speaker:what would that?
Speaker:Well, we've already talked about my awesome procrastination.
Speaker:So I feel like I'm pretty creative and calm.
Speaker:A lot of stuff doesn't really get to me right away.
Speaker:At least I kind of am like,
Speaker:okay, it's always going to get done.
Speaker:No, one's dying.
Speaker:So I feel like I kind of have this calmness factor
Speaker:that I don't like have freak out moments right away very
Speaker:often. Okay.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:Do you,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you're just naturally that your response is pretty calm and like,
Speaker:okay, here's the problem now let's work through it.
Speaker:I think so Brian will probably say something totally different.
Speaker:He would probably be like,
Speaker:are you kidding me?
Speaker:Like freak out.
Speaker:I try to work through it and come up with a
Speaker:resolution before I just throw in the towel and freak out
Speaker:and say,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:it's we have to shut down a business.
Speaker:And so I think kind of just like a calmness factor
Speaker:until I hit the procrastination wall and creativity,
Speaker:I try to come up with I'm much more productive and
Speaker:better at working when I'm in like a creative area.
Speaker:So it sounds like you're kind an outside of the box
Speaker:Thinker. I try to be.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:definitely thinking more outside the box,
Speaker:more in a,
Speaker:in a creative way.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Super. Do you have a tool that you use regularly now?
Speaker:Obviously we're going to be talking about editor in the show
Speaker:notes page,
Speaker:but is there anything else that you find yourself calling upon
Speaker:day after day that's really important for you,
Speaker:for your productivity or to create balance in your life?
Speaker:Yeah, I OmniFocus to track basically like all my tasks and
Speaker:OmniFocus is a program.
Speaker:I think they have it for PC.
Speaker:I have it on my Mac and you can install it.
Speaker:It's it's just like a great schedule.
Speaker:It's not even a scheduler.
Speaker:It's more just like a it's where you put like your
Speaker:tasks and your projects and it kind of breaks them down.
Speaker:Then you have everything then all in one place.
Speaker:Yeah. So everything's in there.
Speaker:I've also lately started using Slack and I really like that.
Speaker:Cause I feel like it kind of takes away emails,
Speaker:Brian and I,
Speaker:especially just aren't emailing back and forth like stupid one-liners.
Speaker:So Slack kind of helps keep that email clear Slack is
Speaker:I believe I have not used Slack,
Speaker:but I've heard about it before,
Speaker:correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker:I just want to give a clear picture for our listeners
Speaker:is kind of a conversation between a group,
Speaker:but it's outside of email.
Speaker:So you're still communicating back and forth.
Speaker:Would you liken it more to messenger on your phone is
Speaker:if you were in a messenger group,
Speaker:It is similar to that,
Speaker:but you can also attach things.
Speaker:So like,
Speaker:if I want him to add a picture to the website
Speaker:or edit something for me or whatever,
Speaker:I can throw this stuff right into Slack and have it
Speaker:all in there.
Speaker:It is similar to messenger,
Speaker:but it also keeps it all there.
Speaker:You can search within Slack to find things.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Interesting. Well,
Speaker:give biz listeners,
Speaker:if you're working in any groups where you're passing information back
Speaker:and forth,
Speaker:whether it's comments or attachments or material,
Speaker:and you want everyone's eyes on it,
Speaker:it sounds like this may be something to check out.
Speaker:Yeah. And you can do private messages too.
Speaker:So like everything is most of it's public.
Speaker:But if I wanted to just privately message someone in the
Speaker:Slack group,
Speaker:you can otherwise it is like a big group message.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay.
Speaker:And have you read a book lately that you think our
Speaker:listeners could find value in?
Speaker:Yeah. This is probably the third time I'm reading it,
Speaker:but again,
Speaker:I really need to get things done.
Speaker:It's getting things done by David Allen and that kind of
Speaker:goes with the OmniFocus.
Speaker:It's really about not letting chaos of business mandate what you
Speaker:do every day.
Speaker:He created the whole inbox zero,
Speaker:which my inbox is not zero right now,
Speaker:but that's why I'm reading the book again.
Speaker:So I think as business owners and entrepreneurs,
Speaker:I think that's a great book because it really helps you
Speaker:outline your day and your week.
Speaker:And has you put timelines and tasks to each project and
Speaker:then how you can break down a project so that it
Speaker:doesn't seem so,
Speaker:so you're like,
Speaker:okay, I need to launch this new product.
Speaker:Well, what 20 steps do I need within this launch of
Speaker:a product?
Speaker:Do I need to create?
Speaker:And then it helps you go backwards and break down what
Speaker:you're doing,
Speaker:that you need to get to that Well,
Speaker:and that does sound then like a book that you would
Speaker:want to reread because when you read it the first time,
Speaker:you're probably just getting the whole concept.
Speaker:Then you can read it other times because there are multiple
Speaker:projects that you're going to have over time and you might
Speaker:forget, or you might just need that extra motivation to do
Speaker:it in a structured way.
Speaker:Give busy listeners just as you're listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
Speaker:get an audio book for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection that's gift biz book that all
Speaker:right, Heather,
Speaker:I would like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:I think financial freedom.
Speaker:If I could sell editor,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I think in the future,
Speaker:I would love to just be able to travel,
Speaker:be with my family and then as like work or as
Speaker:something challenging,
Speaker:I'd like to invest in other companies and help other companies
Speaker:grow and invest in other startups and other small companies Helping
Speaker:other people,
Speaker:then you're having yours be successful and then helping other people
Speaker:see the same success as you.
Speaker:Right? Cause the success of my company would lead me to
Speaker:the money to be able to invest in them.
Speaker:Exactly. All right.
Speaker:And so now if our listeners are interested in learning more
Speaker:about you or more about editor,
Speaker:where's the single best place for them to go.
Speaker:I would first go to editor.com
Speaker:And remember everybody it's editor with two RS.
Speaker:Yes, Let's go there.
Speaker:Cause you can find everything out about the service.
Speaker:We have our pricing and how it works.
Speaker:If you want to become an editor,
Speaker:everything about that is there.
Speaker:And then our Instagram is probably kind of fun,
Speaker:which is editor app.
Speaker:And we're actually at editor app everywhere,
Speaker:but Instagram is probably the most fun.
Speaker:And then if you want to learn about just me,
Speaker:you can find me on my Facebook page or on my
Speaker:Instagram, which is Heather A.
Speaker:Robinson and that's public.
Speaker:So Okay.
Speaker:And give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they'll show notes page will be backing all of this up.
Speaker:So if you're out and about,
Speaker:and you don't have time to make a note of that,
Speaker:just jump over to gift to biz on rapt,
Speaker:find Heather's page and you can capture all of this information
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Okay. And Heather,
Speaker:I think you shared with me a little bit of a
Speaker:special surprise for our listeners.
Speaker:Yes. Today or anytime you're listening,
Speaker:you can use the code and gifted to unlock 500 free
Speaker:words. That is basically our silver package,
Speaker:which is a $13 value.
Speaker:You're giving that to our listeners at no charge.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Heather. That's fabulous.
Speaker:You're welcome.
Speaker:We really want people to use it and enjoy it and
Speaker:gets me set of it.
Speaker:So 500 words should get them about a blog post or
Speaker:two to three emails to really get a handle on the
Speaker:service and see how it can help them with their business.
Speaker:Wow. Well you told me you had something,
Speaker:but I didn't know it was that spectacular.
Speaker:So thank you so much and give busy listeners,
Speaker:I believe the way to you'll correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker:Heather, but you'll just go to editor,
Speaker:sign up for an account.
Speaker:And then in the discount code area,
Speaker:you'll just put gift biz.
Speaker:Is that right?
Speaker:Yep. That's correct.
Speaker:And you can sign up@editor.com
Speaker:and that's E D I T O R R with two
Speaker:RS. Or if you download the app on Google play or
Speaker:iOS, you can also sign up through the app.
Speaker:Heather, thank you so much.
Speaker:It has been so interesting really,
Speaker:to understand how an app gets developed.
Speaker:Some of the struggles you had,
Speaker:all of the information that you've shared in terms of getting
Speaker:this up,
Speaker:going live and super exciting that you were seeing such great
Speaker:results right out of the bat.
Speaker:I just love that.
Speaker:And I wish that you and Brian always have your candle
Speaker:burning, Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your
Speaker:business. Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your
Speaker:business in life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
Speaker:slash tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever your products with your
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Speaker:Jessica ribbon to add to a gift right at checkout,
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Speaker:for more information after you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing you helped to increase.
Speaker:The visibility of gift is unwrapped.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,