When you hear Independent Information Professional, what do you think of? Someone who organizes, shares, or disseminates information? That is true, though it can manifest in several different ways. Our members run the gamut from technologists, researchers, coaches, marketing professionals, knowledge managers, web designers, private investigators, thought leaders, and public speakers. We are scattered throughout the world, yet we are all connected by the desire to grow and flourish as business owners.
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AIIP-L, AIIP’s active, private discussion list, is one of AIIP’s premier benefits and ways of connecting member-to-member. In this forum, we share tips for working on and in our businesses, including marketing, product development, technology, and much more. Following is a summary of one of the hot topics recently discussed on AIIP-L.
Topics of conversation on the AIIP email discussion list often focus on finding the best technology to meet our needs as information professionals. Recently, an AIIP member asked the group about mind-mapping software recommendations.
Several members responded with their favorite paid and free software solutions. Others favored manual “Luddite” solutions. Here are just some of the suggestions from each group:
(Note that all prices are in USD)
The first paid tech solution offered was Scapple, “a virtual sheet of paper that lets you make notes anywhere and connect them using lines or arrows.” Scapple is available for Mac only and currently priced at $18 for the product download.
A second solution that many recommended was MindMeister. “MindMeister is an online mind mapping tool that lets you capture, develop, and share ideas visually.” Notably, it is web-based rather than a product download. A limited basic plan is free, while a more robust subscription for individuals will cost $4.99 per month. Other levels of access for teams cost incrementally more.
Additionally, some suggested MURAL for online collaborative mind mapping. “MURAL is a digital workspace for visual collaboration…People benefit from MURAL’s speed and ease of use in creating diagrams, which are popular in design thinking and agile methodologies, as well as tools to facilitate more impactful meetings and workshops.” Independent info pros will most likely benefit from the Starter plan at $144/year. MURAL offers a free trial period before committing to a premium plan.
Also recommended was Miro software, which includes mind mapping capabilities. Miro is billed as an “online collaborative whiteboard platform to bring teams together, anytime, anywhere.” A free subscription to Miro allows three free boards, and packages range from $8-16 per month, billed annually.
Another suggestion was ConceptDraw. The respondent offered, “it is an integrated suite of three products: mind mapping, project management, and visualization tool (for dashboards, drawings, sketching, infographics, workflows, etc.). Nice feature: the integration of the three products let you turn a mind map into a project. Online collaboration is also provided.” Prices range from $199 per license for just the mind-mapping module to $299 for the full suite.
At least three votes were cast for the “Luddite” system: “a giant piece of paper on my dining room table, torn from the tail end of a roll of newsprint that I scored at least 10 years ago.” Giant sticky notes were also recommended as a tool for analog mind mapping. One contributor noted that “physically writing ideas down, drawing arrows, and scribbling notes all help in the creative process.” The contributor said that she feels her mental processes expand when working with physical paper and markers, rather than using digital tools and staring at computer screens. Another AIIP member agreed: “My best mind mapping is done in a cafe with paper and pencil.” Finally, a third respondent countered, “Left to my own devices, sticky notes and sharpies is where I start. I’m looking at a wall full of them right now.”
As you can see, we have lots options for mind mapping software, all ranging in price and functionality – both digital and analog. Most users would agree that it depends on personal preference and seeing what works for other AIIP members.
Carrie Hunsucker helps executives make their business decisions faster and more efficiently. She and her associates provide research and decision support to start-ups, non-profits, and CEOs of growing businesses.
By Liz McLean, Knowsaic
Your local AIIP peer network could be one of the most effective strategic and marketing tools you have ever used. Here are a few of the reasons why:
Clarify Your Vision
Even though face to face ‘local’ AIIP gatherings have been overtaken by COVID-19 protocols, our need for instilling optimism and a sense of purpose through our local trust network of shared experiences and relationship building increases.
Grow Your Referral Network
AIIP members have long valued the benefits of this trust network that exists organization-wide. Because we weren’t able to gather in person for our annual conference in April as planned, we missed meeting one another in person to form or reinforce connections with folks who have skills that overlap or are complementary to our own, or get to know those who cover service areas that we don’t. Now, it is more important than ever to reinforce relationships at a regional level too. When we grow trusted network connections, it is a natural instinct to want to refer our colleagues to a business opportunity if it seems to be a promising match for another’s expertise.
Find Your Tribe
The common geographic element of groups like this can be a shared experience that serves as a springboard for some casual “get to know you” conversations. Even through uncertainty, connecting with other local AIIPers who speak our language can reassure or steady us, or surface some good old fashioned ‘hey, I thought of you recently when…”
Stay Top of Mind
Having a trusted referral network is what most successful AIIPers will tell you is marketing gold – their key to ongoing and lasting success. You can’t really develop that trusted referral network if you aren’t engaging with one another on a regular basis to see who’s overcoming what challenges, who is pivoting, who is trying something you’ve wanted to try, or who wants to try something with you to practice first before going live. Your local AIIP peers can be your sounding board, your cheerleaders, and your amplifiers. They can inspire, cajole and learn from your experiences as you do from theirs.
Build for Sustainability
Put your growth mindset into action. Take the initiative to get everyone together consistently. Look for opportunities to keep the conversations going. Invest energy into making fun and unique virtual get-togethers that you would want someone else to create for you. Find icebreakers or games to learn more about one another beyond the shared experience of being a solopreneur. Share what’s worked for you and what you now see in hindsight as a lesson.
The local networks that you cultivate now and over time will enrich your professional growth and business development in a sustainable and impactful way.
Liz McLean, principal, and founder of Knowsaic, uses her Library Science and Knowledge Management expertise to connect people and organizations to the know-how and know-who to learn and innovate for greater mission impact.
The Roger Summit Lecture Award is funded by AIIP Past Presidents to bring an inspiring and stimulating speaker to the AIIP Annual Conference. Roger Summit, the founder of Dialog—a pioneer in online information retrieval—and a longtime AIIP supporter, has inspired AIIP members with his demonstrations of self-renewal and continual learning. The 2020 recipient of the award, Joyce Ward, rolled with the punches after our conference was cancelled due to COVID-19 and delivered her lecture virtually on May 5th, 2020.
Joyce has 30+ years of experience in knowledge management and information retrieval technologies. She served as a VP of Enterprise Products and director of Content Classification at Northern Light, a product manager and director of Taxonomies and Semantic Enrichment at LexisNexis, and most recently as a senior ontologist and content specialist with the Amazon Search Knowledge team. She shared her deep expertise with AIIP members as she reviewed the role information professionals have played in bringing excellent search results to users of search engines.
Joyce recognized the role Roger Summit played in her own career as Dialog revolutionized research and led her into the world of taxonomies. She shared that search has evolved greatly and now produces more relevant results for complex, ambiguous queries. Joyce adds that, thanks to the information professionals working in the background, search results have a high level of precision despite complex data sets, ambiguous search queries, and algorithms that favor quantity over quality.
Information professionals advocate for the users through their understanding of the users’ vocabulary and what users see as good answers. We also look for patterns to improve search results.
Information professionals provide the machines with structured knowledge—classification schemes, taxonomies, rubrics, and blacklists, for example—which are used to develop models for improved search experiences Human classifiers are always better than machines, and precision in search results is directly due to their expertise.
Information professionals are experts who integrate diverse collections of content and map metadata to build filters that refine large data sets into relevant results. Their work ensures result sets are more than merely lists of “hits” and they are organized to make them more relevant to users.
Joyce suggested that there are opportunities for information professionals who are interested in taxonomy and ontology. There will be a new generation of search that is “accurate, intelligent, and well-mannered” and that will need the deep understanding of structured knowledge and subject expertise that is the domain of the information professional.
Phyllis Smith is a partner in ITK Vector Inc. in Ontario, Canada. She is currently developing her “encore career” working with empty nesters who want to reflect on their own life experiences and share them through stories and photos.
Back in March of this year, the topic for AIIP’s monthly Info Pro Café virtual event was “Meaningful Metrics: Measuring What Matters for Infopreneurs.” (The recording and notes are available for AIIP members at https://www.aiip.org/Members-Only/IPC-metrics/; my other thoughts on this topic are at https://www.batesinfo.com/reluctant-entrepreneur/meaningful-metrics/)
That discussion, along with some conversations I have had with coaching clients, got me thinking about some of the less measurable metrics – or at least goals – that help us maintain a good work-life balance and avoid burnout. In addition to bringing in enough revenue to cover our expenses and pay us according to our value, we need to ensure we find satisfaction and fulfillment in our work.
One of the metrics I use is how much free time I have and whether I feel like I have control over how I spend my time. I make sure that I take off at least one half-day a week for local volunteer work or to take a hike during off-peak hours. Sure, that may mean that I am in the office over the weekend, but it’s important to me that I can prioritize my non-work activities. (Speaking of volunteering, remember that AIIP offers lots of satisfying volunteer opportunities that give you a comfortable space to build a new skill.)
Look for opportunities to give away your expertise in a context in which you also find enjoyment. When I am offering a workshop, for example, I always offer free follow-up support for all participants. While at first I was concerned that I would be overwhelmed with requests, I found instead that the people who did contact me after an event always had interesting or thought-provoking questions that I enjoyed addressing. I am rewarded for the small amount of unpaid time on my part by getting to have thoughtful conversations and gain fresh perspectives.
Related to finding non-monetary ways to be paid for your expertise is finding clients with whom you feel a particular kinship. A recent article in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, “To be or not to be your authentic self? Catering to others’ preferences hinders performance” (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597817308865), describes a study of entrepreneurs’ success in pitching their ideas to potential investors – not unlike our marketing efforts as solopreneurs. The research found that the entrepreneurs who focused on catering to the investors’ expectations and interests performed worse than those who offered a pitch that felt authentic and genuine. The cognitive burden of attempting to discern the listener’s interests and concerns interferes with our ability to connect with the other person.
My takeaway from this and similar research is that the most effective way to attract clients I enjoy working with is to be my authentic self in all my public spaces. I keep my LinkedIn profile fresh and, yes, I post in Facebook with both business-related thoughts and my landscape photos. While I draw the line at politics, I try to show an authentic version of myself in my writing and speaking, knowing that my style may not appeal to everyone. I would rather attract clients who appreciate my, um, non-corporate approach than try to be the kind of consultant that I think a client wants me to be.
While measuring activities that contribute to the bottom line is important, make sure you are also engaged in activities that compensate you in non-monetary ways. A happy infopreneur is a more effective infopreneur.
Mary Ellen Bates has been an infopreneur since 1991, providing business analysis for strategic decision-makers and consulting services to the information industry. Her passion projects are beekeeping and coaching new and long-time infopreneurs. See more at BatesInfo.com.
After the cancellation of the AIIP 2020 conference, Elizabeth Suarez, the designated keynote speaker, presented a webinar called Effective Leadership during Difficult Times.
She began the session by asking participants:
“What keeps you up at night?”
“What is the one thing that could help you stop this worry?”
“What can we do with everything?”
Elizabeth focused on two topics: leadership and to how to pivot an offering. She began with the second point, pivoting an offering.
Three basic factors are compelling business owners to pivot: life changes, uncertainties, and the need to pivot. To do so, Elizabeth said it was important to create a strategic plan to show leadership and get back to the basics. To formulate a plan, it’s essential to establish structure, understand the needs of those you work with, and have transparent conversations.
The goals we made for 2020 may not seem relevant in the age of a pandemic. Many people are experiencing a level of frustration and uncertainty, which leads to questions such as, “Will clients be economically viable in the future and able to pay for my services?”
After asking the participants to share one word to describe their feelings, Elizabeth explained that the current situation can be compared with the stages of grief. Acknowledging and recording feelings in order to express them is critical for leadership, starting with defining reality, ending with saying thank you, and – in between – being a servant leader.
Elizabeth discussed and illustrated six steps for showing leadership:
- Say what you know
- Acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers
- Outline your plan
- Outline what is needed
- Acknowledge things will change
- Establish regular updates and checklists
It’s important to engage others to carry out these six steps. Recognizing strengths, and also getting help in improving skills that are not as strong, can be done best with input from others.
Making a plan can be done easily by going back to basics. Plans written now need to be able to be changed quickly and cover the right content. She recommended the field reporter approach, which consists of gathering information, assembling it, and sharing it with the target market. Understanding what clients need and developing an impactful plan based on the information received can be accomplished by going down a path based on the five “W” and one “H” questions. She mentioned these questions:
- Why do we care to help our clients?
- What do we want to provide to help our clients?
- What’s the difference between needs and wants?
- Who should be our ideal client?
- When is the right time to introduce a new offering?
- How will this pivoted service be offered?
Using the answers to these questions with the WEAVE approach – write, edit, assess, vet, and engage – forms the basis of a powerful and effective plan. It’s also important to remember that business owners should continue networking, stay in servant mode, and keep themselves relevant and top of mind with others.
Elizabeth’s webinar was very informative and easy to follow for the more than 50 AIIP members who attended. It was an interesting exercise to see how easily thinking through various these points could be when people may be experiencing difficulties with finding new ways to work in these changing times.
Rhonda L. Bowen has been a communication guide in her own business, bells, since 1988. Having worked with people from more than 70 countries, she provides services for BEST (business, engineering, science, technology) professionals to improve their communication across cultures.
By Connie Clem, Clem Information Strategies
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected AIIP members and their businesses? In a recent survey, 59 AIIP members shared what’s happening in their businesses, and several themes emerged from the results:
Theme 1: Virtuality
As business adapts to connecting more virtually, AIIP members are already comfortable there. Some are so unfazed that we feel we’re missing out on the “downtime” other workers are experiencing.
Most (88%) said the pandemic has had no effect, or a minor effect, on their client interactions.
- “Almost all my business and biz development were conducted by phone or email. I’ve added Zoom.”
- “Glad I’ve worked from home for nearly 20 years, was already a Zoom expert, and am used to working with virtual teams and online clients.
Theme 2: Responsiveness
Work feels different for many of our members:
- “It’s harder to reach people. They are not answering email; their work phones go to voicemail; they may not even still be employed.”
- “More social time is expected; conversations are less focused.”
- Clients who weren’t planning for the future “are now consumed by it…I make sure they have my number.”
- “I’ve tried to communicate more, touch base more, just be more open and forthcoming.”
- “I will have to work harder to show value when my target market has to tighten their belts.”
Theme 3: Adaptability
About 60% said COVID-19 has affected their business operations. A third are adjusting their products or services.
- “I’m using the time to connect with clients, as well as thinking of new ways to provide services to them, and perhaps to a new market.”
- “I’m working long hours, uncompensated, to generate good will and future contract extensions.”
- “I will switch my F2F to engage with smaller groups, and will likely travel less.”
- “I’m porting much of my workshop business to online.”
- “I am looking into banding together with other consultants to take on bigger projects.”
Theme 4: Contraction
Large contracts and retainer work are a source of stability for some members. Others have been earning less income.
- About 40% have experienced lower demand; 12% have had major drops in work.
- Almost half had specific projects postponed or canceled.
- 61% reported a decrease in current or projected income—for 29%, a significant decrease.
Examples:
- “My biggest client has halved my contract for this year.”
- “I have expenses (databases, etc.) that continue, but almost no projects coming in.”
- “I now have to rethink my entire business plan.”
- “Uncertainty is the word that best describes my business right now.”
- “I am examining options if clients have to reduce or eliminate any ‘outside’ contracts for the near term and possibly for the foreseeable future.”
- “It’s harder to focus when I do get work. Busyness is okay, but strategic thinking is tough.”
Theme 5: Positivity
In the COVID-19 era, 12% of respondents took on new projects focusing on the novel coronavirus and its implications.
In other positives:
- “Companies will be more inclined to work with consultants online…More managers and leaders will understand the importance of good and just-in-time information.”
- “It has had its positives: opportunities to reconnect with past clients; time to focus on business-building projects, organizing, and professional development; quiet space to write and create new IC.”
- “I am in my second year of business, so I am still exploring lots of different avenues and marketing and networking all the time…There still seems to be work to pursue.”
- “I wish that I had all the ‘free time’ that so many people are talking about to do business development, but I’m busy with existing clients that have a greater urgency for info.”
- “It’s a good time to ‘pivot’!”
AIIP’s solo practitioners are, as always, meeting their clients where they are – with extra support, interaction, flexibility, and personal outreach in a difficult time. Recovery of our national and regional economies defies prediction. In the meantime, we are holding to our courses, assessing our opportunities, and keeping up each other’s spirits within our member community.
Note: Some comments were lightly edited for brevity. Many thanks to Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services, for hosting the online survey.
Connie Clem owns Clem Information Strategies, communicating on innovations and leadership in the corrections field. She served as AIIP President in 2014-2015 and is AIIP’s current webmaster.
These are challenging times. COVID-19 has changed the landscape of economic and social activity globally, and it is likely that how we work and interact with others will be forever altered as a result. One thing that has remained constant for me throughout is the support that I receive from AIIP. My colleagues within AIIP are all facing the same challenges in terms of how to navigate the changing landscape of today as an independent business owner.
Many of the conference sessions that were to take place at our annual conference in Denver this year have been moved to virtual sessions, where we are able to converse with each other and discuss how the presentations relate to our new reality. Examples of upcoming sessions over the next two months include Staying Healthy in the Office, 30 Sites in 45 Minutes, and Managing Anxiety. In addition, some regional groups are transitioning their networking to virtual Zoom meetings so that more members can attend and connect to discuss shifting business plans.
Our Peer to Peer Support program continues to provide a variety of ways to connect personally with another member, offering guidance and support for navigating any professional challenges we may be facing. There are currently four types of support offered: a Kick-Starter Conversation, a Three-Month Mentoring relationship, the Accountability Buddies program, and the One-Year Mentoring relationship. The Peer to Peer Support Committee matches up members of similar business types and expertise to ensure a custom, highly valuable experience.
I feel fortunate to have my AIIP network as the ace in my pocket for any surprises that are thrown my way. The resources that AIIP provides are invaluable to me as I continue to navigate owning and operating my own business. I encourage anyone who has either started or is thinking about starting their own business to look at our offerings to see what AIIP can provide. Join us to see how consistently AIIP has been equipping independent information professionals for ongoing business success since 1987.
Jennifer Pflaumer serves as AIIP’s 2020-2021 president. She launched her information management consultancy, Paroo, in 2009 after realizing the need for concentrated information management solutions for businesses across all industries. Her expertise includes liaising between key business groups and IT departments to manage digital assets, creating information strategies and performing systems analysis and design.
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