Tag: business - Page 24

It has caught me by surprise. Who would have guessed? I wasn't expecting anything, not even a rose.

I am doing what many people like to do on a rainy day... laying in bed reading.

With a bookshelf full of every book genre imaginable, I am working my way through Small Giants - Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham. My good friend Kingsley Smith (from Kingsley's restaurants fame) gave it to me to read and I can't seem to put it down. Luckily for me, its raining outside and last night I celebrated a friends birthday, so I am little bit weary.

As I read, I am getting more and more inspired. It is encouraging me think beyond  what I am reading and imagining the lives of other business women around the world and what makes one more successful than the other or for that matter, more happier than the person next to them.

Do your friends say the same things to you over and over again, and you shrug it off thinking they have no idea?

Have you had the same type of relationships over and over again, only to find that they keep ending the same?

Do you keep on getting the same outcome out of life and still find yourself sitting there on a Sunday night lonely?

I can't sleep. Too much is going through my mind. I toss and turn all night long and wake up in the wee hours desperate to fall back asleep again, but not able to because I am thinking too much.

It's a problem that many small business owners face time and time again. I am no different.

What does your overarching marketing view look like? Have you written it down? Have you communicated it to your team? Do you have tactical marketing activities around your marketing strategy?

My view yesterday was pretty fantastic if you ask me. I was sitting on the couch overlooking one of Australia's most breathtaking views of Palm Beach pondering Marketing Eye's 2012 overarching marketing strategy.

Others might think that if you were sitting looking at the view (as in the picture) you might not be thinking about marketing, and more about how stunningly beautiful the view is, but when you are a small business owner and your business is 'your life', it makes perfect sense to take the opportunity to not only absorb your surroundings, but also, think clearly about your small business.

We are about to hit February - already! Time is flying and there is no time like the present to make sure your small business is in order. The cricket is mid-way. The tennis is over. Australia Day has been and gone. Everyone  is back in the office. Now, there are no excuses to not have your small business marketing program in order.

If you have not already done it - have a 'think tank' or 'marketing workshop' with your team and key stakeholders. Speak to your suppliers and ask them how they would improve your business in today's everchanging market.

Put a marketing strategy in place and get buy-in from your entire team. Video yourself talking about the company vision for everyone to see. Set up an intranet that has 'everything that is marketing' on it from what your brand stands for, your company culture, 2012 marketing activities, press releases and media stories and lead generation campaigns. Be more transparent and engage all your team on a level that they have not experienced before.

Change your view and I am sure your team and clients will change theirs too! It's business critical to your success in 2012.

I know a thing or two about having a long distance relationship. I've had my share and some, if you know what I mean! Having spent a good part of my thirties choosing to engage in long-distance relationships with people from all over the world, many have come to think that it is inevitable that one day I will wake up and realise what most people have already realised - and that is that it doesn't work.

I am ever the optimist and refuse to be told that something I have engaged in is doomed before it has even began, so like most things, I give it 100 percent and hope for the best.

Yesterday, I had lunch with a girlfriend and as girls do, we chatted about everything from fashion to food, travel to our love lives.

It's what girls do. There is no holds bar on any topic when you are sitting in a restaurant or in this case, an authentic Japanese hole in the wall in Atlanta with delicious food.

With so much happening in both of our lives, we had lots to talk about and 5 hours later, after saying goodbye, I still don't think we were done. 

She is a stunning woman, inside and out. A former model and television presenter, she is married to a charismatic, interesting and equally good looking husband. They are very in love and are embarking on the next stage in their lives.

Throughout the day, she constantly referred to her husband and whenever making a purchase or doing pretty much anything - her husband and his likes and dislikes were never far from her mind. It kept a smile on her face all day and after 8 years together, I have to say, that's fantastic.

Most of us have been in love at one stage in our lives and the feeling of putting someone else first is quite special. I love it when you think about that person, your children or animal as it may be, and instantly a smile is firmly planted on your face. It's instant gratification and always puts your whole body at ease immediately. I love this feeling and completely understand why so many of us look to find someone in our lives (or something) to love.

In business, if you love what you do and love your brand... the same goes. When you think about what your brand does for others and it puts a smile on your face - it's a remarkable feeling. Putting your business first and its health and wellbeing is all part of the parcel of being in LOVE with your business.

When you talk about your business, just like when you talk about a person that you love - if a smile immediately overcomes your state, then it must be love. Try it. See if it works!

Trying to wake up this morning wasn't easy. I was in a deep sleep dreaming about something that extended from a blog I wrote yesterday and I really wanted the dream to finish, but unfortunately, the alarm went off and I had to get up. I then preceded to walk around in a daze for the next hour or so. When that happens, its really hard to function properly and even the easiest tasks like turning off a light may seem like hard work.

You can tell when you have hit a certain age and everyone is either wanting to get married and have babies or they are deluding themselves with their own positive affirmations that they are in fact 'happy' just the way they are and wouldn't change their world for anything or anybody. The latter tends to think that by caring about someone other than themselves or making any changes to their lives would only lead to 'unhappiness' or as I like to think, 'putting themselves in a vunerable situation in which they cannot control'. Having spent the last couple of weeks with a number of single, middle-aged, childless, unmarried individuals who proclaim that by having anything different in their lives, they would have to change their lives and that is something none of them aim to do. Going out, drinking too much, partying too much and holidaying at every opportune moment seems to be key to what they think is the perfect life - of course, until they wake up one day and realise that they are all alone and they have spent too much time loving themselves to realise that there is no-one there to love them when they need it most.

December 7 and counting. While most of us have a jam-packed agenda for December with Christmas shopping to be done, parties, last minute things to finish at work, deals to close and family to catchup with, it seems that many small business owners get so caught up in what is going on, that they forget about what the future may hold.

2012 isn't going to be easy. It is predicted that we will see more floods, earthquakes, droughts, heat waves and cold spells as the world's weather patterns show increasing destabilisation but fortunately the world will not end as previously predicted on December 21, 2012.