It's been a very busy time here at Valerie Central. If you haven't been following what's happening on Twitter, then the summary is:- We survived our office move
- We won the 2010 NSW Telstra Business Awards Micro-business of the Year
- I'm still in love with my furry babies
A lot of people ask me what I think is important to create a successful business and career. Of course, there are the usual things, which are obvious, such as:
- Documented systems: If you don't have these, you won't last long
- Regular marketing: Your business could be the best in the world but who cares if no one knows about it?
- A great team: It's vital to nurture the right people in the right roles
Generosity
When it comes to your customers, over-deliver. When it comes to people who aren't even paying you, you should still be generous with your advice. Now I don't mean you should give away everything for free, but be generous with helping people. I know some people who refuse to do this on principle, they believe that they should be paid what they are worth and that they should not give anything away for free. Well, of course you should be paid what you are worth, but being generous is always going to achieve more for you in the long run than rationing out your advice only to those people who will pay. I've realised that when you are generous with your advice and help, this also gives people a taste of your expertise. They appreciate your help and the word-of-mouth ripple effect about you and your business is priceless.
Word of mouth
This brings me to the power of word-of-mouth. I recently spoke to a business owner who wanted my advice on growing her business. One of the key factors I emphasised was the power of word-of-mouth. I'm constantly amazed at how small the world is. Even in Sydney, a city of more than four million people, the connections people have - particularly now with social media - means that messages and opinions about yourself and your business can spread to hundreds, if not thousands, of people at the click of mouse.This has pros and cons. If people have a great experience with you or your business, this message gets passed on to their community or social network. If they have a bad experience, the same is also true. No longer can you hope that a bad experience will stay between just you and the other person.
The business owner I was speaking to was finding it difficult to get traction for her business. And one of the reasons I kept emphasising the power of word-of-mouth, was because five separate people had already told me about their negative dealings with her. She has such a great idea for a business but if she keeps burning bridges and p*ssing people off, it's not going to get her anywhere.
It's no longer a humble "grapevine". Social media has turned the act of spreading messages into a fully-fledged broadcast system that can make or break your business. Harness the power of this technology by being generous, treating your customers well and doing things that you are proud of.
A break from adrenalin
Now that we're in the fifth year of our business, we can look back and see that we've grown a lot. But I do also realise that there is so much more that's possible. I relish the idea of taking the Sydney Writers' Centre to the next level. I love the concept of helping people all over the English-speaking world to improve their written communication and achieve their writing goals. One of the reasons for this is that I truly believe that good communication can avoid heaps of misunderstandings and foster better relationships between individuals, governments and communities. However, this certainly takes time and effort. It's exciting and daunting at the same time. But it's also addictive. When you are faced with a project that you are passionate about, you can run on the pump and excitement of adrenalin for a long time. But, like running a marathon, you can give it your all but collapse at the end. If you are fully spent, you won't achieve your goals. If you find yourself running on adrenalin too much, it's vital to pace yourself. That's a challenge I constantly face too. But you can pace yourself by planning, planning and planning. Don't try to achieve everything tomorrow. Lay out a strategic month-by-month plan to get you where you want to go. Then it's not a race, it's a journey where you actually have time to smell the roses and appreciate what you've done without killing yourself along the way.
Latest gadget: iPad
I'm loving my new iPad. I was so taken with it that I stayed up until 6am on the first night I got it! Of course, I had to get a Haul iPad sleeve (pictured here). Regular readers may remember that my little doggie Rambo starred in a charity calendar with Gus the Boxer, a cute boxer dog living in Melbourne. Well, Gus "lives" at Haul, a great streetwear label that makes products from recycled materials.
Valerie recommends: Online Magazine Writing
Would you like to see your articles published in magazines and newspapers? From 2 August, I will lead you on a 5-week journey in the online course, Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers.It doesn’t matter if you haven’t written anything in your life!
It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to approach editors (we’ll give you a step by step formula).
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the right tools of a feature writer (they are simple – we’ll show you).
It doesn’t matter where you live (the same principles apply throughout the publishing industry).
I've had over 1,000 success stories from people who've gone through this course. (Yes, more than 1,000, I checked the other week!). Students who’ve completed this course have had their work published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Cosmopolitan, Sunday Life!, BRW, Notebook, The Sun-Herald, Australian Associated Press, Practical Parenting, Management Today, Australian Financial Review, City Weekly, Herald Sun, Home Beautiful and countless other magazines and newspapers... some before they have even completed the 5-week course. If you're interested, the course starts next week (2 August 2010) and you can find out more here.
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