It’s so easy when running a business to get carried away with the things that need to be done that you can forget about life happening around you.
How often do you put business or work ahead of other important aspects thinking that it doesn’t take up much time – but actually it can be detrimental to your personal life?
This leads us to think about whether we are truly happy in what we are doing – are we really getting the work-life balance that we set out for in the first place. And if the answer to that is no, then is it time to put priorities in place to be able to enjoy the important things that are happening around us?
Listening to a motivational speaker recently at a business conference, we were asked the question: “If you had to choose two things out of the following, what would they be?”
WEALTH / HEALTH / HAPPINESS
This is such a valuable question to ask ourselves and especially as small business owners or startup businesses, we can get caught up in the road of trying to be successful by earning every penny that we can. But this can be at the detriment of our health or personal lives. The love of money can get in the way of the small things in life. It can take over and it can become an obsession, if priorities are not put in place.
Health and happiness are vital – the wealth can be earned along the journey if you’re achieving your goals.
So are you happy in the direction your business is going?
Are there better ways of doing things to achieve a better work-life balance?
Could you improve on your priorities in order to make yourself happier and enjoy the things that are happening around you?
Take time to step back and work out what’s important. Yes, you have a business that you love and you have a passion for it to succeed. That passion can be the motivation to keep you going and to push you to new heights and to new targets and is great for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to get ahead and see results. But you also have a passion to see your children growing up, not missing the important part of their lives because you’re too busy chasing your dream. You also have family and personal circumstances that need you, that rely on you and that value time spent with you.
Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years? Don’t be that person that looks back with regret. Don’t wish that you’d done things differently when you have a chance NOW to make those changes and to make priorities that will impact your whole future.
Take time right now to understand who you really are and to understand what you really want from your business and from life. What direction do you want your business to go in. Is there a better way of managing tasks and daily routine? Are you coping with the way things are running right now – at the precise moment? These are all questions that should be asked on a regular basis with ongoing responses and being adaptable and flexible to make life easier.
Happiness is so important in business. Being happy in what you do gives you passion. Passion gives you motivation and motivation pushes you to get results.
ARE YOU HAPPY?
This sometimes is even a question that we cannot answer. It’s easy to say ‘I’m ok’ when really we’re not. We push through each week trying to accomplish everything that comes our way and sometimes all we need is a bit assertiveness to say no and that we need help.
So going back to the original question; what are you priorities? What can you do to turn your life / business around to make yourself happy and more motivated and to know that you’re loving EVERY part of your life?
Don’t miss out on precious time – the small things matter – take time to work out what’s best for your business and your life and the priorities that will make them all work together for good.
If you’re a business owner and have overcome these things, we would value your comments below in what has worked for you..
If you’re looking for a spare pair of hands to help with the daily routine tasks that you know are important but you’d rather not spend time on – get in touch, we’re here to help at the click of a button.
Every post on Facebook, or any tweet on Twitter highlights the voice of your brand. Every reply or comment you make is a showcase for your brand. If you do not stick to the same voice, your brand lacks definition and continuity.
Just as providing killer content and great visuals throughout your social media marketing is essential, so is your brand voice. The key to always being the right voice is brand awareness; understanding the basics behind your business and what you are looking to achieve through it.
Brand awareness
Think of all the household names that you recognise today, Coca Cola, Amazon, Fairy Liquid – these are brands that you recognise just by the name. These companies have defined exactly what their products are, defined clear images/logos that everyone knows and relates to – these brands are well loved, well known products. Yes, it takes time to get to that stage but the key to behind an up and coming brand taking off and becoming popular and well-known is having a clear brand awareness and committing 100% to it.
Definition of brand awareness:
“Brand awarenessrefers to the extent to which customers are able to recall or recognise a brand. Brand awareness is a key consideration in consumer behaviour, advertising management, brand management and strategy development. The consumer’s ability to recognise or recall a brand is central to purchasing decision-making. Purchasing cannot proceed unless a consumer is first aware of a product category and a brand within that category. Awareness does not necessarily mean that the consumer must be able to recall a specific brand name, but he or she must be able to recall sufficient distinguishing features for purchasing to proceed.
Having a clear voice
When you understand your brand and know in which direction you want your business to go in, by utilising a marketing strategy, you can create a clear voice in every aspect of your marketing – whether that be online or offline. Your voice is your brand.
Consistency needs to shine through. Every post you make needs to be recognised as your brand and followers and potential clients need to easily recognise your content as being your brand.
As tempting as it may be to become lots of different voices behind a brand to tailor to different audiences – this will not show continuity throughout your marketing efforts and will result in failure. Creating a marketing strategy will enable you to pin point your ideal audience and target those specific people and increase your sales and profits from there.
Target audience
Your brand has a target audience – do you know who they are? If not, it’s time to get thinking clearly about who your brand appeals to and who you want to target. Spreading yourself thin and targeting every consumer group out there won’t work! Pinning down your target audience will define your brand and will increase your ROI (return on investment).
Once you have a clear vision of who your brand is for, it’s time to understand them – what makes them tick, what they are looking for, what will help them, what solutions are they looking for? From here on it’s time to promote your brand or product around these needs. Creating offers that will appeal to them and their requirements, offering EXACTLY what they need.
It’s a good idea to get talking to your ideal audience and build relationships so people know and trust your name, this way when you create your offers, they already know who you are. Doing this through your social media channels is a good place to start. And this is where your brand voice comes in.
Consistently keeping your brand tone of voice and being the name that people are starting to know and love will help build your business and from this you will see business growth and an increase in sales.
It doesn’t matter if you are a small business or a large business, the basis behind a successful business is about creating a strong business plan, along with a defined marketing strategy and embracing everything included in these to take risks, create culture and to have a brand that your audience loves.
So, when you create your next Facebook post or campaign, ensure consistency in every aspect of that campaign. If you’re a believer of great customer service (and everyone should be if they want a successful business), make sure you showcase this through your brand’s tone of voice and to every prospective customer that comes through your social channels.
Social media is a fantastic tool that every business can embrace to reach their audience. Don’t be scared to use it or to over use it. The more places people can get in touch with your brand, the more chances you have to connect with people on their comfort level and build relationships. But be careful not to spread yourself too thin and to lose the brand tone due to overwork and using too many channels. This can be overcome by reaching out to a social media agency or virtual assistants to help you stay in touch and up to date with your social media while you work on the other aspects that you love to do.
If you’re looking for social media experts who can help you define your brand and create a marketing strategy to see your business move forward, we’d love to chat with you. Get in touch today to find out more.
Do You Love Your Business And Have Passion To Drive It Forward?
Do you still have a passion to push your business forward? Do you still love what you do within your business to see successful results?
If you’re not enjoying what you do, or enjoying the basics behind your business, it’s time to step back and work out how you can change that. It’s time to re-focus and work out what is is that you need to be doing to get back on track and see results in your business.
Monday’s are always a great day to plan the week ahead and to establish your targets for the week. If you’re looking at that to-do list and not seeing things that you enjoy – perhaps you’re looking at your business in the wrong light. Perhaps it’s time to strip down the different aspects of your business and your daily / weekly routines and really knuckle down to finding your true passion again to inspire you to push forward and see the results that you truly desire.
The one question that needs to be asked is: Do you love your business?
Do you REALLY love what you have achieved so far and know 100% that you’re heading in the right direction?
Do you STILL have the passion and drive that you once had when you started your business?
If the answer is ‘no’ then it’s time to step back and ask ‘why?’.
What has made you drift away or move in a difference direction?
What is it that has dampened the spark that you once had to see results and to love helping others?
When you first set out to start a business, there was a reason why you went down the route you went in – and sometimes we all need to go back to those roots and re-ignite the passions and drive that motivated and inspired us.
Understand what motivates you
Understanding what motivates you and inspires you is important steps for growing your business. It’s difficult to stay focused if you lack motivation or understanding in what you’re really wanting. Changes in circumstances and personal lives can also have an impact on direction, and often you can find yourself down a path that you didn’t expect. It’s not always a bad thing though and all experiences whether good or bad can be a learning curve and help us understand what’s really needed, expected and wanted in order to succeed.
Going back to basics
Going back to the original question ‘do you love your business?’, can you honestly say that you’re in a place that you want to be in? Are you happy in what you’re doing?
Your actions say more than words and the way that you present yourself professionally can have an impact on your business. Being joyful in your actions, sharing what you do, talking about your passions and what you do in life will help you to network, to build work relationships, meet new people and build contacts – all attracting potential new clients.
You are the face of your business, you are the voice that people see and hear and therefore this needs to be a positive process.
Dig deep, understand where you have come from, where you are heading and what makes you tick – and more importantly – where you can add value. Then you will be happy in what you’re doing, and people will see that you’re confident, positive and believe in what your business is about.
So today, re-discover what you love about your business, re-discover the drive to see success and let’s help each other move forward.
We would love to hear your comments below; what do YOU love about your business and how can you inspire others to dig deeper?
When you started your business, you had passion and drive to see something happen, to see something achieved. You recognised a need and aimed to set out to achieve the solution.
What were the passions that got you started? What were the dreams that you had when you first created your business startup?
And more importantly, are you still heading in the same direction that you first set out in and achieving the goals that you wanted to accomplish?
How often do we start something and don’t see it through to completion?
How often to we get excited about a subject that we love but something gets in the way and we don’t finish?
Now is the time to get your head in gear and to reaffirm those goals and targets and make a plan on how you’re going to achieve them. Get your business back on track and take ownership of where you wanted it to go, where you are now and where you want to be in the future.
What things could help you get back on track?
What were your initial dreams?
Go back to basics, go back to the beginning when you first decided to start your business. What were the things that motivated you? What were the things that inspired you and gave you passion to want to make a difference?
What were the needs that you saw? How did you think you could achieve to solve them?
Write these things down. Keep a note pad or a section on your mobile device where you can keep looking back at these first passions and reasons why you wanted to start a business. Don’t lose sight of your passion. Don’t let go of what got you started in the first place.
Where are you now?
How long have you been running your business? Has it been 2 months / two years? Put into perspective what you have achieved in this period. Have you made the most of what you have accomplished? Have you become lazy in your efforts and lost the desire to make a difference or to help others?
Write these things down. Make a list of all the things that you have accomplished, all the things that matter most to you and what you have done with everything that you’ve started.
Don’t lose heart. Even if your list isn’t very long and you haven’t accomplished everything that you thought you would by now. NOW is the time to get back on track. NOW is the time to recoup and move your path back to the direction you know it should be heading.
If you’ve accomplished everything you planned to – well done! Congratulations on being able to adhere to a plan and sticking to your strategy. How have you achieved these points? How have you got to where you are today? Write these down too – these things are just as important as you may need them later on in life. And if you have achieved everything you set out to, what’s next? What plans can you put in place to reach even higher limits and aspirations?
Who do you aspire to?
We all have people that we look up to or perhaps think “I’d love to achieve what they’ve done!”. Are there people that you listen to you regularly on podcasts or read their books to gain insight? Having a mentor is an amazing thing and a way that we can have someone to help us along the journey and motivate us going forward. Having inspiration and motivation and learning how to stay positive helps us in both our business and personal life. It keeps us going and gives us hope. It gives us something to work towards and allows us to be open to suggestion or guidance of people that have ‘been there and done that’.
If you don’t currently follow anyone in that way or you have a mentor or coach, take some time to search online for industry leaders, for thought leaders, for motivational speakers, for business coaches in your niche. All these people will push you in the right direction and will help you to stay on track and focus in your business.
Let’s get back to basics. Let’s go back to where your business began and really delve deep into what it was that started you off. This is not a quick process and not something that you can do on a whim. Any business owner that wants to be successful has to take time to work out what their dreams and passions are and to plan and make a strategy of who to achieve those dreams. Don’t start something and give up; if you have a passion, use that to get results.
If you’re looking for someone to coach you back into loving your business and giving you a way to realise your full potential again, we’d love to chat with you. Don’t go it alone. Don’t think that if you’ve tried once, you’ll never succeed again. Love yourself, love your business and watch process unfold as you come back to basics and see business growth.
What could you be doing to improve your business, to make it even better than it is right now and to really push it in the direction that you have hopes for?
As we think about our own personal business journey and how we got started and the reasons why we got started, let’s go back to the beginning and understand whether we’ve really got to where we thought we would by now.
As you go through your week, the next month, what 3 things could really help you improve your business? What things could you do right now, this week, this month that will help boost your business and drive you forward?
Understand what you want
To accomplish this task of writing three points, you really need to understand what it is that you’re trying to achieve. Have you got a business plan? Have you put a strategy in place showing how you are going to get past each goal or target?
Knowing where you have come from and what you want to achieve in your business will help you think about what things you need to do to improve.
How do you get what you want?
Once you understand what you want for your business, what things do you need to do to get there? Are there jobs or tasks that you need to do in order to get past a particular hurdle? Are there people that you need to get in touch with or build relationships with in order to fulfil the next step in your plan?
Are you working through a to-do list or simply taking each day as it comes? Creating a business plan is the most sensible thing you could do if you’re unsure of where you’re heading. Often we find ourselves going off on a tangent and completely missing the original goal that we set out with.
Plan, take hold of responsibility and pursue.
Have you got the right mindset to achieve your dreams?
Being positive and having the right mindset in order to achieve targets in half the battle. If we lack motivation or do not have inspiration to do anything, we may as well go back to a 9-5 office job that everyone else is doing.
You once had a passion to see results! You once wanted to achieve a dream so badly that you put everything you had into being successful – where has that passion gone? Why are you lacking motivation?
Be confident in yourself, know that if you set your mind to it, you will succeed. Sometimes it will take longer than anticipated and sometimes you need to go down a path that you didn’t expect to but in the end if you are passionate about your businesses and you truly believe that you have something to give – THEN you will see results.
Make your three points count
So thinking short-term ahead and what you are currently doing right now, what three things could you do to move your business forward? What three things that if you really knuckled down and set your mind to achieving, could drastically change your business for the better? Don’t make your three choices things that are so easy you could do them in a flash – make them something that mean something, that count in the grand scheme of your business, that will really have impact on the direction of where you are heading.
Seek direction, find your passion and see results.
We’d love to chat with you if you’re struggling to get back to where your passions began. Everyone has it in them to succeed. If you started your business but are now not sure how to move it forward or where to take it to next, please get in touch – we’re here to help at the click of a button.
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