Work smarter
Something that comes up a lot when I work with my clients is procrastination. And when I'm talking to people, and I know that it's a place that we easily go to - “I am a procrastinator”!
I've got some questions for you to really delve into this idea of being a procrastinator, because it gets in the way.
This week I had the pleasure to attend MarketEdLive, a fab one day conference held in my home town of Nottingham – always nice not to have to go far, and even more amazed at the variety of people who made it all the way to the Midlands!
But alongside the meeting of new and old friends I got to hear from some amazing speakers and they got me thinking about how I do things and ultimately how I could do things better, so I wanted to share them with you.
We can be so busy running our businesses, that we can sometimes run adrift from the reasons we set them up in the first place.
Can you remember what those reasons were, have they changed, have you changed?
Every so often it’s worth reconnecting with your business. Asking yourself; what did you start it for? And where are you going now?
Before I started out as a woman in business running debbiedooodah, I was first and foremost a friend, mother and lover and I had no idea about the amazing business networks that Nottingham has to offer.
I learnt about the value of networks and friendships the hard way, as all good lessons are generally learnt!
Firstly I want to apologise for my tardiness! When I started blogging on a weekly basis I was so keen to be consistent and produce something of value to help you grow your business every week. After all that is what I advise my clients to do!
Consistency builds trust - and the golden rule of marketing is that your customers need to know, like and trust you before they'll buy your products. Flighty inconsistent behaviour can lead to your potential customer wondering if you really are the expert, if you really do value their support, if you are the business for them.
Blimey, being an entrepreneur is busy! I connected with a new business woman, and once I’d told her all the things I did, running my own business, marketing for other business, First Tuesday, Blue Stockings, Nottingham Soup and being a mummy, she had no idea how I managed to fit it all in!
Sometimes I’m not so sure either. But I know I wouldn’t be half as happy as debbiedooodah if I didn’t have all the side projects going that help me support the business community in Nottingham!
So how do I all manage it?
So, I talk a lot about how to use social media and how to build relationships both on line and off. But what about making a sale? That can sometimes seem a much harder prospect. How can we turn all the chat and conversation and good feeling on social media to cold hard sales? After all, we are all in business to make money. At the very least we need to pay the bills and hopefully drive a nice car, buy a lovely house and go on exotic holidays. So how do we make sales?
Beginnings of years, the start of the new school term and Easter are all opportunities to take time out to reflect on our businesses. On how far we have come and where we want to go.
In our fast paced lifestyles, it can be hard to carve out just half an hour, let alone a day to give ourselves space and time to really get to the bare bones of our businesses and where we want to be.
If you’re feeling in a reflective mood, and I am now, then there are some tips below to help you take stock and congratulate yourself on how far you’ve come.
So as a digital marketing expert, I’m always looking at how others do things and how I could improve how I do things. Things I can pick up, lessons learnt, ideas sought.
Being freelance and learning about social media in an ever-changing landscape can be exhilarating and fraught. Where once words and a well-placed image was enough to capture someone’s interest, now we have live streaming, blogs, webinars, tutorials, vlogs and more. So as much as I am supporting my clients to understand the rich capabilities of the new marketing landscape, I’m also learning as I go, reading blogs, watching webinars and adding to my knowledge.
I’ve recently become involved in a new business in Nottingham, with 3 other wonderful women in business that I’ve worked with on various different projects.
What we all have in common (apart from being women!) is that we believe business can and should do good. That profit doesn’t have to equal bad practice, that business can make a difference, and have a positive effect on society.
As seen in:
Top 40 Female Business Coach for 2022 | UK’s Digital Woman of the Year 2020
MarketEd Live Top 30 Marketers that Inspire 2020, 2021 & 2022 | Digital Women’s Top 40 Women to Watch 2020
Top 100 Female Entrepreneur 2019 | Top 100 Influencer for Gender, Equality & Diversity 2019 & 2020
Winner of Ingenuity19 for My Business My Way Toolkit | HSBC’s Top 5 podcast for Women in Business in UK 2019
