Sunday greetings to you (and you!). Here we are once again, on the threshold of yet another month! Hope you made the most of March and are getting ready for APril and all it will bring to our lives as we prepare to apply the lessons.
Update: My arts & entertainment and networking events I’ll keep at bay, till I complete my new book Suddenly It Happened while revamping my website.
I will however be ramping up new (mainly free) content, as well as working on other monetized content, workshops and medium sized projects now and further afield.
This new blog series was started since I’ve noticed a lot of changes to the business landscape locally, regionally and on the global stage. I turned on the news today to hear that one of my tastiest franchises will be no more in the city where I live! Ohmy, I remember the olden days of quesadillas, fajitas, those bean salads, ribs and gargatawan cocktails and drink specials. Aweee. I almost shed a [silent] tear that those fun times won’t come again until unless I cross waters.
Hereto, I decided to pen this short blog on 3 ways to reinvent or distinguish your brand/business in times like this.
1. SERVICE WITH A SMILE
You ever heard the saying, “Kill ’em with kindness”? Well, you’re not being a faker, but rather invested in the ethos and tenets your business was founded upon (unless it was founded just to make oodles of the blue or green stuff/aka mula/money).
You’d want to revisit that Sesame Street clip where the mother asked the daughter to go to the corner store to get a few items (a loaf of bread, a stick of butter, a container of milk etc). The daughter recited the list (in her head I hope, in a comical way) while frolicking all the way to the store. In spite of this, she forgot the last item on the list by the time she got to the storekeeper, then remembered her mother’s words to her:
“… If you can’t remember, just walk backwards through your mind …”. Unless I’ve confused the exact childhood extract, you can still use this as a parallel to find YOUR reason for starting/investing in that business (deal). Or doing anything you are truly passionate about for which you may have lost the fire in your eyes.
Taking a time-out to remember your WHY will force you to find creative and innovative ways to get uber excited again to find the exuberance to jump out of bed each and every morning.
You can try scouting for new talent/staff, new techniques to make the job more enjoyable while being cost and time effective. Or (re)train your staff to do the best possible job, since their success becomes your success (as a brand).
Nobody’s saying to give your employees the keys to your house, your car and an all-you-can-eat buffet, but rewards make people feel appreciated and motivated to [continue to] pour their soul into doing a good job. (‘To whom much is given, much is expected’). These rewards will then transcend to increased punctuality, regularity, camaraderie, loyalty, discipline, going the extra mile, genuine joy, contentment, peace and a happy home life.
The opposite is also true. Treat your staff badly and they’ll extend that bad treatment to your customers; take it out on the roads, their spouses, their kids who’ll take it out on other kids, their teachers, until it becomes a vicious cycle of angst, rage and pain with little or no gain. If you are unhappy at your day job the majority of days, I’ve seen and experienced at times that compensation will likely be used to cure or drown other ills.
Guess what else’ll happen? You’ll ruin your brand as word spreads. Businesses where the passion + heart are not naturally evident to customers will eventually go out of business, so will your initial dreams for starting it in the first place (food for thought?!).
2. A LITTLE EXTRA GOES A LONG WAY
Once upon a time when we were all kids, we’d get “bribed” basically for doing chores around the house when really all we wanted to do was lay on the couch all weekend long and watch Tom & Jerry on repeat, or Pink Panther. Or go outside rollerblading, ride our bikes (for those who took off the trainer wheels and learnt how!), or play jacks or moral.
All those songs (and verses in the Holy Books) that says life is a cycle and everything that happened in the past will repeat itself in some way again, is on point. History is there to teach us pivotal lessons; so the same tragedies, fallacies, brainwashing and dilemmas do not repeat itself so we can live happily ever after! (Wouldn’t that be swell!).
I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said (a veryy long time ago) that sometimes diverse people are too different to truly get along. I’m not sure if I agree totally, but maybe I’m just too young and have way more to live through and experience.
Everything in life is a choice. What goes up, comes down. What you give, you get. And people are programmed to see through [fake] bu&^hit. They respond to what they were born to feel in their soul is real and true. If they choose to ignore what’s glaring to most people; then that’s also their choice. Really, how many chances can you get to free your mind, do the right thing and make a positive change for all involved?
Umm that’s what I thought. That fundamental principle in American baseball comes to mind (3 strikes and you’re out). The reality is, we usually give people and situations way more than three chances for multiple reasons:
Fear/intimidation; we feel we can’t do better (or are made to feel that way), circumstances, health, age or whatever challenge you place on your life.
Learning is FREE in the form of people (speech), (quiet, respectful) observation and now technology, so there’s no reason we each can’t push for progress. When you do little things from the heart for customers without blurring the lines of professionalism, it goes a long way for repeat business.
In sum: Treat people right (without shooting yourself in the foot) in business: staff and customers. Maintain loyalty to the ones who have been consistently good to you. Give with your whole heart when your heart is healed enough to do so and it has proven to come back to you tenfold in various ways from various sources/people.
3. BAND TOGETHER
You ever heard the saying: “Two heads are better than one”? (You can probably tell that I love the classics and I believe this particular saying is from the two-headed monsters on Sesame Street, once again).
Two or more heads, or in modern adult life – two or more like-minds are better than ONE. Trying to do everything yourself is like trying to steer a ship from an island in the Caribbean to Australia or Greenland (or Russia!) by yourself. It’s highly doubtful you’ll ever make it in this lifetime, or at all.
There’s a term in Economics called Economies of Scale. If a group of people with common goals who share similar backgrounds and are compatible in business and temperament; there’s much to be learnt, much to be shared and much to be gained.
In terms of dollars and cents (and sense); you’ll save time and cut costs (without cutting each other off!), work will become happier, less of a headache and dog-eat-dog-crabby-world where you sometimes feel like a wandering Jew when you unexpectedly and inevitably find yourself in a slump.
That’s it for today folks. Have a beautiful [final] week of March (2019) filled with infinite possibilities for creation and abundance!
Carpe Diem.
My Endless Love,
Carolyn x
Coming Soooon: Suddenly It Happened!
Your life begins (again) today! 