CRAVE founder Melody Biringer sat down with Michelle Ward from WhenIGrowUp.com to talk hitting a nerve! We should warn you that this video is jam packed with useful information, so grab a pen and paper and get ready to learn the secrets to hitting that nerve!
You have a fabulous product or service and you know it – people have even told you so. So why aren’t you out there in the world claiming your space????
Ladies, ladies, ladies – enough showing humility and being humble. The time is NOW to be that magnificent entrepreneur.
Being magnificent means being your authentic self with your quality products or service and sharing this authenticity with everyone around you. It is time to re-group and focus on getting your self out there in a big way.
Use these three tips to catapult yourself into greatness.
1. It all begins with Clarity. Being clear with what you are offering and who you are offering it to. Crave blogger Stephanie Ward speaks about attaining that clarity, so have a peep at the great information that she shares.
2. Re-check your mindset and attitude. It needs to positive and ambitious. The beliefs you put in your mind create the actions that you ultimately you. For example, if you tell yourself that you are just okay, you will be just that – okay. What you think about, you will become. Start telling yourself how valuable you and your services are and let your positive attitude and outlook radiate in every facet of your business.
3. Marketing strategy mix up. Take a critical look at your marketing strategy and make an intentional effort to change one thing that you are doing. Unless your marketing strategy is allowing you to rake in your desired income, you need to start doing something differently. Take yourself totally outside of your comfy zone, incorporate a marketing strategy that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable. Don’t think too hard and talk yourself out of it – Just do it! Here are some words that help to re-ignite my fire when I am becoming a bit too comfortable:
“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.”
Arthur C. Clarke
Karen Donaldson is a Motivational Keynote Speaker, Public Speaking and Presentation skills coach and Founder of Karen Donaldson Inc and Panache Life Inc. She has helped numerous executives and entrepreneurs become confident, clear and engaging communicators and has shown employees and teams how to outperform in everything that they do. Visit Karen at www.karendonaldsoninc.com.
After having no idea what I wanted to be when I “grew up” I ended up getting a BAH in Criminal Justice by 21, simultaneously working retail jobs and having no major thought to the direction I wanted to go in my life. I knew a few things about myself:
1. I was really good at sales. It didn’t matter what I was selling (at the time, I was selling skateboards).
2. I had the gift of gab, and was thus a networking master.
3. I loved new things, and got bored very quickly of working in the same place for too long.
4. I didn’t like being micro-managed.
My parents were always extremely concerned with my job turnover rate. It seemed as though whenever I had worked at a store for 6 months, was exceeding at sales, and was being valued by management or owners, I left. I became manager at my first retail location. I dove right into my work – I went above and beyond. I created events, managed social media, changed store operations, hired staff, and created new marketing plans. I increased the store’s sales, and its’ reputation in the city. After 6 months, I found myself bored again. As you can imagine, the cycle continued for quite a bit longer, until I had my “aha!” moment.
At the last retail store I managed, I continued to exceed expectations in my position, to the point where I got asked to join the Business Improvement Area Board of the area I was working in. As it became my new project, I got excited and began to work hard on improving the BIA and businesses within the BIA’s social media. I was 23, and all the business owners were dying to get me into their store for a “Dani-makeover”. Until it hit me – why was I doing all this work for free? I had something people valued, and I wasn’t charging for it!
Starting my own social media curation company at 23, was a scary thing, but I knew I had to do it. As soon as I put the idea out there, work started coming at me from all angles, and my company was growing at an alarming rate before I knew it! I always look back at the creation of my business, and compare it to diving into a pool (I promise this is a useful analogy.) Some people check the water out with their toe before jumping in; some people check the thermometer; other people walk in slowly from the shallow end. I think the best way to become successful in business is by diving in head first, with no turning back or dabbling into other things. Know your idea, know your niche, know your target market and best of all, know yourself. If you can own your idea, learn it, and master it, there is nothing that will stop you from making an “aha!” moment, into a business success story.
Dani Gagnon is CEO of The Like Button – a social media curation company, based in Toronto, Canada. Contact: dani@thelikebutton.ca.
Jane Applegate, author and business advisor was recently in Seattle, WA. She spoke at a CRAVEchat, Applegate talked about the monthly theme “Hit a Nerve.” Her book, 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, is a terrific resource for learning how to hit that nerve in your business!
Jane Applegate is America’s most respected small business management expert. A popular keynote speaker and commentator, she’s author of four books on small business success, including 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business and The Entrepreneur’s Desk Reference. The third edition of the best-selling 201 Great Ideas is available as a John Wiley trade paperback and in all eBook formats including Nook and Kindle.
Applegate is the leading small business speaker for Bloomberg Television’s Idea Exchange speaker series. In 2010, she keynoted 15 events co-sponsored by Bloomberg TV, chambers of commerce and cable operators. In 2011, she will speak at dozens of events sponsored by chambers and others including Virtual CFO.com, the National Assn. of Women Business Owners and the New York Times Small Business Summit.
She’s the founder of The Great Ideas Network, a new small business video network focused on sharing great ideas via 201greatideas.com.
Applegate contributes original articles to OpenForum.com, Cox Business, (Coxsbn.com), Montecito Bank & Trust and Pitney Bowes’ PBSmartEssentials.com.
Prior to starting her own business, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times. For several years, Applegate co-produced and moderated the New York Times Small Business Summit, sponsored by American Express. Applegate also created, produced and co-anchored Bloomberg Small Business for the USA Network and Entrepreneur’s Only for CNN. Her Succeeding in Small Business radio report aired on hundreds of CBS stations in the 1990s.
Applegate consults with a select group of companies serving the small business market, including Pitney Bowes, Cox Business and Montecito Bank. TAG has produced small business events for: Sprint, Merrill Lynch, MasterCard, AT&T and IBM among others.
The Applegate Group, founded in 1991, provides strategic marketing and video production services to big and small companies.
Jane Applegate creates custom presentations or can deliver one of the popular topics below:
These are a few questions author and business advisor Jane Applegate posed to CRAVE entreprenesses everywhere! She was recently in Seattle, WA speaking at a business chat along with CRAVE founder Melody Biringer.
Have you hit that nerve yet? Have you figured out what it is you’ve been meant to do all along with your business? Sometimes it takes time, going through trial and error and asking yourself a few important questions. See if you can answer these!
How many hours of sleep do you get at night? You can’t always think straight if you haven’t slept enough, right?
Are you really thinking about what’s working and what isn’t in your business? Don’t be afraid to reinvent your business!
With your clients and customers, how are you showing them that they are appreciated? Everyone wants to feel appreciated!
Have you invested in photography for your business? After all there is that saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
How often are you taking time to just think about your business? Planning and thinking are key parts in growing your business and moving forward.
Communicating with staff and colleagues is key, how are you doing this? Scheduling regular phone calls can be helpful in having good open lines of communication.
Pay close attention to the decisions your making, what works and what doesn’t and that ah-ha moment might be closer than you think!
Do you ever make poor eating choices and immediately feel like a food failure? Do you get stressed, over-eat, feel guilty, berate yourself then start the cycle all over again? If this sounds at all familiar, it is time to hit a nerve with your inner food goddess! Each and every one of us has an inner food goddess just pleading to come out. A food goddess is a woman who loves real, whole food. She appreciates the sensuous nature of food and enjoying each meal with complete contentment (and the occasional delighted moan!). Though she adores good food she is not about stuffing herself or existing in a gluttonous state, but rather enjoys each bite for its nuance of flavor. She understands exactly what her body needs and knows exactly what type of nutritious food to put on her plate. She sounds awesome, right!?! So why is it that many of us continue to struggle with our food if we’ve got this amazing person right at our fingertips?
In our “get thin quick” society, women are often overwhelmed with the abundance of nutrition and diet information, which causes us to jump into restrictive eating regimes that garner quick and unsustainable results. We allow ourselves to get wrapped up in societal pressures and completely forget to listen to our bodies for guidance. We also struggle to reconcile the distorted body images shown on television and in movies and magazines alongside the food marketed to us. How about a Big Mac to help you into your skinny jeans? It simply does not make any sense! These are the food and body minefields we must navigate and why our inner food goddesses rarely have a chance to emerge.
Now, striking a chord with your inner food goddess is not an overnight occurrence. However, there are a few easy tips to get you started on the path:
1. Only Whole- A food goddess is all about the taste, quality and unaltered state of her food. Begin by purchasing real whole food that neither comes in a box nor was made in a manufacturing plant. If you have no idea how your food came to be (ie Cheetos and Wheat Thins) put it down and walk away. Letting go of processed foods opens up your plate and palate to a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans and organic animal products you’ve never before experienced. The world of whole foods is truly endless and just waiting for the eager food goddess.
2. Chew- Have you ever stuffed yourself with the last 5 cookies in the house just to get rid of them? If you eat them quickly it’s almost like they never existed, right? Wrong! A food goddess acknowledges her food and never eats to make “bad” food disappear. When eating, chew 10-15 times per bite. Chewing aids digestion, which protects your food goddess tummy and increases satisfaction by making your food last longer.
3. Emergency Snacks- To think of yourself as a food goddess you must first treat yourself like one by anticipating your needs. Namely, never leave the house without food on your person. Nuts, seeds, dried fruit or vegetable sticks are a perfect grab-and-go snack that will keep you from getting hungry later in the day and making poor food decisions.
4. Choose Wisely- Just because a food goddess prefers unprocessed whole food does not mean she doesn’t indulge. Choosing indulgences wisely is not about willpower but rather exhibits the innate respect a food goddess has for her body. Stuffing herself at the dessert table only hurts her tummy and leads to a cycle of guilt. No thank you! When choosing your indulgence decide upon the item you will enjoy most and stick to it. Perhaps it’s that scoop of salted caramel ice cream, a piece of homemade holiday fudge or (if you are me!) warm walnut bread smothered in herb goat cheese. Whatever it is, eat it with slow burning satisfaction and make it last. When you fully engage with your indulgence there is simply no need for a second helping.
5. Take each meal on its own merit- Ever felt guilty over an afternoon ice cream cone and decided the day was consequently ruined and proceeded to eat everything in sight? Well, stop it! A food goddess takes each eating opportunity on its own merit. Sure, she is human and sometimes gets caught eating more chocolate than necessary but she does not allow that to tarnish the rest of her eating day. Rather than throwing the entire day out the window with one bad food choice, use your remaining meals to catch up on extra vegetables and whole foods you might have missed during your chocolate romp. Eating each meal on its own merit curbs emotional eating and silences all that ungoddess-like negative self talk.
Hitting a nerve with your inner food goddess does not happen instantly but when it does, the ah-ha moment is huge! No longer do you battle with food hang-ups but rather settle into the groove of eating well and creating confidence in your food choices. So, are you ready to strike a chord with your food, your body and your self-care? Start with these 5 easy steps and watch the goddess transformation begin!
Jamie G. Dougherty, CHHC, AADP is the Founder of JamieLiving, Health & Lifestyle Coaching that offers private and corporate nutrition coaching nationwide. She is the author of Spring Forward to the New You: 30 Delicious Recipes for a New Body and is currently enrolling fabulous women in her next Food Goddess Wellness Group. She is passionate about deliciously healthy food and specializes in helping her clients transform their lives through the power of nutrition and self-care.
See the pretty lady over my left shoulder? That’s Carol Roth make sure you check out her book for more business tips! Be sure to follow her on her Twitter @caroljsroth.
Want more advice from startup junkie Melody Biringer? Check out her book here.
Have you hit that nerve yet? What are you known for?
Can you answer this question quickly and easily?
If so, congratulations – you’re one of the few. If not, don’t worry I’m going to help you figure it out.
The benefits of being clear about what separates you from everyone else is that you’re able to grow faster, develop expert status, and increase the amount of referrals you get. And I know you want some of that!
Of course you deliver outstanding results, that’s a given. But you need to identify what sets you apart from your competitors.
Besides your industry or you niche, what are you specifically known for?
What do people say about doing business with you that is truly unique?
Why do people choose you? Here are some possibilities to get you thinking.
Are you known for:
- Speed, quick results
- Consistency
- Extreme trust
- Amazing new ideas
- Your broad and diverse network
Take a few minutes right now and make a list of all of the things that make you stand out.
In addition, look through your testimonials and recommendations and see if you can find a common theme.
Once you’ve got your list, go through it and identify the core benefit that differentiates you.
If you’re not sure what makes you special, you can ask clients and colleagues. You can do this on the telephone, via e-mail, or you can send an anonymous survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com is a great resource and it’s free).
When you’ve made the decision about what you want to be known for, you need to share that in every aspect of your business. Don’t be shy about promoting this in all forms of communication.
Think about your:
1. Website
2. Business Cards
3. E-mail Signature
4. Voice mail message
5. Social Media Profiles
Are you starting to see how powerful it is to know, and communicate, what distinguishes your business from the rest?
Take action to identify and share what makes you remarkable and watch your business transform.
Stephanie Ward is the Marketing Coach for Entrepreneurs who want to set their profits on fire! Grab your FREE copy of the special report ’7 Steps to Attract More Clients in Less Time’ plus business building tips, at: http://fireflycoaching.com.
Who strives to be mediocre? Maybe some people, but we’re guessing CRAVE entreprenesses aspire to be better than “good enough.” This takes work… You have to know to get out when the getting’s good and to strike when the iron’s hot. Learn what makes you special and work it like there’s no tomorrow while letting go of ideas that just don’t make the cut, even if they’re near and dear to your heart. It’s not easy being great, but it’s definitely doable with hard work and a savvy business sense.
Can you remember where you were the moment you “Hit a Nerve” and had your “ah ha” moment? July is all about hitting a nerve and sharing the moments when you realized your passions and what you should be doing in business!
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