I don’t know about you, but this year has been interesting to say the least, as I concentrate on marketing the Expo my little business has plateaued to say the least. The truth is finding work for Saucy SM was always easier if I did some workshops and presentation, the fun stuff, work rarely came through the door without a marketing campaign even though I have the respect and high regard of the business community in my field.
I hear from other business owners that for various reasons they too are having to promote constantly to retain their market share of business too, so in this post I would like to share with you a little known phenomenon.
Success Breeds Success
Yes, it does! Recently, I have been in a position with the task I have taken on to promote and now help organise a Health and Healing Expo here on the Sunshine Coast and already word is spreading and people are talking about it, and there is an air of success about the expo before it is even held. I have to say I am so excited about this for many reasons, it cements the faith the original organisers have about my work for one, it also has the run-on (or fractal) effect of showcasing my abilities and expertise to potential clientele.
I have been worried about having such a concentrated focus on just one account, and have even toyed with the idea of closing Saucy SM in favour of a new project more in line with what I am doing for the YCHY Expo. The Expo is using ALL my skills not just the expertise I have on social media, all my event promotion expertise and knowledge is coming into play here as well. And so I am finding that the opposite effect is happening. My success in this one area and the conversations I am having and my ‘word of mouth’ advocates are having around the success of the work I am doing for the expo is bringing new and exciting work into my business that might not have come otherwise.
I am getting enquiries from new clients and other marketing agencies asking me to take over some of their clientele in pure social media, and not only the new area of event promotion.
The Lesson in This Story is…
For me the lesson in this story is to take the risk of diversifying, perhaps taking that left turn in your business when needed, open that door that keeps presenting itself to you even though it might not seem to be directly in line with your definition of what you do. After all if you always do what you’ve always done you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. LOL
The success you generate by doing that job well, will translate back into the original business. And it’s fun!
This exercise has also had the runon effect of reminding me that I have a whole set of skills I haven’t been using and perhaps rather than closing Saucy SM it’s time to do some rebranding to encompass all the skills I am using to promote the YCHY Expo. I have also had time to begin to write a new seminar series based on these skills I am calling ‘Sold Out! insider secrets to successful events” and this series will kick off with the first seminar here on the Sunshine Coast in November and one in Brisbane early in the new year.
The wonderful thing is I am already recieving enquiries about this new seminar which is really exciting!
Are You Ready?
My question to you now is:
What skills and expertise have you forgotten you have?
Is there a door ready to open for you that you may have been ignoring?
Does it scare you just a tiny bit?
It’s a little like the feeling you get when you are at the top of a roller coaster ride just before the cart begins to plummet to the bottom of the first run.
Just one little note just about here before we release the brakes on your success cart…
Remember as you are looking at those open doors ready to walk through to keep in mind your main dream and outcomes as you choose which opportunity, too many of us become trapped by something I like to call, “Shiny Opportunity Syndrome” and this can be avoided by making sure the opportunity is aligned with your main dream and outcomes, and with your values and is fun. It is also important to be sure that the people with which you are collaborating with or working for are also aligned with your values that you are on the same course and that your definitions of success are the same.
After all if you are looking at making a large financial leap and to begin to build your business for the future and your partners or clients have a very different definition of success you may find you are in a position of resistance and misalignment all through the planning and execution of the job at hand and that my friends is tiring and dis heartening to say the least.
Now are you ready?