The Social Media Journey
Being yourself is more than enough
Aug 5th
I’ve always found it hard to hide my personality and for those of you who know me well you can probably understand why. As a young career woman and someone who has always wanted to be successful from an early age I was very aware that there was a ‘right’ way to conform in the business world.
I will never forget an interview that I had with a recruitment consultant called Ben who asked me to come into the office for a more formal interview before recommending me to his clients. We sat on a sofa (actually very informally) and I talked about my past experiences. We got along very well and even started to laugh about my achievements in sales previously where I was always top of the leader boards against a hundred salesmen. After giving it the large Ben then asked to see me in action, my heart sank as I’d actually not sold in a few years. He looked around the office till finally he set eyes on my oversized black bag. He said ‘sell me your bag’. The relief slowly washed over me as there was one thing I knew a lot about that was all things bags and shoes. My pitch went a little like this…
A black shiney timeless bag, never out of fashion and always unique. It goes with anything and everything and can be as little or as overstated as you wish with the right attire and a smile. Who would not want this bag?
Ben has since told me that this was one of the most memerable meetings of his career and he will never forget Becky who made him want to buy a man bag 
It has always shocked me that one of the main reasons an employer would hire me was that I always left a lasting impression by not only having the skills required for the role but I’d also fit in well with the other staff and would bring some well needed energy.
I was always known for energising the office and was highly motivated to achieve great things. I aspired to be the best and enjoyed some light hearted office banter along the way.
Because of my enthusiasm and obvious work ethics it was never long before I was ready to progress my career to the next level. As soon as I was mixing with more senior leaders I was no longer allowed to be me but a clone of all those around me. What had made me different from the rest before had now been stripped away and I was told if I wanted to progress I had to start acting tougher, staying later (I worked 12 hour days already) and to stop having so much fun.
Even though I worked hard and took my job very seriously I often found myself feeling very dissatisfied. I learnt very quickly that if I was not enjoying myself then I could not perform at my best. I was actually exhausted from pretending to love my job and pretending to be someone else. I was always chasing my next promotion and felt no real drive after a while from working pay cheque to pay cheque. In fact once the fun had left the building it was not long after that I followed.
I have always been lucky enough to understand where my strengths and weaknesses lay (after learning from experiences) and that in this case if I was no longer passionate or having fun then I was not going to be successful and achieve great things.
Feeling a little lost while slowly loosing my self-belief I started looking at successful business people around me whom I admired not just as a business professional but as a person as well. I was invited round for dinner with Penny and Thomas Power (owners and founders of www.Ecademy.com) and Penny said something to me over dinner that really struck a cord…
” Becky, being yourself is more than enough, you just have to find something that is right for you and makes you happy, follow your heart”
As cliche and poetic as it sounds I knew then and there that I was going to start my own business doing something I love and doing it as me.
Since then I have attracted some fantastic people into my life who like me just the way I am. I’m lucky enough to work with people who quite frankly I do not need to impress. I work with integrity, professionalism and still encompass all the great attributes that I have always had but I have re-acquired my right to be myself and that has not only made my new business start to flourish but has made me very happy.
Someone who I admire for being themselves is Brad Burton the MD of 4Networking which is the fastest growing networking group in the world. He is also the author of the book ‘Get Of Your Arse’ which I read in about 2 days as I could just not put it down.
Take a look at this video where Brad also shares his views on being yourself in business.
Brad does have the Marmite effect but I absolutely love him!
…but isn’t Social Media just Facebook?
Jul 21st
One of the most common and repetitive questions I get asked when I tell people what I do is “What is Social Media?”. I love nothing more than the challenge of converting someones thinking from “but isn’t that just Facebook?” to “Oh, we need Social Media for our business”.
So here is my secret formula (or my social media pitch) which when conveyed to a willing audience is done with passion and conviction, so make sure you have lots of that before testing this out on colleagues, friends and family members
Social media is being social using the power of media…. simples!
Social Media is all about real converstations, engagmnent and exchange of content online. It’s the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube that enables us to have these conversations with real people in real time. This level of content sharing and online engagment is not only happening on these well known platforms, in fact it encompasses the whole of the WWW. as conversations are happening all over the world with no limits.
So what, why is that good for business??
I think everyone will agree that being able to offer a successful service or to make an amazing product starts by understanding your audience. Being able to understand prospects, customers and even inflencers in your industry is key to the success and longevity of any business so building the right brand is key.
As a consumer, being able to trust the brand or the person you are buying from or recommending is vital.
So how do companies build their brand online in front of the right audience or market?
Nowadays people like to talk to real people and not people stuck behind a companies brand who are full of corporate jargon. Social Media platforms have been designed to help users share, discuss and engage in real conversations with like minded people. By doing this you build real relationships which gives companies that use this in the right way the likeability factor. In turn this builds trust increasing their brand positively and awareness with their audience. Once a consumer trusts a company they are then far more likely to use, buy or recommend their services on to others and in the process tell other people online who know, like and trust them.
How do you get to this point where all your customers are saying lovely things about you and are buying lots of your products?
Well that comes down to being able to integrate social media in to your over-arching strategy and your ability as a person or company to build long-standing relationships.
To build a relationship with someone you need to be yourself, give out helpful advice when necessary and be able to listen. Using social media is no different. Being there for the person on the other side of the keyboard consistently and without the sales pitch agenda (and without talking about yourself all the time) means you will become better connected and they will naturally want to buy or recommend you. It’s all about building the right brand awareness for you and your company. Don’t forget, relationships do not happen over night this is something you have to work on and continue to offer value and support to them even when it looks like you are getting nothing in return.
After a while you will attract a network of people who like to listen to you and the advice that you give. They start to get to know you and like you and your network grows. You start to have your own online personality and tone of voice which is a reflection of the real you and the values of which your company upholds.
Ok, you now get how to build these relationships online but how do you leverage that to increase sales and build brand awareness on a wider scale?
Let’s say you launch a new product or service, you now have this wonderful pool of people who are your online network ready to listen to what you have to say. This is not to say everyone of your followers is going to buy from you or know the right person to pass on your details to. They are there because they have chosen to be and not becuase you have forced a letter through their door or sent an unwanted email that ends up hitting their spam folder.
Another way to leverage your social network of contacts is to get them involved with your ‘go to market’ strategy. Ask them what they would like you to produce as an offering, get their opinion and make them feel like they are a part of the journey with you and that you care about their opinions.
Times are changing, people are changing and the way business is being passed is also changing. We have entered into a world of connectedness and transparency and the old corporate way of marketing you and your business where people read from scripts and hard sell pitch just does not work anymore.
Use these fantastic online tools to your advantage, follow best practices and be free to be yourself. Have fun growing your online community and approch each action without an agenda. Feel free to meet people offline as well as online as this can only strengthen relationships and can open up a whole new world of opportunities. Build a strategy to incorporate your daily business activies in with your social networking and you will find that you end up with a better understanding of your customers, prospects and partners and they start to better understand you.
Imagination is key; the story of YO! Sushi, Simon Woodroffe
Jul 11th
I have heard Simon Woodroffe speak on many occasions and everytime I see him take to the stage I learn something new. At the ‘KPI’ day I was frantically writing down notes as his presentation provided so much value and was rich in content. It was also nice to learn a bit more about Simon’s journey and the highs and lows that he has experienced along the way.
Simon started his professional career by becoming a stage designer for rock shows and Live Aid after leaving school at the age of 16. With wanting more out of life Simon purchased the Tony Robins DVD box set (worth £200 at the time) to find another path in life. After completing the course he found himself completely motivated and decided to make a tape for his walkman with all his goals on and decided to go for a run. At the time Simon could usually run no more than a mile but on this day with his goals playing over and over again Simon ran the whole way around Hyde Park. The feeling of achievement was so powerful that it nearly brought Simon to tears and taught him that you can do anything as it’s all in the power of the mind.
With his drive to succeed Simon decided it was time to kick start his business idea of a revolving sushi bar (originally with girls in black PVC miniskirts) without any start-up capital. Conveyorbelt Japanese food has been going since the 1960’s but had never made the migration to Europe. Simon Woodroffe started YO! Sushi in 1997 and despite its popularity he was heavily in debt. Woodroffe went to his largest supplier and asked them for extended terms to pay off his debt and sat down with the CEO with a belief and some ignorance in terms of the seriousness of this meeting. He said that he had large corporate sponsors backing the restaurant such as BA and Sony but in fact they had only ever donated a very small amount. Simon jokes that he had put their company logo in the shop window as stickers to give him some credibility and it worked as he did manage to get the money needed and make the deal with the supply chain. Over the moon Simon decided that he was going to go out and have a few drinks to celebrate. On his way home and slightly worse for wear he decided to go to a ATM machine and see if the money had gone in to is account. He queued up in an orderly fashion waited his turn. Once he had got to the front and with a small queue still behind him Simon typed in all his details and waited for his bank balance to appear, when it did, with all the zeros and more money than Simon had ever seen in his life he turned to the guy behind and said ‘cop a look at this, if someone ever tells you that money does not make you happy then they are lying”.
Simon Woodroffe went on to open many other YO!Sushi chains and even appeared as a ‘Dragon’ in series one of Dragons’ Den. He has now launched a number of hotels under the Yo!Hotel Brand and received an OBE on 17 June 2006.
I like Simon’s openness, honesty and wiliness to share his story. He is real and inspirational and proves that stepping far enough out of your comfort zone where you are forced to swim can pay off in big ways. As well as learning about Simons Journey I also picked up some great business tips.
My top 10 tips from Simon Woodroffe
- Do something you are passionate about
- Make sure you surround yourself with ‘like minded’ people. You learn more from those around you
- You will get alot of rejection when in business so make sure you go out and ‘hit the rejection target’ as this will not only build character but it will also provide you will more opportunities and increased likelihood of reward.
- Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. You really need to understand the customer experience to be successful. People that fail to take themselves out of the mix often miss things and end up disconnected from their audience.
- You need to create the WOW factor, make people start talking about you by being different
- Figure out what you are good at then spend 90% of your time doing it.
- Being able to let go of the ‘power’ in your business is the hardest thing but will be the making of your business if you chose and trust the right person.
- There is never a good time to start a business, it’s only right when you’re ready
- You have to just believe all is going to be OK. At the end of the day you still have family and friends
- People buy from people not only that they like but who believe in themselves
Simon put alot of his success down to having a great imagination and believes his lack of education where he could not see the process meant he took more risks. Fear can actually be a very good diver and the emotion of starting a business for most serial entrepreneurs is addictive.
How to become a key person of influence(KPI) Inspiration from Daniel Priestley
Jul 10th
Last week I attended the Key Person of Influence event in London, hosted by Triumphant Events in aid of Peace On Day (POD). Daniel Priestley is the founder of Triumphant events and is a fantastic speaker, author and Social Media educator.
Not only did I feel like the entire event was extremely well run and added alot of value, I thought in particular Daniels presentation on being a KPI was great and I would like to share with you some of the highlights and my key learning’s.
The way people are doing business is changing. We are moving in to a world where everyone and everything is connected. With you now being able to run a global business with your fingerstips online, we are embarking on an entrepreneurial revolution where people will be able to make money doing anything that they feel passionate about. We are living in amazing times; to be able to turn your passion into a business is possible. Nowadays you don’t have to fit into a gap in the market to be successful as there is enough room for you to do what you love and find your niche. Daniel used a fantastic example of a niche market where ‘The Postage Stamp Appreciation Society’ had hundreds of fans on Facebook alone. I even got a mention within Daniels presentation when explaining that it was OK to be fun and playful online… not everything needs to be so serious. You need to have the likability factor or no one will want to listen or engage with you.
What is a key person of Influence?
A KPI is someone who is connected, credible, visible and valuable
In this video Daniel explains what it is to be a KPI and how to be within the inner circle where all the best deals happen.
The formula
1. Perfect your pitch for a micro niche
- Passion
- Confidence
- Conviction
- Get people jazzed up
- Play on the power of words
- Understand people’s emotions
2. Write, publish and distribute a book
- Highlighting you as an expert by giving you visibility and credibility in your chosen field.
3. Produce an information product
- Interviews
- Live events
- Digital workshops
- Audio books
- Podcasts/webinars
4. Get web famous
- Increasing your viral effect
5. Joint ventures, collaboration and partnership
- Product buddies
- Talent swops
- Affiliate prog
- Leverage industry influencers
If you would like to fast track your success and become a key person within your industry then find out more about the KPI Accelerator program by attending the FREE brainstorming sessions.
The most inspirational person I have ever had the honour of meeting, Jeremy Gilley
Jul 5th
Peace One Day is an organisation that is governing for a global day of non-violence and ceasefire (21st September) to bring humanitarian aid to those embedded in war zones to encourage a united world.
I have been lucky enough to meet Jeremy Gilley the founder of Peace One Day on a couple of occasions and meet him again this week at a Triumphant event in London, which was put on to raise money for the organisation. It’s not unsusal for me to be around famous faces, living in Berkshire (I even have the Queen living round the corner) but every time I meet Jeremy I just crumble and become lost for words like a 16 year old meeting Justin Bieber. The journey that he has been on and the sheer passion and heart completely overwhelms me and I come away beating myself up that I did not show him enough gratitude,
I mean how do you tell someone, thank you for trying to save our world!
In this blog you will learn about the Peace One Day organisation and the amazing work that Jeremy and his team do everyday and seeing as I seem to not be able to say it to Jeremy’s face, this is dedicated to him.
Over a decade ago Jeremy Gilley began making a film documentary about creating a global day of peace. In Jeremy’s words “We have an earth day, we have a valentines day so we should surely have a peace day”. The film raised enough awareness that the UN member states agreed to a global day of peace for the 21st September. This date was chosen in honour of Jeremys grandad who was his hero, 21 was his favourite number. With the day in place, Peace One Day’s aim now is to institutionalise Peace Day across the world so it becomes self-sustaining – a day of global unity, a day of inter-cultural cooperation.
Please watch this amazing, moving video
Jeremy has travelled all over the world to some of the most distressed and war stricken countries while meeting the worlds most influential people, unions and humanitrians including the Dalai Lama, Barack Obama and even Jude Law who is a patron and heavily involved in the POD movement.
POD has some fantastic corporate sponsors including, Dior, Skype, BA, Coca Cola and Ben and Jerrys.
One of the most famous stories is the new united front of Adidas and Puma/ These companies are owned by two rival brothers who have come together to raise money in their first and only venture since their falling out, putting aside their personal differences for this fantastic cause.
Steve Bolton is a serial entrepreneur and the president of the Patrons Programme after getting involved in 1998 and he s also a great auctioneer as we found out on Friday.
This year the POD concert which has seen the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Annie Lennox, John Legend and James Morrison to name but a few is being hosted by Jude Law and Sharon Stone in Zenith, Paris and will be broadcast in HD on Peace day, 21 September 2010.
There are many things you can do to support POD, follow these three steps:
1. Decide what you will do to make peace on September 21, at school, at home or in your local community. Here are some ideas
2. Log your Peace Day commitment at www.peaceoneday.org;
3. Tell others around the world and leverage the power of Social Media and your network to spread the word.
I’m really am not surprised that this guy has managed to create such a movement as the people in the room were totally moved. Jeremy is the most likable guy with the most shining personality. When he talks, people listen as every word is echoed from his heart and his spirit for change. I don’t think I could be more proud to live in a generation that is seeing this amazing revolution and to be apart of it is an honour.
I’m am completely in awe of Jeremy’s commitment and I think we can all learn a lot from ‘doing well by doing good’. Jeremy is a true inspiration. My commitment to POD is to offer my time whenever needed online or offline and to help spread the word. .
If there could be a president of the world, Jeremy Gilley is the only man for the job
