Posts Tagged ‘Women’
Tips for Women in Business: Change Your Perspective to Change Your Results
Chances are you have spent hours searching for something only to find it was, quite literally, right under your nose the whole time.
With a 4-year-old in residence, this scenario happens quite a bit in my house. My little fashion diva recently misplaced her favorite shoes, a fact which she informed me of (through devastated tears) mere moments before we were to leave for preschool. And as I was practically tearing the house apart to find the missing pair of flip flops, it turns out I actually had missed the shoe the first time around. The shoe had fallen behind the rocking chair in her bedroom, and when I looked under the chair from the front, I couldn’t see it. I almost didn’t bother to look in from the back, thinking there was no way it could’ve made it by there. Turns out, you should never underestimate a 4-year-old’s ability to lose their beloved belongings in strange places; the flip flop had, in fact, fallen in between the back rockers, lying in just the right spot to be missed from the front perspective. But when I switched to a different viewpoint (or perspective), I found the shoe and managed to save the day, just in time for preschool. The same thing goes for your marketing. Sometimes, when things just aren’t working, it’s time to switch perspectives. Maybe you’ve gotten so bored or discouraged with your marketing that you just plain aren’t doing it anymore. Or perhaps you’re still following the motions but readers just aren’t responding (chances are, they’re feeding on your lackluster feelings…’been there, done that!’). There are a few ways you may need to do this. 1) Change the way you approach your marketing and writing As a copywriter who earns her bread and butter through writing, it’s hard for me to admit this, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past when writing my newsletter articles was almost painful for me. Whenever it came time to put out another article, I’d secretly groan to myself and would often put it off as long as possible. You see, I’d pinned myself into this box of thinking that I always had to write about one thing: tips and techniques for writing better website copy. But it was very literal, as in, “Top 10 Ways to Write Great Web Copy” and other fact-based, tips-type articles. Quite frankly, after writing on this topic for over 3 years, I was really bored. There are only so many ways you can approach the same topic! Or so I thought. And then one day it’s like I woke up and realized that I could broaden my topic, and talk about how things going on in our everyday lives can affect our business writing (because, after all, it’s not like we leave our personal lives on the side of the road when we step into our offices). And so when I changed my perspective to include talking about things that interested me, my marketing became fun again. Think about ways that you can make marketing fun, like maybe by making a game of it. As a competitive person, maybe declare a challenge between some friends to write 10 articles in one month and whoever does it gets treated to something special, like a gift card that the “losers” chip in on or even just bragging rights. Or make an actual game of it, like I did in my “Get Prospects on Demand” online marketing mastery program, which comes with a ‘Prospect Surge’ card game that prompts you to pick a card and engage in the spur-of-the-moment marketing activity listed there. Whatever it takes to get and keep things exciting! 2) Try looking at things from your readers’ point of view Sometimes, when we aren’t getting the responses we’d like to our marketing promotions or writing, it’s because we don’t have enough WIIFM (that’s What’s In It For Me) lingo in our copy. When we sit down to write a promotional piece, whether it’s website copy, a promo email, or even a request for a raise, our natural instinct is to write it from our own perspective. We’re thinking about what WE want the reader(s) to take away from the document. Speaking from experience, it takes a LOT of practice to shift that perspective to be more client or reader focused. Meaning, whenever you write anything, you have to step outside of yourself and your goals and step into your clients’ shoes. With every word you right, you need to ask yourself, what will my reader(s) think of this? What will they take away from it? Will this excite them? Annoy them? Leave them so indifferent as to not even take notice? Be brutally honest with yourself. Get a second opinion if you need to from a trusted friend, colleague, or mentor. And then get it out there. 3) Change your actual visual perspective Sometimes a different setting is just what you need to freshen up a stale, ineffective marketing plan. For example, a relationship coach could take a field trip to the zoo and recording a tongue-in-cheek video about how such-and-such a species mates for life and here are a few ways that they might be using to keep their love alive for so many years… Of course, the tips are really for your human viewers, and if you wanted you could add a line at the end about how watchers too can follow these tips to make their love last. Just an idea to liven things up a bit and keep things fun for you AND your audience. When you change your perspective, you keep yourself and your readers engaged in your business. Engaged readers are more likely to buy than those who see your stuff in passing…and then don’t give it a passing thought. © 2012 by Tammi MetzlerOne Woman’s Wisdom – From One Leader to Another Leader (A Fiona Fine Interview with Claire Knowles)
Join Claire Knowles, organizational behavioural expert, author and former HR manager, and Editor-In-Chief Fiona Fine in this exclusive audio interview that speaks to the issues facing women leaders and entrepreneurs. They are going to tell you how to:- Find the hidden elephants in your organization
- Channel your own managerial courage and achieve your own empowerment as a leader
- Build a workplace that can nourish the human spirit
- Ask your employees and yourself the key questions that will make your business better
- How to resist mediocrity and move forward
- How to tell the difference between good stress and bad stress and keep the stress scale balanced
The Forgotten Women of the Military
WHEN THE TOUGH GET GOING, THE TOUGHER RUN THE FORT AT HOME!
It’s Women Who Run It – Military Style!
Yesterday was Remembrance (Canada) /Veterans Day (USA), and for many in these countries, we took a moment of silence to commemorate the men and women who keep us safe. Today, we wanted to feature some of the unsung heroes of the forces: military spouses. We were lucky enough to speak to four ‘super-women’ whose husbands have been in the military between 13 – 23 years and who are left to run it all while their men are gone for months at a time. We wanted to give them a voice as we can always learn so much from our sister ‘women who run it’. Here is what four strong, opinionated and resourceful Canadian military wives share about coping with long distance relationships, loneliness, communication, careers, kids and running it all: 1. “Hard truth: We are all mistresses with wedding bands on our fingers. Prepare to be alone. He is married to the military; ” Separation is never easy but wives of military men deal with deployments for months at a time, taking care of everything from finances, to childcare, to household repairs and snow shovelling. Although they all admit that it can be exhausting, they have come to rely on neighbours, family, and friends to help make it work. Asking for help when you just can’t do it yourself is a difficult thing to do for a strong, independent woman, but it is something that all of these wives have learned is important in coping and thriving. The other truth is that military families can also move around a tremendous amount which adds to the stress on relationships with family and friends who are left behind. One woman admits, “Intimacy can become collateral damage of friendship. I can only share so much online or through email and phone calls. It’s not the same as sitting in your kitchen sharing over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.” 2. “Making connections with other women in similar circumstances is key.” Nobody is going to understand the life of a ‘military wife’ more than another military wife. The connections these women make are critical to helping them cope. It means putting yourself out there with every new location, learning to meet new neighbours, joining new support groups, putting trust in people you have just met. These women simply don’t have the option to be wall flowers and have to push past any reservations they have to go out there and make friends and connections in each new place they are stationed. 3. “You try to set up a schedule for communication but it doesn’t always work out.” With today’s technology where most of us rely on email, smart phones, or Skype to keep in touch, these women deal with frequent or extended lack of communication from their men. Imagine having to schedule phone calls and skype sessions, but then having to cancel for reasons that you are not even allowed to know or question. A ‘communication lockdown’ happens when troops are overseas and these wives must sit and wait, maybe never knowing what has happened. Which leads to the next point our military wives wanted to make… 4. “Do you completely trust your man?” Trust is a fundamental issue for military couples. The men are gone for long stretches, the women are at home to keep everything going. There has to be absolute trust from both sides, particularly when communication is impossible. One wife admits, “I’ve seen time and again that marriages just aren’t strong enough to get through the military lifestyle.” Hand in hand with that trust is communication. Keeping in touch is one thing, but actually learning to communicate and listen to each other is a skill that many couples lack. When your partner in life is gone for such long periods of time, life goes on at home without him and the wives need to keep a dialogue going, no matter how difficult it can be. “It’s important to talk about everything as it arises because one never know when they will be gone again or for how long. Yet you don’t want to distract them from the job as well. It’s a delicate balance.” 5. “I go where he goes. I take second chair.” Sometimes the levels of sacrifice these women make are something that very few would ever be capable of. All four of our military wives admit that demanding careers are something that are either put on hold or simply not achievable for women in their position. The frequent movement and the demands of being a single parent usually mean that priorities shift elsewhere. While one woman maintains “You can have a ‘career’, but you need to learn boundaries and have different priorities” (including part-time work or shortened hours), another believes “I don’t think it’s impossible but highly improbable for a military wife to have a career. It would take two very special people; highly driven, resilient individuals.” All four women believe that “someone has to keep the home fires burning, and be the constant for the children when your spouse is away that much. Children need stability. They need a soft place to land at the end of the day, or the end of a deployment. It takes a full time job at home to make that happen.” One of our ladies summed it up best when she said “Every hardship I felt along the way prepared me and made me the person and the woman I am today. All the years of ups and downs have gotten me to the place I am in now: confident, capable, courageous, strong. For me, I wouldn’t want to see into the future because if I had all those many years ago, I may not have wanted to take the journey, but I am sure as hell glad I did.” We at Women Who Run It would very much like to thank the four amazing women who opened up to us for this article. Through their honesty and candour, we not only learned what kind of sacrifices and concessions are made by military wives, but are reminded that strong, capable, ‘alpha’ women are in all walks of life and for that, we are grateful.Dating Advice for Women: The “Get Over It” Gene
Once upon a time…
I went on a date with a guy a couple of weeks ago who was introduced to me through a mutual friend. The date went amazingly well. We talked for hours, flirted like crazy and of course it helped that he was absolutely drop dead gorgeous, offered to take me dancing and we had a ton of things in common. By the end of the date I couldn’t believe how great it was; and when he kissed me, the butterflies in my stomach woke up from a year long hiatus.
But… Yes, you knew there was a BUT coming… (there always is when I start a story with a ‘Once upon a time…’). Even though we had fun during our date we’d also had a pretty serious conversation about what it was we were each looking for in our dating lives. He mentioned that he was recently separated and that he knew his marriage was over but it was still tough going. I mentioned that I wasn’t looking for the ‘white picket fence’ relationship and just wanted to go out on dates and have a good time. I also mentioned that I was dating another man at the same time and we both agreed that we could get along with our situations. After a five hour date and some really great kissing I told him it was time for me to go home. He asked if I was sure and (despite my body screaming at me ‘no – this is way too hot to stop’) I went home alone with promises of seeing him soon. Let’s just say I had some great dreams that night! Then the next two weeks go by. He knew he had to go on a family trip with his ex and let me know that the two weeks would be busy. I knew he was away so in the interest of no drama, I let him be: no initiating texts, no long talks on the phone, etc. I just let things go as they would. Then today I got a text from him. He said he was sorry and he was terrible at texting and thanked me for being cool about the reduced communication. In response I asked when I would see him again and that’s when I started to get the huge song and dance…excuse, prevarication, excuse…. It came down to the fact that somehow his ex had found out he had gone on a date and she wasn’t happy so he “wanted to just be friends with me” for now until things were settled so he could end it peacefully with his ex. Um…. can you say emotionally unavailable? Feeling all the roiling emotions of disappointment, anger and frustration I called up Fiona (my dating guru) for some SOS advice before I blasted him via email, text, phone or all three for being two faced and wasting my time. She listened to me rant that he was an idiot and insensitive and ‘how dare he?’ and ‘dammit, we f#cking talked about it all on the actual date’ … @#$^…. grrrr. A third of the way through the rant and emoting, she cut me off in mid rant and said “I am going to be give you some really tough love on this topic ‘coz I know you can take it.” She laid it all on the table so to speak (inter-friend-tions aren’t always pretty). Was I going to make him wrong for being emotionally not ready (and not realizing it)? Was I going to be a “typical girl” and blast him when he told the truth? ….Did I really want to be just friends with this guy or was that too much for him to ask under the circumstances? She told me to set my boundaries. I know that me just being friends with this guy won’t happen as the attraction is too strong. I would be looking at him with more than just friendship in mind and so my boundary had to be set at ‘NEXT’… Listening to her words of wisdom, we laid out a plan of attack and wording of a cool/unemotional text: “Wow, that sucks. Get back in touch if/ when it all settles down”. I left all the emotions/frustrations out of it. Even the disappointment of “Sh#t, I was really into you and I thought we were on the same page!!” And most of all, I left ALL the drama out of it! Yep, you guessed what came next… I got a text back a few minutes later, thanking me for being so cool (which of course I am!) Better yet, I knew from the plan that Fiona and I spoke about that I did not have to answer him – nor did I. He’ll call me when he’s ready – or he won’t. The faster I get over it, the better my life is! Until then, I’m not interested in dating an emotionally unavailable man (confession: but whom I’m hopelessly, sexually attracted to). A lesson I got given in all of this? Don’t let what boys do make you think all men are terrible. Don’t blame him nor the next one in your life. As Fiona said, “He didn’t do this on purpose and he honestly didn’t know what it was going to be like going on a date after 7 years of marriage”. So I cut him some slack, called it what it is and I move on to the next man. When/IF he calls, I’ll give him another chance without blaming or attacking him – if it that is what I choose to do and it works for me. Because I am learning to have the “Get Over It” gene.~~~
Note from Fiona: Men screw up a lot!. In my private practice and when I speak to men around the world their refrain is the same: “sometimes we can be inconsiderate jerks – please can you get over it if it is small stuff and not harp or remind us of it over and over”. “Your ability to “get over it” is going to make me appreciate that you are a really cool woman and that I need to always be earning your respect to deserve you – the ultimate prize”. Ladies – we need to learn to GET OVER IT more!The 5 ‘Secret Sales’ That Power Up Your Presentations
Have you ever wondered what’s going on inside the head of your prospective clients? Ever wondered why some people sit on the fence, seemingly unmoved by your presentation or pitch while others pop their hands up on their own and say “Thank God you’re here! I NEED you!” What helps to tip the scale in your favor? And what could be sabotaging your results?There are 5 ‘secret sales’ that hide within every single presentation you give.
Knowing them can give you greater control over how people connect, respond, and react to your talk. These secret sales will help in those situations and more! You’ll want to know these secret sales and even more importantly you’ll want to IMPLEMENT THEM into four critical areas of your business which I’ll share with you in a moment. 1. You’re the Expert! Its your job as an expert to assure people that you know your business, and you’re credible. Do this early on in your introduction and your story to build trust. 2. You’re still one of them: Next, balance your expertise with a nice dose of humility! Be sure your audience still identifies with you and relates to you, or you’ll lose the crowd. 3.They can do it: No one is going to grab your hand and embark on a long, hard, scary, mission doomed for failure. Your prospects need to feel that success is possible for them in order to say “yes!”. Consider how you can make your product or services feel simple or “done-for-you”. 4. Show them that others have done it: No one will embark on a journey doomed for failure ALONE IN THE DARK, BY THEMSELVES. So not only do your prospects need hope, they also want social proof that others have survived this journey with you, and been successful! 5. Stand behind it: If you don’t believe in what you’re offering no one else will either. So when you make an offer, do it with 100% confidence and belief. Sometimes you stand behind what you do with your attitude and other times you might do it also with an actual guarantee. KNOWING this is great, USING IT IS BETTER! Don’t forget, review the 5 ‘secret sales’ as you review your:- Live presentations to individuals and groups
- Website copy
- Print materials
- Phone conversations, teleseminars, webinars