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Watch. Taking time out to learn and relax.

Kylie Fennell

In this busy world we often forget to just stop for a moment. Stop and watch the world go around us.

My son watches everything. He doesn’t miss a thing.

Children are good at watching.

There are also people like my father. He can stop and look at something like a landscape or river for hours on end, in complete silence. He says this for him is the perfect experience.

Watching takes time.

But it’s a gift we shouldn’t take for granted. It’s the gift of curiosity, learning, contentment and peace.

Today I will take time out of my busy day to just watch something, with no expectations other than to be ready for what the world has to show me.

‘Watch’ is today’s word out of the jar. Read more about my Out of the Jar project here.

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The Out of the Jar Project. Start.

Kylie Fennell 14 comments

It all started with Oprah.

I suppose though, that statement requires a little explanation.

When I’m not writing fiction, I run a small business news and resource site and communication consultancy.

Running a business is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it got a heck of a lot simpler when I started to create alignment in my life and business.

I made a pact to only take on work that I loved doing and that brought me closer to my purpose: creating content to connect, help or entertain people.

Every now and again though I need little reminders, or prompts to practise my life and business with purpose.

I’d think about what I’m grateful for.

I’d look to my vision boards for inspiration.

I’d focus on doing my best, being kind and trusting the universe will provide.

All of these are techniques I still use, but there was something missing in it for me. Something that connected the thoughts to real intentions, actions and belief.

Naturally I turned to a book.

Oprah Winfrey’s ‘What I Know for Sure’.

One out-of-left-field interview question: ‘What do you know for sure?’, left Oprah, yes Oprah lost for words. It led her to identify recurring themes in her life; things she knew for sure. She came up with the following words: Joy, Resilience, Connection, Gratitude, Possibility, Awe, Clarity, Power.

There it was. Words. I needed words. I needed words that meant something to me. I needed to put words to my thoughts and intentions and act on them.

So I started writing out positive words that inspired me. Each word on a separate piece of paper. Each slip of paper went into a jar. Before long, the jar was pretty full and I kept coming back to it and adding to it as new words occurred to me.

Now I had a jar full of words.  What next?

Start.

‘Start’ is my first word from the jar. Periodically I will remove a random word from the jar, and write my thoughts on that word. The first thoughts that come to me. I will use the word as an intention for the day or week.

I will use the word for my life and apply it to business. I will use it to keep me fixed on my purpose.

And as I go I will track and share my experiences. Welcome to the Out of the Jar Project.

Today I Start.

 

Let’s hug!

Kylie Fennell

Yesterday I went to a client meeting with the committee members of a local community organisation.

I’d never met this group before and went through the introductions, “Hi I’m such and such nice to meet you” friendly handshake, “Hi I’m such and such nice to meet you” friendly handshake, and then…”I do hugs.”
Before I had a chance to even register whether this was strange, welcome, creepy or not, the matured aged man had enveloped me in his arms in a hug.
He was obviously a seasoned hugger because let me tell you there was nothing weird or inappropriate about it. It was an AWESOME hug!
Even better I got one again when I left the meeting. BEST meeting ever.
Now some people may not be into hugs, which is completely fine, but let me tell you hugs feel good!!!!
So here are some inspirational pix to get us all out there hugging it out x

 

via www.mooreaseal.com/

 

via tumblr.com

 

via aboutdepressionfacts.com 
via theyallhateus.com

 

World Domination for Small Businesses and Authors

Kylie Fennell

Enough of thinking like a small BUSINESS, think like BIG BUSINESS. Better still aim for WORLD DOMINATION with these tips.

Know what you want

What is your goal? World domination is great, but specifically why do you want to be wildly successful? What will it bring you and what kind of business will help you achieve your goal? What will make you happy?

 

Have a plan

Set out the steps to achieve your goal and then break them down into bitesize more achievable chunks. Monitor and evaluate your plan as you go, and tweak it as needed. Plans change over time and you may have to as well.

What are they doing over there?

Keep your eyes focused on your chosen industry and environment. Check out competitors and businesses you admire that may not even be in your field. What do they do badly that you want to avoid? What do they do well that you could adapt and use yourself (with your own spin on it).

Don’t give up

Entrepreneur Justin Kan explains why you should never give up in this Forbes article:
“Startups don’t die, they commit suicide. In other words, 90 percent of startups fail because the founders get bored, discouraged, or something else, and they move on to other things, not because of some catastrophe. No matter how dark it is today, things will always be better tomorrow.”

Know your brand and be authentic

Know your story and what makes you unique. Don’t ever try to be someone or something else. Be the most awesome version of yourself and remain authentic. Surround yourself with awesome people that understand and live your brand.

World domination can mean anything

Being wildly successful doesn’t necessarily mean rapid expansion for everyone. Remember your goal and brand and plan only for that. Don’t feel like you have to expand your business in ways that won’t meet your goals. Your world, doesn’t have to be the WHOLE world.

And finally, Just Do It! What are you waiting for, go forth and conquer.

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5 Ways to Nail Your Content

Kylie Fennell

Online and social media content continues to be a major challenge for small business marketing.

The biggest obstacles are lack of time and expertise – not knowing what makes good content, so here are my 5 top tips for nailing your content.

1. Identify and subscribe to great content

Take the time to do a bit of research online of what content is popular or routinely shared on social media. You can get a feel for this by looking at your own social media accounts and people who like your pages. What content and pages do they like? Go and like or follow the same pages or accounts and then you will have similar content come straight into your feed, which you can share later on.

You can also google key topics and find popular blogs or news sites and then subscribe to them. You can also use the free versions of tools like buzzsumo.com to search for the most shared content.

You can try bloglovin.com that allows you to search for and subscribe to popular blogs and sites from one dashboard and will send you an update email of any new posts.

2. Look outside of the box

Be prepared to consider content outside of your immediate subject area. Content is useful if it’s of interest to your ideal customers and target market. If you run a childcare business, your customers are likely to mums, so think about what kind of content interests mums. Your content doesn’t just have to be about childcare.

Below is a table showing the four elements that makes content go viral. Consider these when selecting your content.

Source: buzzsumo.com

3. Schedule!

Schedule has two meanings. You should schedule yourself up to 1 hour a week to sit down to select your proactive social media content and then you schedule it in a free tool such as www.hootsuite.com or www.buffer.com where you can post your content in advance for usually up to 5 social media accounts all from the one place.

4. Mix it up

Choose a variety of content. Some designed to entertain, some designed to inform, some to reward.

Use images, videos as well as informative longer content pieces (or link to these).

5. Monitor and evaluate

Always check your analytics such as those built-in to Facebook or those offered by hootsuite or buffer.

What posts are most popular? What time of day is best to post for your audience? Who are you reaching?

Check out this post to find out more on how to write brilliant social media content. For expert marketing advice go to www.kyliefennell.com

 

Show. Don’t Tell.

Kylie Fennell

Every writer has heard at some stage the phrase “show don’t tell”.

At first I was a little puzzled by what exactly this meant.

As a former journalist I was used to writing straight news stories where you needed to ‘tell’ without your own embellishments or clues.

Over time though, I’ve found it a little easier.

Here are some great tips on how to ‘tell’ less.

The cheapest and most effective way to get more customers

Kylie Fennell

Almost every business I’ve come across has one goal when it comes to marketing – get more customers.

Businesses may spend their marketing dollars on advertising, updating a website or brochures, all with varying results.

The reality is that the cheapest and most effective way to get more customers is often overlooked.

What I’m talking about is word-of-mouth marketing, specifically referrals.

According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising.

So why aren’t more businesses tapping into their existing or past customer network or spending more time nurturing key influencers and decision makers?

Word-of-mouth is the ultimate weapon for all businesses – retail, professional services, it doesn’t matter.

Here are my top tips for nurturing your clients, customers and influencers and encouraging referrals.

  1. Your number 1 communication platform for word-of-mouth marketing is social media.
  2. Reward people – offer loyalty programs, value adding services and referral incentives
  3. Ask for feedback
  4. Ask for case studies or testimonials
  5. Stay in touch – try and stay front of mind by providing useful information or organise casual catch-ups
  6. Use personalised notes, cards and calls as well as thank you notes and even birthday cards (if they happily provided their birthday details) – preferably handwritten and signed personally.
  7. DOING WHAT YOU’LL SAY YOU’LL DO is probably the best way to nurture your customers
  8. NEVER underestimate the importance and effectiveness of nurturing your existing networks.
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Farts. Bottoms. Wee. Poo. Underpants. Books for Little Boys

Kylie Fennell

Image source: http://awwccordion.com/ (memory books)

Farts. Bottoms. Wee. Poo. Underpants. Just why are little boys obsessed with toilet humour? 

I typed this question into google hoping to find some research explaining this phenomenon and all I could find was forum after forum of mother’s asking the exact same questions and how do deal with it?

To be honest Master Five’s obsession isn’t something that I find I have to “deal with”. 

It’s an occasional annoyance more than anything, like when you’re trying to have a serious conversation with him and he answers you with his ‘fart gun’, or when you have to ask him to behave himself in public.

Other than that, I figure, or hope he’ll grow out of it – then I take a look at the grown men in my life and realise, no they never really do grow out of it. From what I can see farts are still completely hilarious in every form.

It seems it’s been a problem of generations if we look back at the classic nursery rhyme: 


“Snips (frogs) and snails, and puppy dogs tails, That’s what little boys are made of. Sugar and spice and all things nice, That’s what little girls are made of.“


Now if you look this one up on the web you will find parent after parent complaining that boys are portrayed in such a gross manner….but I’m sorry to say, while it doesn’t change how much we love them, little boys are gross…live with it, go with it.

So here I am going with it. A list of awesome books devoted to toilet humour (great Christmas stocking fillers).

1. The Day My Butt Went Psycho by Andy Griffiths (my son is obsessed with the TV version of this at the moment)

2. Why is Snot Green? by Glenn Murphy

3. Father Christmas Needs a Wee and Father Christmas Comes up Trumps by Nicholas Allan

4. Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

5. The underpants books: Dinosaurs Love Underpants; Pirates Love Underpants; Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort.

How Not to Throw Your Money Away on Sponsorships

Kylie Fennell

Small businesses are often approached by organisations for sponsorship.

Whether it’s the local footy club, a school or the CWA (Country Women’s Association), there’s no shortage of worthy causes that could use sponsorship and will ask you for money.

It’s really difficult and time consuming for small businesses to decide what they should or shouldn’t sponsor – and then getting the most out of their sponsorship.

Here are some basic guidelines for how not to throw your money away on sponsorships and how to identify partnerships that will actually support your business growth. We will refer to sponsorship as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.

Why bother with CSR or sponsorship?

CSR initiatives through sponsorship, financial and in-kind support can encourage:
• Brand awareness
• Employee engagement
• Lead generation
• Reputation as a good corporate citizen
• Customer loyalty
• Differentiate yourself from your competitors
• Generate innovation and learning and enhance your influence
• Improve your business reputation and standing
• Provide access to investment and funding opportunities
• Generate positive publicity and media opportunities
• Enhanced relationships with customers, suppliers and networks
• Tax benefits.

CSR guiding principles

Generally speaking smalls businesses should sponsor initiatives and events that support the following principles:

• Target market reach – will it reach a significant proportion of your ideal customers, influencers and/or stakeholders?

• Cultural fit – does the organisation have similar values and fit nicely with your culture?

AND/OR

• Community – is it relevant to your target region and community and does it give back to the community?


Assessing a CSR initiative

When considering sponsorship, consider these questions:
• Does it align with your business’s goals and strategic priorities?
• Does it make sense to your business?
• Does it support your values?
• By being a sponsor are you likely to reach more of your ideal customer, key influencers and stakeholders?
• Do you have enough information about the organisation/event/proposal? Timeframes? Cost? Benefits? Risks?
• How will you be acknowledged?
• How does it contribute to your marketing goals?
• How will you measure its success?
• How could you leverage it?
• Who else is sponsoring?
• Who will be managing it and assessing it before, during and after? Will you need additional resources to manage your role in the sponsorship?

You should always seek in return for your involvement:
• Branding opportunities
• Speaking opportunities
• Opportunities to provide and/or personally give out collateral and promotional items
• Social media promotion
Opportunity for your employees to be involved – perhaps volunteer for the event or program
• Access to or an opportunity to provide special offer information to the sponsor recipient’s database.

You may like to nominate a charity of choice for the year and then allocate a budget for remaining community based requests you may receive the remainder of the year.

You can also develop a checklist or guidelines based on the above that can be made available on your website for people seeking sponsorship. Having a set template and publicising the guidelines may reduce the number of inappropriate submissions.

At the end of the day, CSR is important but it should be a win-win for the business as well as the organisation sponsored.

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