What may come as a shock to some writers is that many agents and publishers need to fall in love with your idea, as well as you (as someone they want to work with) often before even reading your work.
You need to hook potential agents and publishers with something that sparks their interest. You also need to help them understand how you and your work are ‘sellable’.
Why? Because agents and publishers only make money if your books sell. A good agent/publisher knows the market and the readers, so they will want to determine from the outset what your commercial appeal is.
The good news is that you can increase the chances of agents and publishers buying into you and your work with a simple concept: Same, Same but Different.
As part of your pitching and querying, you will want to make clear your ‘Same, Same but Different’ proposition.
Same, Same
Same, same refers to how you and your work are similar to other authors and books.
Do you have good comparison authors and/or books that are similar to what you have to offer?
If not, start researching and come up with some.
You will want to choose comparison authors or titles that are well known within your genre and preferably they should be fairly recent examples to demonstrate you understand the current market.
The purpose of comparison titles/authors is to help agents/publishers understand where your book would sit on the bookshelf. Where would your work fit in the marketplace?
Do the hard work for them and give them relevant examples. For example, if you are writing a story about a female assassin in Regency England you might say it’s Atomic Blonde meets Pride and Prejudice. The comparisons don’t always have to be books, they can also be films or TV series, for instance.
If your work is particularly unique or you really want to get someone’s attention you can choose comparison titles that are very different from each other, as shown above, which brings us to ‘Different’.
Different
To use a well-known marketing term what’s your point-of-difference or unique selling point (relating to you and/or your writing)?
Your difference is important after demonstrating where you fit in the marketplace, because you need to show what would make someone choose you or your book over a similar author or title.
This can be achieved quickly and easily in your pitch by using clever comparison titles or adding to your comparison spiel.
Let’s say you’re writing a contemporary love story about zombies. Then the same, same but different proposition may be: It’s the Notebook meets the Walking Dead or It’s the Notebook with zombies.
Okay, so the above examples are fairly unique sounding concepts so the same, same but different is a little easier. For less obvious differences you may need to dig a little deeper, but this is incredibly important if you want to get an agent or traditional publisher.
If the plot isn’t typically unique is there something unique about the setting, the points of view used, the structure of the book? Is there a unique reason you are the best person to write this book?
So what are you waiting for? Get started on your Same, Same but Different today.
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I’m super excited to be delivering more workshops over the next two months. One is a FREE Social Media for Writers workshop and the other is Build Your Author Website in a Day.
Social Media for Writers – FREE Workshop
On Saturday 4 May I will be at Helensvale Library on the Gold Coast facilitating a FREE 2 hour workshop on social media for writers.
Whether you’re an aspiring or established writer, this workshop will teach you how to use social media to enhance your writing career and/or author platform.
Discover the variety of platforms available, what type of content to post and when, how to create and schedule great content, and the secret to getting more followers and keeping them engaged. Find out more here.
Build Your Author Website in a Day
On Saturday 8 June I will be back at the Queensland Writers Centre delivering Build Your Author Website in a Day.
You will walk away from this workshop with a published website. Create an online presence for your writing and author brand, whether you’re just starting out or already published. No technical or website experience needed. At the end of this workshop, you will have a live wordpress.com website. Find out more here.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an (aspiring) author in possession of a book (idea) to sell, must be in want of an author brand or platform.”
I’ve taken some liberty with Jane Austen’s words but I’m sure she would have agreed with the sentiment.
Jane Austen lived at a time when books by women were usually published anonymously. I like to think she would have jumped, in a most lady-like manner, at the chance to promote herself as an author.
Why then do many (aspiring) authors, who want to
get their books out into the world, consider marketing a necessary evil, or
just downright evil?
The answer lies in the undeniable fact that
creating an author brand or platform can at times be frustrating, confusing or
annoying – ‘you mean I actually have to do social media?’.
The good news is that many of the objections or
challenges relating to marketing can be overcome with a little persistence and
the right guidance.
Unfortunately, this does nothing to address the
many misconceptions that continue to plague marketing and stop some writers
from embracing their author brand.
I’m here to restore your faith in marketing by
busting some of the most common myths surrounding author brand and related
topics.
Branding is for Businesses
Not Authors
The easiest way to clear this one up is to ask
yourself whether you want to make money from selling your books.
If you answered yes, then you need to treat your
writing as a business, otherwise, it’s a hobby.
Being a professional writer or author entails
all of the regular activities a business owner needs to undertake, marketing
being one of them.
Your author brand is the foundation of all of
your marketing activities, and it is much more than having a beautiful logo and
business cards.
Brand is the experience or feeling you create every time you interact with the world. It is what you say and how you say it – it is how you make people you communicate with feel.
It is about creating a consistent voice for you and your writing that resonates with readers, publishers, agents, and other people important to your success.
I Don’t Need to Worry About
Brand Yet
If you haven’t published a book yet, you may
think it’s okay to wait before developing your author brand.
In fact, the best time to start marketing yourself as an (aspiring) author is now!
The more time you have to build your platform, get followers and refine your messaging, the easier it will be when you are querying agents and publishers, or are ready to launch your book.
I Don’t Like Selling Myself
So I Don’t Like Marketing
Guess what? Most people don’t like ‘selling’
themselves and no one likes being ‘sold’ to.
Fortunately, marketing isn’t about ‘selling’. It is about making meaningful and authentic connections with people who are interested in you and your work.
Connecting with the right people through social
media and other communication channels builds a support network of people who,
when the time comes, won’t just buy or invest in your book, but will do the
‘selling’ for you. They will become your brand fans and ambassadors.
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Marketing and social media are surrounded by a lot of misconceptions and myths which can mean the difference between failure and conquering your online presence.
Here are my top tips for how businesses and (aspiring) authors can avoid the biggest rookie mistakes when it comes to social media.
1. Don’t like it….’say’ you like it
You probably have heard that engaging with other people is key to your success on social media, and what you’ve heard is right.
Liking other people’s posts and comments is a great way to build a network of supporters and people interested in your work.
But ‘liking’ content will only get you so far.
When you see something you really like on social media, something that resonates with you, then ‘say’ you like it. It’s far more effective to add a comment expanding on why you like it.
This is likely to get you more engagement and appreciation than a simple ‘double tap’ or thumbs up will get you.
2. Numbers don’t count…unless they are the right numbers
Many social media users can get hung up on the number of followers and likes they get, but here are a few things to consider.
On some platforms, particularly Twitter, you may find it reasonably easy to get followers – sometimes without even trying. But when you drill down to look at those followers, how many of them represent your ideal target audience?
While the number of likes are one indicator of engagement levels, they can also be skewed. There are bots, particularly on Instagram, that automatically like photos. Even if that’s not a problem you’re experiencing, as we said above, double tapping or giving a thumbs up is a quick way of engaging in social media content but also can be an indication of ‘low investment’ in your content.
Real engagement is measured in terms of the relationships you form with your followers, through conversations.
3. Automated posting is okay…as long as you back it up with engagement
These days there are loads of options to automate or schedule your social media posts, but this is considered passive posting, unless it is coupled with engagement.
What I mean is, you can’t just set and forget when it comes to social media. This kind of posting is the equivalent of going to a party, announcing loudly to the room who you are and what you’re doing, then walking out again.
No one is interested in a party guest, or social media user, who only wants to talk about themselves. Real engagement comes from two way conversations.
It’s absolutely okay to use automated or scheduled posting for some of your posts, but you also need to take the time to monitor and check your feed and engage in other people’s posts, as well as respond to users who engage in yours.
4. Followers will find you…only if you are looking for them
Unfortunately social media on the most part is not a case of ‘build it and they will come’.
Sitting back and waiting for people to find you and follow you, will limit your overall number of followers but also the kind of followers you get.
The best way to increase your follower base is to consistently search for social media users who reflect your ideal audience and post content you like. You can use hashtags or the built-in search facility on social media platforms to find accounts relating to topics you are interested in.
What you will see is that a lot of the time you will get follow-backs and you are building a targeted community of people who resonate with you.
It’s best to do this very regularly, rather than in one big burst. This way you can keep your follower/follow back ratio in check and you won’t exceed any follow limits.
5. Always follow people back…unless…
One of the most effective ways of getting followers is to follow back those people who follow you.
Generally I follow back people who follow me unless:
They say they are The Rock, Prince Harry or some other celebrity that they clearly are not.
The user does not have a profile picture.
The bio is riddled with mistakes or information that doesn’t make sense.
The follower is clearly unrelated my areas of interest, and I’m not even sure why they followed me. I find this is often a bot that has followed me, looking for a follow-back. Soon after, bots just as often unfollow you, even if you liked them back.
They haven’t posted recently or at all.
Their profile and/or bio contains offensive material.
I’ve gotten pretty good at screening followers, and a quick glance at their profile and/or bio usually determines my follow-back.
I do sometimes find out that an account I am following doesn’t turn out to be what I expected and I immediately unfollow or even block if needed.
That all being said, I generally follow-back and try to do so in a timely manner (within 2 days of a follow).
6. Be the most interesting…listener
You should never set out to be the most interesting person on social media.
That doesn’t mean you should strive for boring. It means you should be yourself. Show the best version of yourself, but at the end of the day, be authentic.
But that is not the most important thing to take from this.
On social media it’s vital to be ‘interested’ rather than ‘interesting’.
Be a listener. Ask people about themselves and their content? Start conversations not a one-way showcase of how amazing you are.
7. Post exactly what you’re thinking…within reason
We all have issues, people and topics we feel strongly about but it doesn’t mean we have to vent all of them on social media.
Sure if there is something you really believe in or is highly relevant to your work, that you feel compelled to share, even if it may upset some people – then by all means go for it (as low as it’s not unlawful or defamatory to do so).
Generally, I choose to avoid politics and rants, as well as anything really personal. If I do share something potentially controversial, I usually share something from a credible third party rather than just ‘my opinion’. I also choose not to show images of my child, unless his face can not be identified. That’s just my personal choice.
Where possible I will share content that has a positive angle to it, where action is being taken to right a wrong.
For me, it’s important for people to feel inspired, interested or entertained by my content, rather than angry or outraged.
Of course for some people it is important for them to share their authentic voice in its full glory, and I support this. In fact I follow a lot of people with very strong views.
In any case, there are always consequences for posting on social media. Even the most innocuous posts can rile up a person in the most unexpected way, resulting in them making nasty comments on your account.
When this happens, you can ignore it, politely and professionally respond, or block the person if necessary. It’s your call.
Bonus tip for aspiring authors
To finish up, I’d like to share this tip for aspiring authors. Generally, the writing world is a very supportive one and even highly successful authors are happy to engage with their followers.
Don’t assume that just because someone is famous or a best selling author that they won’t be interested in you or your content.
Take the time to engage in their content and you may be surprised to find…they’ll engage right back.
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The idea of marketing yourself as an author can be understandably overwhelming, especially if you are in the early stages of your writing journey.
Aspiring authors may wonder what they can do to enhance their chances of making money from their future books. Recently published authors may question what they can do to increase their profile and book sales.
The answer to both of these conundrums is to look to authors who have made it big and see what we can learn from their approach to marketing.
Before we go any further, let me pre-empt and clear up one of the most common misconceptions about this topic. That is, the belief that “marketing is easy for authors who are already famous. They have an audience to market to”.
Let’s lay that one to rest straight away. I would go as far as saying that without exception the most successful authors put the time and effort into their marketing well before they were well-known.
Even if you are starting with an audience of one, it’s better than not starting at all. The sooner you can get a headstart on your marketing the better.
Across the board, successful authors took steps to connect with and give to their audience or ‘community’ early on.
Here are some other key marketing lessons we can learn from famous authors.
J.K. Rowling – Leverage Your World-Building
Let’s be honest, I could spend all day unpacking the genius that is J.K. Rowling but in this post, I’m going to focus on just one element of her marketing strategy.
The Harry Potter series came with in-built marketing opportunities, thanks to Rowling’s detailed world-building and fully fleshed-out characters.
Rowling continues to share character insights and tidbits about the series today through the Pottermore site. Fans can join the Pottermore community for free and complete quizzes that will uncover your wizarding identity, Hogwarts House, Patronus and more.
Content from this site is also shared across social media platforms to continue to feed fans and enthusiasm for the Potter brand.
If you have gone to the trouble of creating rich characters and places, you should look for ways to leverage this knowledge.
This is particularly the case for fantasy writers who often go to extreme lengths for world-building, in terms of language, locations, magic and more.
Look for ways to share little snippets from your books and world on social media and your website that may not even appear in your written work. The more you share, the more real your world becomes and the more likely fans are to engage in it and invest in your work.
Know and Appreciate Your Fan-base
E.L. James – Fan Fiction
Fifty Shades of Grey is one of those books that when mentioned at a writer event is likely to spark a fierce debate about its artistic merit. I tried to read it and 80 pages in decided it wasn’t for me. However, no one can deny that there is obviously a market for this kind of fiction and I’m of the belief that those who don’t like it don’t need to stick their nose up at it.
I for one celebrate the fact that E.L. James wrote a book series that was highly successful (at one point it was said to be selling paperback copies faster than the Harry Potter series) and her fans LOVE it.
This brings me to the marketing lesson of knowing and appreciating your fan base, and E.L. James absolutely nailed that.
James promoted Fifty Shades of Grey in several ways before it went from relative self-published obscurity to a worldwide phenomenon.
It was originally fan fiction for the Twilight series where her episodic pieces soon gained a fan-base.
She nurtured and continually fed this community with regular content she knew her fans would love, until changing the names of the characters, and putting the book on her website.
James also gained grass-roots support by reaching out to relevant book bloggers.
A major part of her success was making her content accessible (and initially free via fan fiction) and nurturing her following.
Elizabeth Gilbert – Facebook Community
If you’re looking for an example of an author who understands her fanbase and how to create a Facebook community, go no further than Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic.
Of all of her communication and social platforms, Gilbert appears to engage most on her Facebook page. She tends to use Facebook as a mini-blogging platform with lengthy posts addressed to her community. Many of the posts start with the phrase, ‘Dear Ones’, where she speaks directly to each member of her community with honest, insightful and heartfelt posts that are a signature of her brand.
The lesson here is, it doesn’t matter how or where you choose to develop your community, as long as you do make the effort to do so.
Understand your fans and speak directly to them, giving them the content they want.
Joanna Penn – The Self-publishing and Author Marketing Guru
In the self-publishing world, Joanna Penn provides an authoritative and highly engaging voice for authors wanting to market themselves.
Author of Successful Self-Publishing: How to self-publish and market your book, Penn has the highly successful Creative Penn podcast and at her site, provides extensive resources and tips on how to market yourself.
Penn is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, so knows her stuff and is generous with her knowledge.
There is not enough room here to cover all of her marketing lessons but two quotes from Successful Self-Publishing encapsulates the core of her philosophy and what we all can learn from.
“Writing is about you. Publishing is about the book. Marketing is about the reader.”
“Branding is your promise to the reader. It’s the words, images, and emotions that surround your work and the way readers think of you.”
Scott Pape ‘The Barefoot Investor’ – Give Freely
When it comes to non-fiction in Australia, no one has reached the same heights of success in recent times as Scott Pape with The Barefoot Investor.
Pape’s book sold 250,000 copies in the first six months of its release and has topped Australia’s best-selling book lists month-on-end, ahead of non-fiction and fiction titles.
A lot of Pape’s success comes down to his branding nous and giving freely to the audience.
At his website, you can access loads of free resources and content. Visitors to his site then have the option of purchasing his book or joining his membership program.
The idea of giving free stuff to visitors to your site (or via other channels) is that you are giving them a taster and reward for connecting with you. It provides a gateway and conversation starter to encourage them to buy your book, product or services.
The lesson here is to offer something for free such as blog articles or downloadable resources.
You should also include a call to action to sign-up for regular content such as a newsletter where you can promote your paid assets, and potentially convert prospects to sales.
You may also like to have a higher value item such as the first few pages of your book, a short story, or exclusive resources, on your site that can only be accessed by providing an email first.
Finally, make your paid products for sale and very visible on your site, preferably only one click away from your free content.
These are just a few lessons from famous authors and tips to get started with your marketing. What are you waiting for? Get started today!
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I love being a writer. It is all I have ever wanted to do, but doing it for a living and balancing it among other work and life priorities can be downright hard. Whenever I do need a boost, inspiration, motivation or writing tips I turn to a few key books – here are what I think are the top books every writer needs to read.
I’m a scaredy-cat by nature. Many writers I have come across are. For me, fear goes along with my overly active imagination that always asks ‘what if?’.
It’s great for fiction writing but not so good for getting over those fears of ‘am I really any good at this?’, ‘should I just give up?’, and any version of the ‘I’m a fraud’ factor many of us are regularly afflicted by.
What I love about Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear” is that it deals with all of these fears and more. Gilbert encourages the writer to accept fear and invite it along on your journey, but never to let it in the “driving seat”. Beautifully written and packed with useful heart-felt advice on how to live a creative life.
One of the most quoted lines from this book is ‘Beauty is good, but coin is better. You can’t eat artistic integrity. It tastes like sawdust.’ It is the perfect summary of the theme of Birmingham’s book.
If you’ve ever wanted to make money from writing, be it as a freelancer, a features writer or author, then this is the book for you.
Notice though I didn’t say it was for poets…Birmingham doesn’t have any useful advice for poets, but he does have a wicked sense of humour – he really knows his sh…stuff.
There’s plenty of expert tips and laughs along the way starting with the tongue in cheek full title: How to Be a Writer: Who Smashes Deadlines, Crushes Editors and Lives in a Solid Gold Hovercraft.
Topics covered include ‘How to slay writer’s block’, ‘What the hell is workflow?’, ‘How to write 10,000 words in a day’ and ‘The best apps for writers’. Hard-core, real-world practical advice. Read it if you dare!
Helpful advice, tips and instruction on using language is threaded among personal anecdotes and memoir.
King uses his life and writing experience, as well as examples from his own novels, to illustrate technical writing points. He shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work. If you’re a Stephen King fan you will get a serious kick out of this. Even if you’re not – and I don’t read much of his stuff (I told you I’m a scaredy cat) – you will still find it incredibly helpful.
For one, I share King’s hate for passive voice. If you catch me doing it feel free to tag me with a narky tweet. Scratch that. For all I know I’ve dropped a few clangers in this post.
He also declares war on adverbs, which has led me to revisit my own work and weed out the little buggers but also live in perpetual fear of them. So I’d say King’s ‘On Writing’ mission is accomplished in terms of improving my writing.
He goes further, saying we owe it to the world to share our craft, whether the world likes it or not. It’s not the world’s job to love us, it’s our job to just put ourselves and our art out there – embracing all the challenges along the way.
I love how Godin simultaneously inspires and gives the reader the kick up the butt they need while also delivering necessary reality checks.
Uncharacteristically, I had a hour or so to spare the other day, and I remembered that a new episode of Vikings should have been available SBS On Demand.
I was bitterly disappointed to find that the show hadn’t aired that week. Instead I poked around for something else to watch. My eyes fell on Jiro Dreams of Sushi. As a Japanophile the title was enough to draw me in, and I’m so glad it did, I just wish I’d seen it well before now.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 American documentary film following, the now 92-year-old, Jiro Ono – a sushi master and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro.
Sukiyabashi Jiro is a Michelin three-star restaurant that only seats 10 people, and can be found in the unglamorous location of a Tokyo subway station. You won’t find any appetisers or fancy a la carte meals there. Jiro Ono only serves a tasting menu of around 20 courses, for a minimum of 30,000 Japanese yen (350 AUD) – ouch!
Apparently though it’s completely worth it. Obama described his meal there as the best sushi he had ever had.
What’s that got to do with being an expert?
It turns out everything.
Embracing Shokunin
Jiro Ono subscribes to the practice of ‘shokunin’.
Shokunin is a Japanese term that translates as a ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan’ – more specifically, the mastery of ones profession.
Famed Japanese artist, sculptor, teacher and woodcrafting expert Tasio Odate says “the Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people”.
This is a beautiful idea, but it seems that shokunin isn’t always driven by social obligation – even if there are beneficial outcomes for other people.
For many the shokunin is about the practice of doing something carefully and beautifully, to the best of your ability, and the personal joy derived from this. It is also about the continual quest for improvement and perfection.
In Jiro Dreams of Sushi we learn that the chef wakes up every morning and goes to work, despite already being incredibly successful and arguably the best sushi master in the world. He does this because he is driven by shokunin. He says, “All I want to do is make better sushi”.
The Cost of Perfection
As a self-confessed perfectionist I know the pressure I put on myself and how unhealthy it can be to me and those around me.
These days I prefer to aim for ‘progress’ rather then perfection – and sometimes ‘good enough’, is actually good enough.
Even Jiro Ono admits with perhaps a smidgen of a regret, that his quest for perfection meant he missed a lot with his family and could have been a better father.
So perfection isn’t all together perfect.
What I like though about the idea of shokunin is the drive to always improve and be better – to continually refine and master your craft – knowing that you may never reach perfection, and being okay with that, but also enjoying the journey and your craft.
Mastering Your Craft
I think shokunin is incredibly important whether you’re a writer, a software engineer, a cleaner, or a sushi master.
We should all take pride in what we do, want to be better at it and obtain joy from the process.
It can only lead to becoming an expert in your craft – and with that comes recognition, opportunities and self-satisfaction.
Debunking The 10,000 Hours Rule
Most of us have probably heard that we’re considered an expert in our field once we’ve practised our craft for 10,000 hours.
The concept comes from the work of psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, and was popularised by Author Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers.
Gladwell pointed to several case studies of incredibly successful people such as Bill Gates, whose success could be partly attributed to putting in 10,000 hours of work. That though is a simplistic interpretation of Gladwell’s book, which provides a lot of other compelling evidence for what makes people successful – it’s very much worth the read.
What though has come to light more recently is that the 10,000 hours may have little to do with whether you’re an expert.
Brad Stulberg, co-author of the book Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success, says expertise develops based on the way you practise, rather than the time you practise. That the quality and focus of your practise determines your performance. He recommends intensively focused practice or “deliberate practice”.
Start Becoming an Expert
Deliberate practice certainly isn’t at odds with shokunin, because they’re both about mastering your craft.
The premise of the 10,000 hour rule isn’t terrible either, as the more you practise something, the more likely you are to improve.
Perhaps in our quest for shokunin and being an expert, a realistic step is reminding ourselves that every day is an opportunity to be better than we were yesterday.
For me, I dedicate myself every day to improving my writing and marketing craft.
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There’s one big mistake many content marketers are making, and it’s potentially costing brands dearly.
It turns out marketers and writers everywhere are doing themselves, and their content, a disservice by letting good content go to waste.
The number one culprit is creating content with a short shelf life, or content that becomes out-of-date quickly.
There is a simple solution though. It’s making your content evergreen.
Creating evergreen, or timeless content, means content remains relevant and valuable to your target audience indefinitely.
It also can save you time, because it gives you a depository or content you can promote more than once and repeat on social media.
The Content Marketing Gift that Keeps Giving
Evergreen content can bring you lots of long-term marketing love.
When done well, evergreen content can generate engagement, traffic and leads for days, weeks, months, and even years to come – especially if it’s promoted on more than one occasion.
In fact, Hubspot research showed 76% of its blog views, and a whopping 92% of leads, came from “old” or evergreen posts.
A slight tweak to your content can easily transform it from being a one-hit wonder to forever young, and help you reap similar long-term benefits.
What is Evergreen Content?
An evergreen article is content that isn’t likely to date. It will stand the test of time.
For example, ‘How to Choose the Best Haircut for You’ would be more evergreen than ‘The Top Hair Trends This Season’.
While it’s important for some industries or businesses to demonstrate you understand and can comment on the latest trends, you should aim to mix up your content with evergreen articles as well.
Where possible try not to reference specific dates or years in your content, or facts or statistics that are likely to date quickly.
What Next?
You should go through your existing content and identify what is evergreen or could easily be tweaked to become evergreen.
Then create a repeating schedule for promoting the content on social media and other marketing channels such as e-newsletters.
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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
Enough of thinking like asmallBUSINESS, think like BIG BUSINESS. Better still aim forWORLD DOMINATIONwith 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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