How can your brand [of woman] stand out? And, how can your business stand out in this online marketing heavy world? I have no tactics but do have truth sharing for you. The inspiration behind today's sharing…
My brother
As I was thinking about celebrating Thanksgiving this year, one of the things I was MOST grateful for was the time ~ 22 years to be exact ~ I had with my brother. Though he passed away six months ago, I live Dino strong. #livdinostrong
I can immediately bring up the feelings experienced during countless times with him as a baby, a boy and a young man. As I've shared in other writings, the times we spent traveling together, he living with me and our 17 year difference were some of the biggest and brightest highlights of my life. He was and still is an integral part of my me and why I am able to love hard. I remember writing my college essay on how babies ~ how THIS baby ~ brought my family even closer together and how he showed me to love generously through all seasons of his life.
It was truly a magical relationship and for ALL he brought to my days, I'lI be forever grateful.
One of the things I appreciated most about his and my relationship are the "just because" phone calls, texts and visits, especially when he was in college, most recently. The love and appreciation felt during the times when he or I were "just checking in" were the best. At the core, the purpose was to show love and it was very much felt. It wasn't to ask for anything or to DO anything but exchange the happenings of the day and give love especially if either of us were feeling down.
The quality conversation that ensued would always leave me better, fuller. And for that and those conversations, I am extremely grateful. We both gave and received so much, simply.
Grateful people put this kind of "just because" energy and care at the center of their interactions…
My business
On the flip yet still very connected (what authentic anything is really about… connection), one of the other things on my gratitude list this year, is my business. I'll tell you why...
12 years in business…golden.
I'm grateful for this business I call Michelle Ghilotti International, a branding + coaching + empowerment Agency because…
• In growing a business the last 12 years that has grown me, I'm able to in a more refined or elegant way help other women and their beloved (business) extensions of themselves grow.
• It's so much more than a business. I not only teach and coach clients through purpose work but I work my purpose, everyday. The purpose behind the work I do is to help women and Moms live more fearlessly in pursuit of authentic lives and businesses, no apologies. I do this through the "filter" of authentic branding…helping women create memorable and self-expressed businesses. Every session, every talk or discovery call on this topic moves me. It’s the heart and soul of what I live for: to continue to be more myself every day, no apologies, and help other women be more themselves (and express it all) as well.
• Similar to the first bullet point above, in my business growing, I grow as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister and citizen of the world. Being an entrepreneur and "business-building" to me is not solely about the money. It’s about the growth of all parts of me and of getting to use all the "bells and whistles" given to me. Entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial spirit at the core is about bleeding to the edges answering for ourselves the question of "how far can I go? and how far can I bring others with me?"
Inspired Action
So, before I leave for San Francisco with my men in an hour, I want to share the following points with you. I also want you to know that the idea to share in this way came to me just a few hours ago, amidst packing (not ideal :-). To that end, I'm adding "inspired action" to the gratitude list. As female entrepreneurs we work best under this spotlight, don't you agree? With that said, I hope you not only enjoy the sharing today but are moved to your own brand of inspired action around gratitude to those that help you business-build everyday, namely your communities of potential, current and past clients.
Gratitude for our communities
Sadly, I’m not surprised at how far away we’ve gone from the expression of gratitude in business, or, in other words, how low-touch has replaced high-touch, in many respects. As a result, I see less quality content out there and less quality relationships being forged. For awhile now, I've been asking myself what needs to be done? What needs to be done to change the way we market and DO business, especially online or in this online marketing (and inauthentic selling from the stage) world?
Though there's such gratitude for how the world wide web has helped spread the messages of talented people around the world so they (we) can be of greater service, there is one exercise we can work more consistently on: putting care at the center of our operation(s).
Grateful businesses put care at the center of their operation(s).
That said, what is the living legacy you want to leave behind?
Llisten closely to the answer so you can use it to paint with…to help you carefully craft what programs/services you offer, to decide what your company culture will be like, to help inspire the connected branding and marketing you'll put out there and to help you show more care and gratitude in all ways to your communities.
Every time we take mindful time to choose care over cash, we create powerful, authentic brands that have the opportunity to make not just cash but a difference. It's this DIFFERENCE that sustains you and takes us all to six, seven, eight figures and beyond.
Making a genuine difference is rooted in really caring about our communities, whether they're part of our "client" or "potential client" list. This calls for showing that special touch not just after the tran$action's been made but BEFORE and maybe even months or years before it's been made.
Our communities deserve to be shown the most care because…
• They could choose anyone and don’t. They choose to give you their time, which they don't have a lot of.
• They could choose not to opt-in to your list but instead they do with total trust and many times even forwarding your newsletter to friends who need the love, light and learning you so beautifully share and give.
• They could wait or not worry about telling others about us, but, instead take time from a friend date and share what we have to offer, with excitement. To prove my point, many times, the people doing this are people we have never exchanged invoices or credit card numbers with…
• They could un-LIKE our business page (their newsfeed is getting cluttered) but instead they keep commenting on our posts, showing us the love.
In short, they, those who have and have not done business with us but love us just the same, make up what we LOVE to do and how express our purpose everyday…
THANK YOU
I am grateful for each of you that choose to spend your time and energy with me in all the ways you do. And, I want to continue to bring more of us along the high-touch path where, even if we're heavily focused on online marketing at the moment, we don't easily forget how to authentically inject *us* or our true purpose and power into everything we do online.
Nurturing and really caring for our growing “lists” consistently (call them communities) twitter, facebook and instagram fans (ah, call them friends) and for our clients and ideal, potential clients (let’s call them the future of sustainable business) is what putting gratitude at the center of our businesses is all about.
Frankly, this is what our low-touch, online marketing heavy business world needs more of. Just as grateful people put genuine care at the center of their lives, grateful businesses put care at the center of their operation, not simply post transaction but pre-transaction.
Again, I’m not talking about “customer care” which focuses solely on injecting gratitude post transaction. I’m talking about injecting it pre-transaction, before someone ever asks us about our programs or services and before we've ever branded them as a “potential client.” Because just as branding starts inside of you and with the mindset you bring to the business before you ever “brand” or “market” yourself, so, too does caring for your prospects. It starts long before…
Caring for people you may one day do business with starts here: being grateful for their time in choosing you before they’ve ever shown interest in spending a dime with you.
This is what creating an authentic brand and a purposeful business that out-powers the competition is all about.
So, how do we express our gratitude in a world that seems so heavily focused about the extra buck (profit) before true service (purpose)?:
• Give of your time in un-expected ways. Surprise your clients and your social media following with that extra zing, even if it means an extra 10 minutes you feel you don't have. You have so much abundance in your life…if you want even more, you'll want to give more, it's as simple as that. [By this I don’t mean free time or free services so the question turns to you, how would “surprise” be best expressed in your industry and business? How would your following LOVE to see that expressed?]
• Allow for quiet time to produce quality content that doesn't only include learning but love through your sharing and transparency [Just as your mom appreciates a phone call once a week, so do your beloved communities. Work ON the business vs. IN it all the time].
• Use your gut…way more [Being grateful to and for our communities stems from using the belly brain way more often than the intellectual “I want more business” brain. In other words, being of true service comes from your gut].
And, before closing, we should all remember:
• Being happy doesn't make you grateful, being grateful makes you happy.
• Living doesn't make you loving. Loving helps you live, really, really live. As Karen Salmansohn says “ThanksLIVING.”
And, of course, of my favorites borrowed from my book, How to Be a Walking Momtra:
• Gratitude is the only 'tude.
Just as in the best relationships, where we give without expecting anything in return, our businesses benefit from more of this energy as well.
• How can you take learning from your very best personal relationships and use that to feed and fuel your business?
• How could you give more in ways that are alignment with your values, "just because"?
• How could you be a part of the positive PRE-transaction feeling of your fans/friends/community? [We know you have the post-trasaction process down]
• As you grow your business online, via multiple stores or with more and more employees, how can you keep the high-touch warmth *you* so love about *your* favorite brands? [Essentially, what do you love in doing business with others and bring more of that learning into your everyday].
Taking the time to stop in a day, a week or a month (from making money) to ask yourself these questions will only help you make so much more of a difference and cash in the long run.
Until next time, ladies, may you enjoy your business and enjoy your life, today, tomorrow and always.
p.s. I will be starting a complimentary GratiTuesday call series soon going way deeper around what I’ve started here: around purposeful ways to out-power your competition. Stay tuned for that information.
p.p.s. I'm grateful to all the ladies that will be joining me in Huntington Beach on December 6th for the 5th Brand Personality Tour stop! And to the friends who shared this stop with their communities. xoxo
p.p.p.s. Every season, I share a new "iiT Factor" playlist, something to keep us inspired and moving to making happiness our business. This one is themed Gratitude (but, of course), please take a listen and thank you so much for being a part of the international MGI community. You’re the soul to my heart: http://open.spotify.com/user/123488238/playlist/4x8rDgxFbbfiqmP3hLkPNa.