Business Tips | Inspired by This Blog

“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” (Dale Carnegie).

There’s a difference between getting what you want and wanting what you get. Christmas and the holiday season in general is the perfect example of this outlook! This time of year, there’s a lot of things that we want and with the new year approaching, success is on our minds. How often do you feel like your company is having success but you’re worn down and far from happy? As we look forward to 2012, why not make the commitment to make happiness more of a priority. You may want a promotion, better clientele or the ability to run a successful business – these are all things we work to achieve, and when we achieve them we call that success. But happiness isn’t so much about achievements, it’s about fulfillment. When you’re content and grateful with what you have and have been given, you’re going to be happy. We have to remember that happiness doesn’t always have to be tied up in our successes. It’s found in appreciating all that we have in the here and now, not what we hope to have in the future.

Photo by Shannon Nicole Smith

May you be inspired,

Leila

There’s nothing more frustrating than feeling like you are making changes with your business that nobody notices. BUT you might be surprised to find out how many people are actually noticing! Here are a 3 quick tips for your business that can generate change that will be noticed:

1) Social media is obviously an extremely important component to this industry. Two easy changes that can be made involve your Twitter and Facebook pages. Besides your website and blog, these are the outside referring links that are going to get clicked and noticed by other vendors, media, and potential clients. Your Twitter should have an ease and professionalism about it which includes the background you have chosen for your profile page. Creating a background that isn’t too busy and is consistent with your company branding is the first step to pique the interest of potential followers. Pick either a simple business logo or picture that is a good representation of your brand to be the focus of the background and avoid using the “tiling” feature as this can cause unnecessary clutter. While keeping the entirety of your account looking professional, you also want to be able to connect with clients on a personal level. The easiest way to come across as warm and welcoming is by using a personal head shot as your profile picture. Knowing the actual person they will be working with immediately establishes you as friendly and personable. Next choose an appropriate color that coordinates with your brand and voila. Your Twitter facelift will make such a difference!

2) Moving over to Facebook, the quickest tip that many vendors are missing out on is having a custom URL. When sending a client to your Facebook page it can be confusing when the URL is a mess of letters and numbers that no one will ever remember. Simply go to the page settings and look under “username”. There will be an option to create a custom URL…but be careful because it’s permanent and cannot be changed! Pick something that represents your company well, for example ours is www.facebook.com/weddingpr. Now your Facebook will be something that you can easily refer your clients to, not to mention it looks much more legitimate!

3) The third quick fix involves your main form of communication with your clients…your email. While you want to feel warm and inviting in an appropriate email, it is important to be clear that it is a business transaction. Please have an email address associated with your business and not just a yahoo or gmail account. Next, having an email signature at the end with all of your contact information included and twitter and FB links ( as mentioned above) is not only useful but it looks polished! By including your name, title, phone number, and social media addresses, you are communicating efficiently and drawing more visitors to your marketing pages!
You CAN make small changes that are noticed, it’s just important to know which are being productive and which are not making the impact you need!

Photo by Jose Villa

May you be inspired,

Leila