Author: admin

Have you ever been stuck for a new idea? Or needed a new product and you just can’t think of what to create?

I know I have, and I remember feeling frustrated when I needed to write a ‘newsletter’ and couldn’t think of any news that I particularly wanted to share. Newsletters are great for issue 1, when have a stock of stories to tell and they can soon run into sand when by issue 10 we have burned through the archives and can be left gasping to fill a sheet with ‘exciting new projects’ that we hope our clients are eagerly waiting to gulp down.

Faced with a blank sheet of paper a few months ago I was chatting to my sales PA and commented that I always find the time to write my blog each week. If only I could use that as a newsletter, I wailed. Then it occurred to me; why not, I write my blog and I never falter with that, so instead of a newsletter we could set up a blog digest, containing the last four posts. And so ‘Rich Revisited’ was born and at the end of every month it gets emailed to my database, often with a juicy offer or two at the top to help nudge new sales opportunities into life.

I had a similar success with a careers programme and my ILM accreditation. The ILM tends to focus on leadership and coaching courses (Transactional Analysis for Leaders has turned into a popular 3-day course, do write for more details) and I also teach people career and job-hunting skills, often on a 1-to-1 basis. Two years ago I was chatting to a client who wanted to do something more interesting for her delegates than simply teach then how to write a CV and an idea was sparked – we could write an ILM accredited careers skills course. So we did and last year we proudly issued certificates to 20 students who sailed through the content.

So, this week take a moment to look into your store cupboard of products, services and ways of doing business. What two items could you combine to generate a new product or service? It’s amazing to think that 1 plus 1 can equal 20 new students …and with a little bit of creativity we have added a new string to our business bow!

Go for it!

Next week: Marketing Matters

Ever felt a bit of a fraud in business? If so, you’re in good company as this tends to happen to most people at one time, myself included.

Perhaps it feels threatening to be in business for the first time, or to have been promoted, or to be launching a new career after significant retraining.

When we feel that we lack confidence it’s often because we have forgotten who we are, what we can do and what experience we have. In the rush to go about our daily lives it’s too easy to sit in the moment and fret, instead of remembering that we’ve already completed ten years of training, or have three years of life experience to draw on.

The only frauds in business are those people who are either genuinely misrepresenting themselves, or those who are trying to steal our money. If we’re not in either camp then we are a good citizen, simply going about our work in the best way we know.

That’s ok!

We are allowed to be new in post, we are allowed to make a start and, perhaps most important of all, we are allowed to learn.

So the next time you feel a fraud, take a moment to write down your skills, your experience and your qualifications. You’ll be amazed at just how professional you really are! (I did and I was).

Next week: Combinations Create Newness