In our daily jobs, we are sometimes asked (or told by others) to look outside of what we are supposed to be doing. It’s a powerful tool to see and be a part of the whole picture, but focusing on being best at your tasks in the micro can have a huge impact on the macro.

Here are three things that might help you be better at your job:

If I hear one more person say to me that they are “too busy, old, or have better things to do” than be active on social media…boy…y’all might need to start raising bail money now. Almost an infinite amount of information is floating around for you to use to build your business bigger with less effort. What TF are you waiting for???

Rise and grind. Early bird gets the worm. Let’s get this bread. Hustle culture in today’s workplace is great and produces some amazing results, but every battery runs out of juice at some point. Sure, it’s the holiday season and a lot of us are going to get away from the screens a bit… did you give yourself any time this past year to rest and recharge?

I have been writing this blog for a year now. Throughout the previous 12 blogs, you have read about crafting a quality introduction, being careful about who you listen to, and making sure you actually “want to” be doing this. You have read these blogs because you are proactive. You don’t wait for business or opportunities to come to you, you go out and get them!

No matter how hard we try to get in front of our customer’s needs we still get the occasional, “I need these products like yesterday” requests. How we handle these situations can make or break the customer relationship. Reactive selling (waiting for the customer to call you) is a useful strategy as you don’t look pushy, but it can lead to rushed orders or worse, being unable to fulfill their request. Here are three things you can do to make the overall experience better:

One of the modern ways business owners choose to educate themselves on trends is by listening to or watching business-related podcasts, videos, or webinars. However, finding the RIGHT voices to listen to can be a daunting task as all business owners vary in the way they approach the day-to-day. Whether we choose to admit it or not, when we listen to outside voices, we tend to take what is being said as gospel and start acting on what we hear.

You are busy and you get stuff done. Some would say you, “work like a dog.” Keep that up, but let’s look at it a different way. What if you were to approach every day like a puppy? Today’s Short Story is a piece to help you achieve your long-term goals, aka the Big Picture. I love seeing little puppies navigate social settings and got me wondering if there was a business connection. Here are 3 lessons that you can learn from thinking like a puppy:

We have all heard it before, hindsight is 20/20. When you know the past, you can play the hero and say you would have made a better choice in that situation. However, what are you doing to make sure you are the Hero in the moment? Outside of generic educational courses that are designed to be one-and-done, promo professionals don’t have a program that offers continued support and training to stay at the top of their sales game.

Companies that put their logo on products are hoping that the product is used and becomes part of a story told for years. “Remember that one time we were having fun and your (insert company name here) water bottle bounced all the way down the stairs in that quiet place? Everyone was looking at us!” We ALL have one of those stories. Your company must tell its story to connect with their customers and strengthen their customer base. Here are three effective ways to achieve this

Practicing patience is a virtue when it comes to growing sales in a small business. Level-headed, calm thinking can reduce stress and help you see through the long-term goals you set. Throughout the day, small business owners are pushed in thousands of directions, but practicing some patience can help keep everyone on track and through the finish line.  Here are three ways on how small business owners can deploy patience to help grow sales

One of the mistakes I see when companies start producing content for social media is they focus on creating a character. Your buyers want to buy from people they know, like, and trust. How can they get to know you if you are not your authentic self on social media? Marketing on social media requires the user to create content that is more than copy, consistently posted, and most of all, Authentic. Here are some tips to remain “yourself” and avoid becoming a character

The statement "consistency over quality" can be true, kind of, let’s talk about it. When you are just starting out marketing your business on social media, consistency in posting content helps maintain engagement with your audience and keeps your business visible. When initially building a social media following, there can be some flexibility in prioritizing consistency over quality, however, this needs to be temporary and strategic. Here’s why

We are already one month into 2024, have you implemented a content strategy for your business? If not, maybe it’s because you struggle with what “content” your customer wants to see to order from you. Last month I talked about the need to be on social media. I laid out some tips on creating a consistent content strategy. One of the questions I got asked a lot was, “What is content? How do I know my customer will see it?” Here are three (3) tips for creating content

Welcome to the start of 2024, ready to hear that you need to be using social media to build your business again? Well…to be able to work ON your business and not always IN your business, that does require a strategic and consistent social media approach. No, you do not need to hire expensive influencers. No, your grandchild does not know how to create business content. I am talking about adult social media…so here are three things you can do in 2024 to organically grow your business on social media.

Maintaining passion and motivation as a business owner is crucial for long-term success. At the Story conference in Nashville, Kevin Carroll’s workgroup was asked to “check their Want to.” What he was asking us to do was make sure that what we were doing was actually something that we wanted to do. When your business becomes a burden, you might lose sight of why you started down this path to chase your dream. Here are some strategies to ensure that you stay engaged and enthusiastic about working ON your business

Coming up with your introduction “elevator pitch” for when you meet people for the first time is one of the most important tools to develop for your business. This is the one time that you get to tell someone who you are or what you do completely judgment-free. There are no previous interactions to steer attention away…you have their full attention. Here are three key points I try to remember when creating these intros