How to Run a Successful Business: 10 Steps You MUST Have

 If you’re in business for yourself or are thinking of starting your own business, you probably want to know how to run a successful business, right?

You might be even wondering what makes a business successful compared to all of those businesses that fail within the first few months or years of starting. (According to the Small Business Administration, over 50% of businesses don’t make it past their first five years!)

I want to make sure you’re part of the 50% that succeeds.

Let’s start learning.

What makes a business successful?

• The definition of a successful business is a business that grows in the long-term and is profitable.
• To me, success means freedom.
• So, when you ask: “When is a business considered successful?”

My answer is that a business is successful when:

• It keeps making money
• Your clients or customers are happy
• You get to live the life you’ve always dreamed of
• Now, let’s learn how to make ALL of that happen.

10 ways to grow a successful business

What are the strategies to grow a profitable business?

It comes down to a combination of different things.

Let’s explore my top 10 ways to make a successful business.

1. The right business idea

Let’s start with some good news:

To run a successful business, you don’t need to come up with the next Amazon or viral social media app.

What you NEED is a business idea that helps you build your business as fast as possible and offers real value to a specific target market.

There are many different possible business models. But when you’re just starting out, coaching or consulting are a great choice.

They’re profitable and simple to start — no need for major funds.

In fact, you could most likely start TODAY. That’s because you already know things that others will pay for.

Here’s how you can figure out what that is:

Write down things you’re good at.

Think about what people often ask you.

For example, maybe friends frequently ask you about your cooking skills? Or perhaps they’re curious about your amazing public speaking skills?

This helps you find out what you can sell — your business idea.

Need a few examples?

Here are some ideas my clients have come up with within the coaching space:

• Relationship coaching
• Career coaching
• Marketing and sales consulting
• Health coaching
• Brand consulting
• Spiritual coaching

Of course, starting a coaching business isn’t the only option.

Here are some ideas for other business models:

Freelancing: Offer specific skills or services on a project basis. Think of graphic design or content writing.

A creator or influencer: Build a following and monetize your content or promotions. You could become a YouTube vlogger or an Instagram fashion influencer.

 E-commerce business: Sell physical products, such as funny T-shirts or home fitness equipment.

Selling online courses: Sell your knowledge or skills in a structured format. For example, you could offer a digital photography course or baking tutorials.

Subscription/Membership model: Offer exclusive content or products for a recurring fee. Ideas: monthly gourmet boxes or an exclusive writing club.

Apps: Create tools or platforms for mobile or desktop use, like a workout tracker or a recipe suggestion app.

There are MANY ways to start.

You just have to figure out what’s right for you.

The next element you need to have in place are goals.

Let’s take a look at them.

2. Goal setting

To run a highly successful business, you need a map. And that map comes in the form of clear goals.

By setting the right goals, you success-proof your business and get rid of a lot of unnecessary worries.

Sure, you can’t plan for everything. But you can be prepared.

According to research, there are other good reasons to have business goals. For example, studies show that they:

• Provide motivation to do the work
• Help avoid wasting time on things that don’t matter
• Increase persistence and reduce the likelihood of giving up
• For this to happen, you need to set the right goal.

For example, “I want to make a lot of money this year” is NOT a good goal.

I like big goals. But if you make a goal without a plan to reach it, it’s just a dream.

Instead, you might set a goal of “making a steady amount of money every month.”

Some other good first-year goals are:

• Think of a business idea (see above)
• Set up a solid business plan
• Get your first customers (see step 6)
• Collect your first three testimonials

The best goals make you a little nervous, while still being within reach.

3. An entrepreneurial mindset 

What are some characteristics of a successful business owner?

Besides a great business model, the MOST successful business owners have another thing in common: they have an entrepreneurial mindset.

This is the KEY to a business that thrives.

In fact, not having it is the reason why so many businesses fail.

Challenges and problems will come up in business. If you can’t handle them and take action, your business won’t last long.

Studies show that our brain often tricks us into focusing on the setbacks rather than the wins. This is called a negativity bias.

Luckily, our mindset is flexible. We can change how we think.

When you learn to see more opportunities instead of roadblocks, you’re likely to push through challenges. You start to believe success isn’t just for others but for you too.

After having learned this myself through trial and error, I now pass this entrepreneurial mindset .

This is the difference between those who dream of success and those who actually achieve success:

4. Leadership skills 

To build a successful business, you need to be a leader. Here’s why:

Building a team

As your business grows, you can’t do everything by yourself.

That’s where a team comes in.

According to Gallup, one of the top reasons people leave a job is their boss. Good leadership skills help you pick and keep the right team members.

The best leaders don’t just assign tasks; they inspire and lead by example. Like when a deadline is tight, they’ll stay late with the team, motivating them and making them feel valued.

Planning for the Future

Leaders think about what’s next. They have a vision and big plans, and they tell their team about them. This helps everyone work towards the same goals.

Research shows that when everyone understands the goals, businesses do better. It connects employees to the company’s ​​mission and lets them see their part in it.

Leading yourself

Being your own boss means there’s no one above you setting the pace or direction — it all comes down to you.

So, even before leading a team, you need to lead yourself.

This means staying disciplined without a boss and constantly learning.

5. The right systems

To run a highly successful business, you need to have the right systems.

Now, if you’re just starting out in your business, maybe this isn’t something you need to worry about today.

But this is something you absolutely should be thinking about as soon as possible, because a true business is a system.

In other words, your business doesn’t depend on any one person to continue running.

Besides, you didn’t start your business so you’d have to work on it 24/7 in order to make sales, right?

What are the core principles of your business?

To do this, you have to identify what the core pieces of your business are.

You also need to document them so that if you or someone on your team were to take a day off or step away from the business, the business would still run without you.

I know that this can feel really overwhelming, so what I usually recommend is not necessarily to create a massive organizational chart with all your systems at once. (Although you’re probably going to do that at some point).

Start with listing out the top five most frequent things that you and your team members do in your business.

They can be a list of:

Common customer support questions

Things you do frequently, like setting up and sending a newsletter, or maybe posting on one of your social media platforms

This way, you can knock out the most common tasks first.

Once you get some quick wins with your systems process setup, then you can move on to the long-term process of documenting and systematizing everything.

In terms of what to use to document your business processes, you can use Google Docs. 

What systems should you use in your business?

Now, let’s talk a little bit about the main categories of systems that you need to have in your business.

These also happen to be the other elements that are critical to running a successful business, so we’ll be talking about what these are throughout the rest of this tutorial.

I can’t take credit for how I’m going to break out the systems for you, because although I’ve been doing this in my business for quite a while, I didn’t realize how they were falling into certain categories until after I read Mike Michalowicz’s book Clockwork.

I highly recommend that you check that out the next time you’re looking for a good book on really streamlining your business.

More specifically, the systems you’ll want to have in place are a:

• Lead generation system
• Sales mechanism system
• Delivery system
• Money collection system
• Finance tracking system

Let’s first take a look at lead generation.

6. Lead generation

Lead generation is one of the critical system categories.

In other words, how are you attracting new potential clients to your business?

At this point in my business, we have many, many sources of traffic that delivers us leads on a daily basis…

We have partnerships with businesses that have audiences that are complementary to ours and help promote us.

In addition, we sometimes write articles for great publications that drive their audience to us. 

We also focus on driving traffic through lots of other channels like our Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram accounts.

Not only that, but we also have content on the blog to help people find us via organic search as well.

Here’s how I did start…

From day one, I kept in mind what I just shared with you — that these were going to be systems as soon as possible.

So I thought, all right, I’m going to do a combination of the most powerful organic channels for my business first.

And I’m going to combine that with paid traffic because that’s going to allow me to both connect with people organically as quickly as possible while also generating traffic as consistently as possible.

This way, I’m starting to build an audience AND set that consistent foundation to really drive people to me in my business all the time.

For me, with my business, that number one social media platform was Facebook groups. Following a simple, daily marketing plan in Facebook groups, I was able to manually generate a lot of leads for my business and build solid relationships with future clients.

Aside from that, I ran traffic via Facebook ads. We also tested and continue to test lots of different platforms, but Facebook was our #1 paid traffic source.

Once I had those two systems in place, I knew I had that consistent foundation of traffic and sales coming in.

I wouldn’t have to be worried in my business about making money or driving leads today in order to keep the lights on, or having to be worrying about the feast and famine cycle that so many small business owners go through.

That made a massive difference.

With a consistent income basis, I was able to go out there and slowly build up all of my other traffic sources over the years without worrying about revenue.

Build up your lead generation funnel the right way

That’s something that I recommend for the majority of my clients as well, so that you can have one traffic source that provides that consistency first, and then layer your other traffic sources on top of that.

If you try to do too many at once, you’ll get overwhelmed and burnt out and nothing good comes from that, which is why I recommend doing it this way.

A note of warning though — make sure you’re not “wasting” those leads by adding the next element as soon as possible to your business…

Now, what most people do at this point is that they sit back and say, “Great, now I know how to run a successful business.”

But not so fast. There are still a few more steps we need to look at.

7. A sales mechanism 

The next element that you have to have is a sales mechanism. Something that automatically converts those leads that you’re now generating into customers.

Because you don’t want to have to just hope and pray for someone to find your sales page and buy from you, right? You have to have a system for doing that.

For us, my favorite way is through automated webinars. In fact, we drive almost all of our traffic through our free automated master classes.

Having these automated webinar systems allows us to automate our conversion process so that we’re making sales every single day without me having to be personally involved.

Once you’ve got that going, can you guess what’s next?

8. Delivery of your products or services 

It’s delivery. Because after you make the sale, you have to deliver on the product that you just sold.

As you can see, having a support system allows us to have any one person step away from the business for whatever reason (like a much-needed vacation!) and still have us be able to deliver an amazing customer service experience.

That’s what the delivery process looks like.

This is something that way too many new business owners don’t focus enough on or think about when they’re starting out — how to scale and systematize that delivery process.

But here’s the thing, when you’re in a service-based business, you have to lead with that support, that delivery.

You can’t grow the front of your business, the leads, the conversions, and the sales, and then think, “Okay, I’ll figure out how to catch up in my delivery once I’ve made more sales.”

This is something where as soon as someone buys, they’re going to expect that service, and if it’s not good, you’re not going to continue making sales. That’s why this piece is so important to be thinking about from day one.

Next, moving on to possibly the most important piece to the survival of your business…

9. Money collection

The fourth element, which again a lot of newer entrepreneurs don’t think about, is the money collection.

You are doing an awesome job attracting leads, you are making sales, you are delivering the best service and product possible, and… you need to get paid for it!

The ONE thing you have to set up right now

First, if you don’t have an automated order process, you need to set that up ASAP.

You should have a system that automatically charges your clients, so you’re not waiting for them to pay you every month when they feel like it.

The two systems I recommend for doing this are PayPal or Stripe.

What to do when someone defaults on their payments

Once you have that taken care of, you still have to realize that there are going to be people who need help updating their credit cards or billing information. Or people who may default on their payments, so you have to go and collect those payments.

(This is all just part of being in business! It’s not about being desperate or mean, or bad, it’s just hey, you’re delivering an awesome product and you need to be paid for it.)

We have systems that automatically send out emails when someone’s monthly payment doesn’t go through. They’ll get a few emails, and then, if after a certain number of days, they still haven’t updated their billing information, they’re going to get a call from someone on our team.

After that, they’re going to get one more call, and if after that, after we’ve given them many, many chances to honor their payment and they still haven’t, ultimately we’ll send them to collections.

This is something I very firmly believe in, where you have to walk that fine line between offering the best service and taking care of your clients, but also taking care of yourself and your business too.

Finally, let’s move on to the final yet highly important step…

10. Tracking your finances 

As a business owner, you need a clear picture of your finances.

What are your business costs?

Are you making a profit?

How much can you put back into your business?

Keeping track can be straightforward. In the beginning, a simple Excel spreadsheet is usually enough for your accounting.

Frequently asked questions about running a successful business

Ever wondered:

“How long does it take to run a successful business?”

“Is it hard to run a successful business?”

Or my favorite: ”Is it really worth it to start a business?” (YES!)

Well, the right business books answer all those questions.

Here’s my top pick:

“Profit First” by Mike Michalowicz

 “The E-myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber

“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill

Each book is packed with awesome business tips for beginners as well as many other tips for running a successful business.

HOW TO DO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: A DAILY CHECKLIST TO DOUBLE ENGAGEMENT

 When it comes to how to do social media marketing, success doesn’t happen by accident. It’s all planned.

But without some guidelines in place, it’s difficult to know what you’re working towards.

Which is where a social media checklist comes in.

Rather than throwing every strategy at the wall hoping one will stick, you act with intention.

This helps guide the direction of your online presence and everything you post.

If you’re ready to learn how to do social media marketing and better manage your daily social media to-do list, this checklist is what you need. 

HOW TO DO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: THE KIND OF CONTENT YOU NEED TO CREATE

Before we get to anything, we first need to think about our content.

It won’t come as news to you that creating valuable content is key to building trust with your audience.

Sharing the right kind of content helps you to:

Show potential readers that you are the “go-to” resource.

Build trust which translates into trust for your brand as a whole. If you sell products or services it also makes you a top choice when people decide to invest in you or your competition.

Attract visitors to your site and achieve more conversions. If new visitors like your content, they will subscribe and share it with others. Both are key to growing a loyal following and successful online presence.

But you can’t just share any old content. Any old content doesn’t get great results. You need to share the type of content that converts.

This could include:

Webinars

Video tutorials

eBooks

Case studies

Infographics

Reports

White papers

Blog content

Vlogs

What you want to do is brainstorm the kind of content you could create for each. You also want to consider:

The type of content you have already created that could be repurposed into new media.

The type of content your audience is already engaging with. Look at your most popular content in Google Analytics and determine how you can update those posts.

And the type of content that you want to be known for. Choose 2-3 topics that align with your brand and message.

Don’t make it difficult for your audience. You need to make your content easy to access.

This will not only help you build your brand, but it allows consumers to connect with you too.

Now let’s take a look at how you can start to put together a great social media marketing strategy.

HOW TO DO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: PUT YOUR STRATEGY IN PLACE

CURATE VALUABLE CONTENT

Go online and search for relevant keywords.

Do the same in Pinterest.

Look through your favorite blogger’s articles .

Follow your favorite bloggers on Twitter and curate their articles from there.

GET VISUAL

Your audience makes decisions in an instant. Will they stop and read or move on? Will they create conversation and engage with your brand or your competition?

The average lifespan of a tweet is less than 18 minutes so given that, grabbing attention fast is important.

Without attention, opportunities can be lost forever.

That’s where visual marketing comes in.

You don’t have to be an expert to know that visual marketing is highly effective. Visuals capture audience attention, increase engagement, and boost traffic. So how do you start?

 8 major forms of visual content that you can integrate into your social content:

Attention-grabbing, artistic photography – Think styled stock photos.

Screenshots – Useful if used right, e.g. taking shots of helpful images to go alongside your content.

Infographics – Come in handy when you want to convey a meaty or super long message in an easy, bite-sized and informative manner.

Comics – Make a long story short, captivating and humorous with relevant cartoons.

Data visualization – Present facts, figures and statistics in a simple and visually stimulating manner through standalone graphs and charts.

Memes – Use trendy memes tailored to fit the context of your updates or posts.

Miscellaneous graphics – Think of diverse images that complement your content.

Visual note taking – Think of casually designed layouts of ideas.

Try and incorporate each one across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more in unique and channel specific ways.

DON’T FORGET VIDEO

This is nothing new.

Video is on fire right now.

Creating several videos (produced and live) that support your social media strategy is a must.

Here are a few starting points:

Take key points from evergreen content and break them down into a simple bulleted list.

Show your audience how to do something or make something better – fix their problem.

Your video scripts don’t need to be long and complicated!

ADD PERSONALITY AND BRANDING

People read content they like and invest in products/services they like. But they also buy from the brands they love. That’s something you can’t ignore.

People invest in and buy from brands that represent their own values and beliefs.

Of course, what you’re creating is really important. But how you market your content and build a community is just as important.

HOW TO DO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: YOUR DAILY CHECKLIST

Now you’ve had a think about what you’re going to post, it’s time to figure out the steps you’ll take to increase engagement, traffic and sales.

This is your daily social media checklist. It’s an easy to follow list of steps to take each day.

Your daily social media tasks should take you no more than 30 minutes. I recommend you do them at the beginning and end of your day.

I get that you think you might not have that kind of time. If so, you need to check out time blocking.

These tasks are critical to help build your social media presence.

So now it’s your turn. Read through the version here and then download and save the complete checklist at the bottom of the post.

FACEBOOK

Reply to all comments (remember the three g’s: be grateful, generous and giving).

Thank anyone that’s shared your content (keep track of this).

Like and comment on 3-5 relevant Page updates (leave a thoughtful reply of five words or more).

Share relevant content to niche-specific groups (don’t be spammy or too self-promotional, instead be helpful and valuable).

TWITTER

Monitor mentions via keywords and respond to any questions, needs or concerns.

Choose 3-5 influencers to interact with. Be genuine with your replies and interactions – people will notice!

Make 10 new high value connections (use Twitter’s Advanced Search for this).

Schedule 3+ posts to share throughout the day.

Thank people for retweeting your content.

Thank 3-5 new followers.

LINKEDIN

Check incoming messages and respond to any necessary.

Approve all invitations to connect that are a benefit and make sense to you and your brand.

Share a relevant industry article or your latest blog post to your profile.

Interact within 2-3 groups and see if you can offer any answers.

INSTAGRAM

Post 1-2 times per day – a mix of blog posts, roundup tips, top tips, funny/inspirational and relatable posts.

Share an Instagram Story

Like one post from everyone that’s liked your content.

PINTEREST

Pin 20-30 images per day, a mix of your content and other people’s.

Like 5 posts per day.

Repin 5 images per day.

Choose evergreen posts to pin to specific brand blog board.

Update boards or titles that need to be optimized.

YOUTUBE

Create a new video from existing blog content.

Clean up your descriptions, add keywords, your URL, and tags to older videos.

FINAL THOUGHTS

A lot of people think social media can be time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be.

The best way to get started now is to find 2-3 of the to-do’s listed above that will have the biggest impact on your brand.

Put them on your calendar and commit to them daily.

Once you’ve got those tasks down, add to them. You’ll build momentum as you go.

Make it fun, pay attention to your data and watch your engagement increase on every platform.

MEGHALAYA TRIP – How to Plan and What to do? A Complete Guide

 There is no doubt that Meghalaya is one of our favorite places. Situated in the hills of the eastern sub-Himalayas, Meghalaya is one of the most beautiful states of India. In Sanskrit, Meghalaya translates into ‘abode of clouds’ and it is rightfully called so. Claimed to be one of the wettest places on the earth, Meghalaya sees the hide and seek played between the sun and rains.

Surrounded by the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills, Meghalaya offers simple and unspoiled beauty to its visitors. The state boasts of incredible natural beauty, cascading waterfalls, sparkling clean rivers, natural caves and a colourful cultural heritage. From the gorgeous waterfalls of Cherrapunjee to the clear waters of Umngot, Meghalaya is literally a place halfway between heaven and earth.

Contents

Where is Meghalaya?

Meghalaya Trip – Is it safe to visit Meghalaya?

How to Reach Meghalaya?

Local Transport in Meghalaya

Moving around Shillong

Moving around towns in Meghalaya

Bike Renting at Shillong

What is the Best time to visit Meghalaya?

Places to visit in your Meghalaya Trip

1) Shillong

2) Cherrapunji

3) Nongriat Trek

4) Mawlynnong

5) Mawphlang

6) Dawki

Offbeat places to visit in Meghalaya Trip

1) Mawlyngot

2) Mawlyngbna

3) Kongthong

4) Umden

5) Nongkhnum Island

6) Tura, Garo Hills

Where to stay during the Meghalaya trip?

How much does it cost on a Meghalaya Trip?

Meghalaya Travel Guide (FAQs Answered)

More pictures to convince you for a Meghalaya Trip

Where is Meghalaya?

Meghalaya is located in the northeastern part of India. Meghalaya was carved out of the state of Assam and shares its borders with Assam and Bangladesh in the west and south.

Meghalaya Trip – Is it safe to visit Meghalaya?

Meghalaya is perhaps one of the safest states that we have visited. The people are friendly and will always be ready to help you.

Meghalaya is also one of the safest places for women to travel. Being a matrilineal society, crimes against women are not much seen here. Meghalaya is one of the states where I feel quite at home during solo travel as well.

How to Reach Meghalaya?

Just like the other northeast states, Guwahati forms the entry point of Meghalaya as well. Shillong is the most important and the capital city of Meghalaya. Your Meghalaya trip will probably start from Shillong itself.

Shillong has a domestic airport that is connected by flights from Kolkata, Guwahati and New Delhi. However, the best way to enter Meghalaya would be to arrive at Guwahati and then move on to Shillong.

The nearest railway head is Guwahati. You will get shared jeeps and cabs just outside the Guwahati Railway Station at Paltan Bazar. You will also get shared jeeps and cabs from Khanapara in Guwahati.  Buses are also available from the ASTC Bus Stand outside the railway station. Regular buses are also available from ISBT, Beltola in Guwahati.

Helicopter services are also available from Guwahati to Shillong. But we recommend you to take the road. Shillong is only 100 km from Guwahati and the roads are pretty good and scenic as it follows an uphill drive through lush greenery.

Tentative fare from Guwahati to Shillong

Guwahati Airport to Shillong (small car): INR 2200

Guwahati Airport to Shillong (big car): INR 3000

Guwahati Railway Station to Shillong (small car): INR 2000

Guwahati Railway Station to Shillong (big car): INR 2700

Shared Sumos from Guwahati Paltan Bazar to Shillong Anjali Stand: INR 200-250.

Shared Cabs (Swift) from Guwahati Paltan Bazar to Shillong Anjali Stand: INR 300-350.

Local Transport in Meghalaya

Your first stop in Meghalaya trip will perhaps be Shillong. From Shillong, you have to visit different places.

Moving around Shillong

Buses and Yellow Taxis are available for travelling to various destinations in the city. Tourist Taxis are available in Shillong for local sightseeing as well as for long-distance tours.

The Main Taxi Stand is at the Police Bazar Stand. From here you will get shared yellow taxis to different destinations in the city. City buses are also available for going around in Shillong.

The Meghalaya Tourism Office is located at Police Bazar itself. You can book city tours and various other sightseeing tours from there. They conduct tours to Cherrapunjee, Mawlynnong, Dawki and other places as well. You can also hire cars for going around from the Tourism Office.

Moving around towns in Meghalaya

You can hire cars for travelling to various destinations in Meghalaya from the Police Bazar Taxi Stand.

If you want to travel by shared vehicles, the Sumos are available from Bara Bazar Sumo Stand near Ïewduh. Shared Sumos to other destinations like Dawki, Kongthong, Nongstoin are also available from there.

For offbeat places, the number of shared jeeps is quite less. So if you want to travel around Meghalaya by shared vehicles, keep some time in hand and get to know about the vehicle timings beforehand.

Bike Renting at Shillong

You can explore Meghalaya on a bike just like we did and enjoy the adventure on the road. The main roads are quite good in Meghalaya and riding is quite enjoyable. Shillong has a number of bike rentals from where you can get scooters and motorbikes for hire.

The rental agencies usually take a deposit amount depending on your ride and you also have to submit one of your Identity proof in original there. They will return the ID once you return the bike. They also provide one helmet with the bike. You can also ask for another helmet at a nominal extra cost.

The rate for scooty or scooter is INR 600-800 per day (without petrol)

For Bikes, it is INR 1000-1200 per day, and for Royal Enfield, the rental is usually INR 1500-1800 per day.

What is the Best time to visit Meghalaya?

Meghalaya has a tropical climate. The best time to visit is the winter months from October to March. But if you want to see the waterfalls in their full glory, visit at the end of the rainy season or just after it, i.e between August to the beginning of October.

Meghalaya is one such place in India that is beautiful in all the seasons. While our favourite time to visit is during the monsoon, the other seasons are equally enchanting. When you want to go for a Meghalaya trip actually depends on what you want to do.

April to June (Summer)

The weather is agreeable during this time and the temperature remains cool. Summer is definitely a peak season for a Meghalaya trip. This is a good time to go outdoors and explore. This is also a good time to do caving. However, the waterfalls will have less water. The Seven Sister Waterfalls in Cherrapunjee can be hardly seen during this time. It looks like small strips of water cascading down the mountain cliff, during the summer.

July to September (Monsoon)

Monsoon arrives in Meghalaya in June itself. However, from July it is peak monsoon. Since Meghalaya is one of the wettest places on earth, it receives a lot of rainfall. Monsoon in Meghalaya is simply beautiful. Everything looks lush and green and the waterfalls get a life of their own. The clouds and fod renders a mystique and charm to the place.

Cherrapunjee and Mawsynram are particularly beautiful during this time. However, you will probably not get the clear water at Umngot River at Dawki during this time. Caving is also not recommended during this time.

In short, if you love to travel during the rain, we would definitely recommend you for a Meghalaya trip. However, be prepared for bouts of showers every now and then. Also, do carry your rain wear during this time.

October to November (Autumn)

This is one of the best seasons to visit Meghalaya. The rains have stopped, but the after effects of rain are still there with greenery everywhere and lively waterfalls. The weather is sunny and cool, perfect for outdoor activities and treks.

December to February (Winter)

The weather remains comfortably cold; however, the days are a bit warm. The mornings are usually foggy. Winters are also a good time to explore and do all the outdoor activities like trekking and caving. This is also a good time to visit Dawki. You will see the crystal clear waters of the river for which Dawki is so famous for.

Places to visit in your Meghalaya Trip

1) Shillong

Shillong, the capital of the state is a busy, trendy and energetic city with a vibrant population. There is a lot of British influence in the architecture of Shillong. With the beautiful hills around and the number of lakes, Shillong is referred to as the ‘Scotland of East’. Police Bazar is the busiest point in Shillong with a busy marketplace. Most of the major hotels in Shillong are found around Police Bazar. You can use cozycozy to find a cheap accommodation for your trip to Meghalaya. Shillong has some fine cafes that also offer music. Shillong is the place of music lovers.

Attractions in Shillong:  Plenty of places to visit here – Ward’s Lake, Lady Hydari Park, Shillong Peak, Elephant Falls, Shillong Golf Course, Smit, Laitlum Canyons, Bishop & Beadon falls and Umiam Lake.

2) Cherrapunji

Cherrapunji or Cherrapunjee, also known as Sohra is located around 60 km from Shillong. You can visit Cherrapunji from Shillong and come back in a day. There are tours conducted by the Meghalaya Tourism for Cherrapunji. But we recommend a night stay at the place. Shared cabs to Cherrapunjee are available from Bada Bazar in Shillong. The Yellow Sumos take you to different places in  Meghalaya.

Cherrapunjee was said to be the wettest place on earth before Mawsynram took over. Naturally, the place is amazing during the monsoons.

Attractions in Cherrapunji: The Nohkalikai Waterfalls is the fourth highest waterfall in the world and makes for a grand sight. The Seven Sister Falls, Wei Sawdong Falls and Dainthlein Falls are also worth visiting. The Mawsmai and Arwah caves are other places that you should visit. Amazing stalactites and stalagmite formations are found in these caves.

From Cherrapunji, you can visit Mawsynram, the wettest place on the earth and the Khasi monoliths.

3) Nongriat Trek

The fascinating experience of Cherrapunjee is the visit to the Double Decker Root Bridge in Nongriat village. The route from Tyrna is the easier one to reach Nongriat, but you have to descend as many as 3500 steps to reach the village. Once you are at Nongriat, the trouble will seem nothing compared to the views and hospitality you will receive there. It is advisable to stay for a night at Nongriat if you wish to do the Double Decker Living Root Bridge Trek.

4) Mawlynnong

Mawlynnong is declared to be the cleanest village in Asia. The place is around 80 km from Shillong and a trip to Mawlynnong and Dawki can be done in a day keeping your base at Shillong. Like Cherrapunjee, Meghalaya Tourism conducts tours to Mawlynnong as well. Mawlynnong has a number of homestays as well where you can stay for the night.

The village is extremely clean and well-maintained, having bamboo dustbins at places. With greenery all around and colourful flowers and orchids blooming, Mawlynnong simply looks amazing.

Attractions in Mawlynnong: There is another single decker Living root bridge in Riwai village. There is a balancing rock that you can visit. The Skywatch is a tall bamboo structure that allows you to climb atop and have gorgeous views of the Bangladesh plains from there.Mawlynnong Asia’s cleanest village

5) Mawphlang

Around 45 km from Shillong, the Mawphlang Sacred Groves is situated in the East Khasi Hills. Once you reach the place, you can see rolling green plains, dense forests amidst the backdrop of blue skies. You can get a shared sumo to Mawphlang as well. There are accommodation options at Mawphlang in case you want to stay there for the night. A sacred grove is a small forest area considered sacred by the Khasi tribe. The sacred grove usually has a number of medicinal plants and herbs and exotic plant species.

Attractions in Mawphlang: The sacred grove, Khasi Heritage Village.

Mawphlang is also the starting point of the David Scott Trail.

6) Dawki

All the beautiful pictures of reflections of country boats on crystal clear water that you have seen are probably taken at the Umngot River in Dawki. Situated on the border of Bangladesh, Dawki is the last town on the Indian side before the Bangladesh border. You can reach Dawki by a shared Sumo from Bada Bazar in Shillong.

You can stay at Dawki or move forward to Shnongpdeng, another beautiful hamlet on the banks of Umngot River. There are a number of homestays at Shnongpdeng and camping options are also available at both Dawki and Shnongpdeng.

Attractions at Dawki & Shnongpdeng: A number of water activities like country boat ride, scuba diving, cliff jumping and fishing.

Offbeat places to visit in Meghalaya Trip

There are a number of places that are unexplored and offbeat. Here we are writing about a few. More more detailed guide, read our article on Offbeat and Unexplored Places in Meghalaya.

1) Mawlyngot

Mawlyngot is a beautiful village amidst green tea gardens and a serene atmosphere. The tea gardens, tea factories are places of interest here. 

2) Mawlyngbna

Mawlyngbna is a place for adventure seekers. The Travellers Nest is the only place of accommodation here. Situated amidst the forests, the Travellers nest has only two cottages. Camping can also be arranged here. You can go trekking, visit the waterfalls and go kayaking in the lake.

3) Kongthong

Kongthong is a very interesting place in Meghalaya. Situated between two famous ridges, getting to Kongthong is an adventure in itself. The unique culture of Kongthong’s inhabitants is they do not call out to each other using their names, they instead sing out names that are given to every individual of the village at childhood. Kongthong is also known as the Whistling Village of Meghalaya.

4) Umden

Umden is situated in the Ri-Bhoi district and is known for its eri silk production. Here you can witness all the steps in sericulture starting from rearing of silkworms to spinning and reeling of silk to yarn production and dyeing and finally to weaving. The village itself is really beautiful nestled in a serene valley.

5) Nongkhnum Island

The road to Nongkhnum Island is long, but the view that you get here compensates all your trouble. It is the largest river island in Meghalaya and is situated near Nongstoin. The island with clear waters of the river is a serene place with hardly any soul. You can also go camping on the river island.

6) Tura, Garo Hills

Tura is the second most important city in Meghalaya after Shillong. Located in the Garo hills, Tura offers great eco-tourism options and the wildlife sanctuaries in this area have interesting wildlife. Siju Caves, one of the longest cave systems in India, also lies close to Tura.

Overnight Buses to Tura are available from Shillong Polo Ground. Sumos are also available in the morning. Tura is also accessible from Guwahati. Hotels and homestays are available in Tura.

Attractions in Tura: The entire Garo Hills are full of many interesting places. The Tura peak, Nokrek National Park, Rongbang Dar Waterfall are few of the places near Tura worth visiting. Other interesting places include the majestic Balpakram National Park and gorge, Pelga Falls, Siju Caves and Naphak Lake.

Where to stay during the Meghalaya trip?

You can stay at hotels or homestays in your Meghalaya trip.

Shillong and Cherrapunji have a number of hotels of various budgets. You will also find homestays and hostels in Shillong. Homestays are also available in Cherrapunji.

For places like Mawlynnong, Dawki, Kongthong and others, you have to rely on homestays.

How much does it cost on a Meghalaya Trip?

Meghalaya, in general, is quite cheap and it is easy to backpack across the state spending as less as INR 800-1000 per day. You can even spend less. Hostels are available in Shillong. Local transport and food at local eateries are cheap.

If your budget is higher, there are high end hotels for stay and you can travel in luxury by car.

Meghalaya Travel Guide (FAQs Answered)

What is Meghalaya famous for?

Meghalaya is famously known as the “Abode of clouds” and is mainly famous for being the home to the wettest place on earth. Meghalaya is also famous for its waterfalls, caves, living root bridges and colourful festivals. The state is also famous for its large variety of orchids.

How many days are enough for a Meghalaya trip?

5 days are ideal for a Meghalaya trip where you will visit the major attractions of the state. You can spend 2 days in Shillong, 1 day in Cherrapunji and another day in Mawlynnong (the cleanest village in Asia) and Dawki. You can compress your Meghalaya trip to 3 to 4 days by planning efficiently, but it will be a rush.

Is Meghalaya safe for tourists?

Meghalaya is one of the safest places to travel in India, especially for solo women travellers. Meghalaya follows a matrilineal society, which means that the family lineage is taken from the mother’s side. Women are empowered and crimes against women are not usually seen. The locals are helpful to tourists and so is the local police force.

What is the best time to visit Meghalaya?

Meghalaya is an all-weather destination. However, the best time to visit is during the summer (April to June) and during the Autumn (October to November) when the weather remains cool and sunny, perfect for outdoor activities.

How much will it cost for a Meghalaya trip?

Meghalaya is quite cheap to travel. You will find hostels in Shillong and homestays at cheaper rates. Food and local transport are also quite cheap. For a backpacking Meghalaya trip, you can spend as little as Rs800-1000 per day or even less.

What can I buy in Meghalaya?

Meghalaya is famous for bamboo handicraft items. Shillong has a number of shops where you will find handicraft items. You can also buy stoles and shawls. Various organic products like spices, honey and tea are grown in Meghalaya that you can buy.

What should I wear in Meghalaya?

For spring and summer, wear light cotton clothes preferably during the day. For monsoons, you must carry your raincoats and rain jackets and proper shoes. Winters are quite chilly, so carry your woolens and jackets.

Meghalaya is quite a fashionable state. Men and women are tuned into the latest fashion trends. So you can wear anything within the range of propriety.

The Power of Brand Storytelling: How Emotional Marketing Connects You To Your Customers

 By telling a compelling brand story and using emotional marketing to connect with customers, you can create a memorable brand experience that differentiates your brand from its competitors.

In this article, you’ll explore the importance of brand storytelling and emotional marketing, and how combining these strategies can help you connect with customers on a deeper level to build a strong brand. Let’s dive in!

Understanding Brand Storytelling

To understand the power of brand storytelling, it’s important to define what it means. Brand storytelling is the use of narratives to convey a brand’s values, beliefs, and purpose to its customers.

The most impactful brand stories are those that can evoke empathy, engage an audience, and encourage them to take actions that are mutually beneficial for both the customer and the brand.

Through brand storytelling, businesses can create an emotional connection with their target audience, helping their customers relate to the brand and its mission.

Successful brand storytelling often involves using a central character or protagonist to represent the brand’s values or mission. This can be a real person or a fictional character, but the key is to make the character relatable to your target audience.

For example, Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign features well-known athletes as the central characters, representing the brand’s values of athleticism and determination.

But as a small business owner, chances are you’re going to be leaning into your brand’s origin story or your founder’s story (which in my opinion is much more powerful anyway).

How To Create A Compelling Origin Story:

Start with Your Why – Your origin story should begin with the reason why you started your business in the first place. What problem were you trying to solve? What inspired you to take the leap and start your own business? This is the foundation of your origin story, so make sure it’s clear and compelling.

Highlight Your Journey – Once you’ve established your why, it’s time to tell the story of how you got to where you are today. What challenges did you face along the way? What successes did you achieve? Your journey is what makes your origin story unique, so be sure to highlight the moments that shaped your business.

Emphasize Your Values – Your origin story should also showcase the values that drive your business. What principles do you stand for? What do you believe in? Your values help establish your brand’s identity and differentiate you from your competitors.

Keep It Authentic – As with all brand storytelling, authenticity is key when it comes to your origin story. Don’t try to create a story that isn’t true to who you are or what your business stands for. Your audience can sense when you’re being disingenuous, so be true to yourself and your values.

Emotional Marketing and Brand Connection

Speaking of emotional connections, did you know that emotion is what’s truly driving all purchasing decisions (and decision-making in general)? Harvard professor, Gerald Zaltman states that 95% of our purchase decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind.

There’s additional research indicating that in most cases, 20% of the decision to make a purchase is logical and 80% is emotional. So while it’s tempting to talk about facts and features, we have to remember that our customers are not just rational decision-makers, but rather emotional beings who are influenced by their feelings and experiences.

One example of successful emotional marketing is Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign, which personalized the brand by printing customers’ names on Coke bottles and encouraging them to share a Coke with a friend or family member. This campaign leveraged the emotions of friendship, sharing, and nostalgia to create a memorable brand experience that resonated with customers.

Another example is the Dove “Real Beauty” campaign, which challenged traditional beauty standards and celebrated diversity showing women of all colors, shapes, and sizes. This emotional marketing campaign not only differentiated the brand from competitors but also created a strong emotional connection with customers who identified with the message of inclusivity and self-acceptance.

Below you’ll find a few “emotional motivators” that drive consumer behavior along with how your brand can leverage these motivators:

Combining Storytelling and Emotional Marketing for Success

Brand storytelling and emotional marketing are two powerful tools that, when combined, can create a potent force for brand success. As we’ve learned, emotional marketing helps to evoke a particular emotional response from customers, while brand storytelling provides the context and meaning for that emotion. Together, they create a cohesive brand narrative that resonates with customers and makes a brand more relatable and memorable.

By using emotional marketing to enhance their brand’s story, brands can build a deeper emotional connection with customers, differentiate themselves from competitors, increase brand loyalty and customer retention, and ultimately increase revenue.

To effectively implement brand storytelling and emotional marketing, it’s essential to define your brand’s story and messaging before launching emotional marketing campaigns, use emotional marketing to enhance your brand’s story, not overshadow it, be authentic and genuine in your emotional marketing messaging, ensure consistency across all touchpoints and customer interactions, and continuously monitor and adjust your emotional marketing messaging to align with customer feedback and evolving brand values.

How To Incorporate Brand Storytelling and Emotional Marketing Into Your Small Business

Define your brand’s story and message: Start by defining your brand’s story, values, and mission. Develop a clear message that resonates with your audience and showcases the unique qualities that set your brand apart.

Identify your target audience: Identify your ideal customer and understand their needs, wants, and pain points. Use this information to create a message that speaks directly to their emotions and desires.

Use storytelling to connect with your audience: Incorporate storytelling into your marketing strategy by sharing personal stories, anecdotes, and experiences that align with your brand’s message. This can help create an emotional connection with your audience.

Use visual storytelling: Use images, videos, and other visual elements to create an immersive and engaging experience for your audience. This can help bring your brand’s story to life and make it more relatable.

Use social media to amplify your message: Social media is a powerful tool for sharing your brand’s story and connecting with your audience. Use social media platforms to share your brand’s message, engage with your audience, and build a community around your brand.

And remember, as with any effective marketing strategy – emotional marketing and brand storytelling require a deep understanding of your audience and a commitment to authenticity.

By following these steps and focusing on creating a genuine emotional connection with your audience, you can build a strong brand that resonates with your customers and drives long-term success.

How Brand Archetypes Help you Define your Brand Personality

 DO YOU KNOW YOUR BRAND’S ARCHETYPE?

Why do certain brands appeal to you, make you want to buy them, make you feel good about yourself, welcome them into your family and show loyalty towards them?

The simple answer, Brand Archetypes.

People are emotional beings that are capable of creating an unconscious connection between themselves and your brand. According to a popular, and effective, marketing strategy based on the Archetype, it’s because these brands are built around a personality and certain personalities appeal to us more than others.

Personifying your brand can allow your customers to relate to your brand in the same way they would relate to another person. And if they emotionally connect with this personality, it makes them think, it amuses them or encourages them to be better versions of themselves… that is what makes the brand truly irresistible.

Therefore it’s all about turning something impersonal, into something that people can relate to – your brands passions, missions, values, and even fears. Something with a story. Something… personal! 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF KNOWING MY BRAND’S ARCHETYPE?

Discovering your Brand’s Archetype/s (because you’ll most probably find that your brand resonates with two or three), not only does this help you gain a better understanding of your brand’s personality, but you can utilize its traits to re-align your brands aesthetic, products or services, make better inform decisions, help to bring consistency, use the right tone of voice for your customer and even gain insight into how to deepen your connection with your customers.

Every design decision for your brand should be based around your brand’s personality – from color, font pairings, photography, illustrations and tone of voice – all which paint a picture to your customer about your brand. 

SO WHAT ARE THE ARCHETYPES?

Archetypes are not new. They are grounded in decades of psychological research and have their roots in Greek Mythology. They stem from the work of well-known psychologist Carl Jung. Jung believed everyone shares and understands these themes, regardless of culture, age or language, because they are an undercurrent to all humanity.

The idea is that we humans are wired to behavior built on our desires, and certain personalities have stronger desires than others. Based on 12 human desires, are 12 Archetypes – these are used to define your brand’s personality. 

List of 12 Brand Archetypes and their primary desires:

The Innocent = Safety

The Sage = Knowledge

The Explorer = Freedom 

The Outlaw = Revolution 

The Magician = Transformation 

The Hero = Change the World

The Lover = Connection 

The Jester = Enjoyment

The Everyman = Belonging

The Caregiver = Helping Others

The Ruler = Control

The Creator = Innovation

As a brand, you want to appeal to the desires of your audience, rather than the traditional age and demographics. This is very closely linked to psychographics (a methodology used to describe traits of humans on psychological attributes: personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles) and a much more purposeful way of segmenting your customer/audience.

Does that mean you create your brand personality, your archetype by first identifying your customer’s personality, and aligning your brand with the archetype that would most appeal to a desire within your customer? Or do you identify your brand’s archetype first and align your branding an marketing to that archetype and inevitably attract the right audience?

Personally, either way can work, depending on what your business is, what you offer and in how far your WHY is connected to your archetype.

The Archetypal Wheel below is an intuitive tool that helps to gather all the information together, to give you a quick overview, and shows how each of the 12 Brand Archetypes divide into the four main motivational characters: Independence, Change, Belonging and Structure: and it’s desires – enabling the information to be more accessible.

MEET THE ARCHETYPES

Innocent

The Innocent is an eternal optimist who always sees the good in people and in life. This brand archetype is associated with simple pleasures and wholesomeness. With our busy lifestyles, we are attracted to the focus on simplicity and happiness. Brands that are associated with goodness, morality, nostalgia, or childhood are identified as Innocent archetypes. Their products are quite often natural or pure (e.g. cotton, soap, organic foods). 

Is your brand a Innocent? Is the goal of your company to help people find or realize happiness? Does your company value simplicity and ethics? 

Sage

The Sage believes the path to happiness is paved with knowledge and that by seeking out the truth and sharing it with others, we can make the world a better place. Typically touted as “experts,” these brands act as sources of guidance to help consumers feel more informed to make better decisions. Think… institutions of higher education, news sources, research, museums, bookstores and libraries.

Is your brand a Sage? Do you value knowledge? Does your company’s reason for being is to seek out the truth, and encourage people to think?

Explorer

The Explorer yearns for the freedom to discover the world and experience a better, more authentic, and more fulfilling life. Brands with Explorer traits are often those that help people feel free, are nonconformist, are pioneering, and offer sturdy or rugged products.

Is your brand a Explorer? Does your brand feel at home in the wilderness of nature? Or does it help people discover new things? 

Outlaw

The Outlaw is all about revolution and seeks to destroy what is not working. Brands that identify with values at odds with those of society at large, that pioneer new and revolutionary attitudes, or whose products literally destroy something (e.g. a bulldozer) fall into this category.

Is your brand a Outlaw? Take a look at the products or services you offer. Do they disrupt the status quo of your industry or society? 

Magician

Transformation, change, renewal, metamorphosis, magic. No matter how you say it, the Magician archetype leaves others standing in amazement, wanting to make dreams come true through knowledge of the fundamental laws of how the world works. The Magician genuinely believes that there is more, something greater than us, greater than what we see. They foster “magical moments”, experiences that feel special, novel, and exciting — as well as more lasting change. Think… pharmaceuticals, herbal remedies, beauty products, cosmetic surgeons, life coaches, cleaning companies, restoration services, hygiene products, retreats, travel agencies, career agencies and technology.

Is your brand a Magician? Does your brand help people transform? 

Hero

The Hero strives to prove worth through courageous and difficult action and to exert mastery in a way that improves the world. Look behind that flowing cape to find brands that help people perform at their best, address a major social problem, and incite people to take action. The Hero archetype is all about rising to the challenge, and it instinctively seeks to protect and inspire others. 

Is your brand a Hero? Is it fighting an invisible enemy to address a social problem? Is it challenging people to get stronger and perform at their full potential? 

Lover

For Lover brands, customer appreciation is a way of life and is likely a big part of their business plan. Staying in good relationship with those they serve and making them feel special. The Lover brand is intimate and elegant. The goal is to be in relationships with the people, work, experiences, and surroundings it loves. There is also a sensual aspect that the Lover archetype represents. Anything that pleasures the senses – beautiful things, enticing smells, indulgent foods – give joy and delight to the Lover. Think… cosmetics, jewellery, fashion, food and fine wine, gourmet chocolate, spa treatments, beauty and gifts.

Is your brand a Lover? Are you passionate about people? Do you help people find or deepen relationships, or offer products/services that make them feel more special?

Jester

Just like the class clown from high school, the Jester wants to live in the moment with full enjoyment. He only wants to have a great time and lighten up the world. Look past the laughter and that silly hat and you will see brands that help people have a good time and embrace a fun-loving, freewheeling culture.

Does your brand help people enjoy life or live in the moment? Is being clever or quirky a method you use to help people see something differently? 

Everyman

The Everyman wants only to belong and fit in and desires to connect with others. The mark of the Everyman is prominent on brands with a down-home culture, that create things used in everyday life, and that help people feel that they, too, belong.

Is your brand a Everyman? Does your brand help people fit in or feel comfortable being themselves? Are your products/services something used in common everyday life?

Caregiver

The Caregiver’s aim is to protect people from harm and help others. Brands that serve families and that place a high value on customer service. Think… healthcare, education, or non-profit/charitable space.

Do you place a high value on serving or protecting others? Is your goal to help people care for other people, pets, society, or the world at large? 

Ruler

Brands that are able to provide the world with the security and stability we all desire are the ones that earn the title of Ruler. They want to create a prosperous and successful family, company, or community. Brands that enhance or promote power, help people become and stay organized, in a chaotic world are easily identified as Ruler archetypes.

Is your brand a Ruler? Do you sell high-status products? Or ones that promise safety and security? 

Creator

The Creator’s core desire is to create something of enduring value and give form to a vision – contributing to society and providing structure to the world by bringing something into being. Brands that encourage self-expression; help foster innovation; or are artistic or creative in design. The Creator brand is focused on innovation and quality. They get deep satisfaction from both the process and the outcome of creating something that did not previously exist. Creator consumers demonstrate their taste and quality standards by the things they buy, to express how much they love beautiful and high-quality things. Think… arts, design, marketing, technology and entrepreneurs.

Is your brand a Creator? Do you value beauty and quality? Do you offer consumers ways to re-create or re-imagine something? Is your product or service allowing others to express themselves through DIY projects? 

TIPS FOR CREATING A COMMUNITY AROUND YOUR BUSINESS

 Small business marketing is a tricky business. On the one hand, you want to reach your target audience as widely as possible because you believe in your product and the benefits it can bring to people; on the other hand, you’re no big enterprise – you lack large advertising budgets, and feel as if the competition for the attention of your potential clients is becoming more expensive and more challenging to attain.

So how does one manage, after all, to accurately market a small business, without breaking the bank?

I spent a long period of time fostering a virtual community around my blog. My goal being to join together ambitious person from around the globe, who want to take their life into their own hands, and live it to the fullest.   

The community around my blog created the most amazing thing.

Although I recognized its power from the get-go, only, later on, did I realize how essential it is for my business.

Thanks to the community I lovingly nurtured around my brand over the years, I was able to create products that have real demand and reach my targeted audience in the most direct and authentic way possible.

Your business needs a community, too.

Often the idea of ​​building a community around the business is secondary to other aspects of the business – assuming it is in the mind at all. 

As a small business owner, you are most likely preoccupied with technical aspects like production, billing and shipping, sponsored advertisements on various media channels, and more. 

While all these aspects are important, your primary goal should be to build a quality and active community in the long term. The benefits of a community around the business are greater than increasing the traffic to a store or business site and are also beyond creating awareness for the business. Creating a community around the business creates a deeper and more meaningful relationship with the target audience, and in the long run is beneficial to both the business and its customers.

So why is a community an effective marketing tool for a business?

Generating a dedicated audience is often one of the biggest struggles small business owners face. It’s one thing to put a product on the market or offer a service, but it is quite another thing to get people to connect with your brand and buy the product specifically for your small business.

This is exactly where the community comes in.

We, as humans, love to unite. We seek a sense of belonging, to connect with people who share similar values to ours and enjoy the sense of security that the community creates around us. It is more likely that people who receive real value from you, with no exchange, and who share the same values as those of your brand, will prefer to buy a product or service from you rather than trust another business they are less familiar with.

Building relationships with my target audience is one of the things I love most about my business, but surely, to start a successful community you have to invest yourself and your time, and learn and understand some essential details about the topic. In this post, I will share my tips for building a community around your business.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #1 : Start a Blog for Your Business

Some business owners think of a blog as something only “bloggers” need. The fact that a blog can turn into a real business may not sound too far fetched to too many people, but if you ask small business owners to name three ways to promote their business, chances are the word “blog” will not come up in the conversation.

Why’s that? It may be because blogs are still perceived as relatively inferior, or something that is mostly done as a hobby, as opposed to an essential digital asset.

Although there are hardly any businesses that do not already have a website. But a website alone doesn’t always offer enough information, personality or authority to stand out from the competition.

This is exactly where the need for a blog comes up.

In fact, a blog is a powerful marketing tool, with which you can build an entire active community, composed of your target audience, and through which you can offer enjoyable and educational content to your ideal buyers about your products and services. Still wondering if starting a business blog is worth your while? Here are five reasons that’ll make you regret that you haven’t yet started your business blog.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #2 : Be Human, Accessible, and Beneficial

The message that should be relayed to your customers is that behind your business is a real, genuine person. Don’t fake it or try to sound like someone else who seems to be doing it better than you. Use your unique voice and just be yourself. People will connect with your voice and the things you share will resonate with your ideal target audience, which over time will become devoted supporters of your brand.

True, most of us have a hard time with exposure, but the truth is that people love and appreciate honesty and authenticity. When you write a blog post, or share a story on Instagram, don’t direct the attention only at your products and services, but also at the challenges, the values your business is based on, and silly things that go on behind the scenes. Readers will appreciate your honesty and the fact that you care to share things that aren’t usually brought up, which is exactly what will make your business more accessible. Authenticity, accessibility, and vulnerability are the building blocks of a true community.

Now, I totally get it, it could be difficult to introduce your true authentic character through your blog, newsletter, and social media. And that’s absolutely fine. It makes perfect sense that it’ll take you some time, but you should strive to get it done if you want to build an active community around your blog and business.

One more thing and no less important is to be helpful to the community you created. Although there are other ways to get people to return over and over again, from my experience, nothing gives a sense of community like giving providing value and mutual help – sharing personal knowledge, tips, and advice.

Small Business Marketing through Community #3 : Post Quality Content

It all starts with good content. The content you create for your blog and social media should speak to your target audience and provide real value.

If the content you post under your brand isn’t interesting, inspiring, entertaining, or of any educational value, people won’t give it more than 10 seconds, and will definitely not come back for more.

After all, we live in an age full of distractions on all sides, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, thousands of content websites sharing articles at a frantic pace, millions of TV channels and countless magazines, oh yeah, and then there’s real life too… So if you’re not creating content that is different or special in any way, the kind that is helpful to your audience, you’re just not giving them a reason to come back.

Your goal is to produce the best content you can possibly create. I know it takes time, and lots of work, but it is better to post less frequently, than to publish insignificant posts on a daily basis that’ll make your readers leave without turning back.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #4 : Use Branding as a Community Creation Tool

Consistent and proper branding leads to trust and solidarity, which forms the basis for the growth of an engaged and loyal community. The values behind your business should be consistently felt and expressed through the tone of voice that you use to communicate with your target audience in all platforms you have presence in {business website, blog, newsletter, and social media} and the visual features that characterize them {logo, color, photography style, graphics, etc.}.

The first thing you need to do is to make sure you really know your target audience. Who are they? What interests them? What areas do they find difficult? Once you’ve defined your target audience you will be able to understand exactly what it is you’re doing and how you can help.                 

A small but excellent exercise that can help you unravel your brand’s focus is to complete the following sentence: I, [profession/business niche], help [target audience] solve [problem] and achieve [benefit].

In my case, for example – I, blogger and entrepreneur, help aspiring people overcome the difficulties of setting up and running an independent business and achieve self-fulfillment, passion and a life full of joy.    

Once your business branding becomes holistic and clear, it becomes easier for you to connect with your target audience, create a loyal community that identifies with your brand’s values, build real relationships with other brands based on those values, and avoid things that don’t suit the spirit of your brand.

In the end, once your target audience is able to identify your unique branding,  even if it comes across it outside the boundaries of the business website or store, it means that you succeeded at leaving a real impression on your audience and that you have created an authentic bond.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #5 : Make Sure the Platforms on Which Your Business Operates Are Organized in a Community-friendly Manner

The two things that I find most crucial when creating a community are keeping an ongoing conversation and staying connected over time, so you need to make sure your target audience can easily make those connections with you. Be sure to consider the following :

1. Conversation – Is it easy to comment on the content that you post? Make sure the business blog is designed in a user-friendly way. Check out the blog from a critical point of view and try to leave a comment for one of the posts – Is the comment box easily found? Did you have a hard time leaving a comment {for example, did you have to create a username specific for the website}? Try to make it easy for your readers. If leaving a comment takes too much effort, they’ll most likely give it up.. 

Also, don’t forget to check your inbox and social media for any private messages – being responsive is key. A quick and attentive response directed at your community members will show them that you care and that you are not only interested in pushing your products. If you find it difficult to be available on all different platforms, use an automatic reply bot that sends all your messages to one place, to make sure you don’t miss any! 

2. Keeping in touch – A newsletter is one of the most important tools for building a strong community in the long term. That is why it’s important to make it easy for people to sign up for your newsletter no matter how they encounter your brand – whether it’s through your website, blog, or Instagram. Keep in mind that most people won’t just sign up for the simple sake of being updated, which is why you need to offer them something else of added value {like a free giveaway or a fun discount} to make sure they sign up. If you don’t have an active newsletter you should read this post.

Small Business Marketing Through Community #6 : Consistency is the Name of the Game

Another important tool in creating a community is maintaining consistency – in terms of frequency and content. Keeping your posts frequent, constant, and continuous will leave the community you created conscious of your brand, and they will expect and wait for new content from you. If you abruptly stop posting on a particular platform, regardless of whether it’s due to a lack of content or going on vacation, it will weaken your community’s trust. This is why it is important to create a bank of content or to announce a change in schedule ahead of time, before a holiday or expected vacation.

The same goes for the nature of the content you share… Don’t post content that doesn’t suit your brand because it will create confusion among the members of your community. If you decide to change the branding of your business, it is best to do so gradually or come out with a formal announcement about the changes the brand is undergoing.

Bottom line is, building a strong community around your business is more or less like building true friendship. Think about your best friend, after all you didn’t become besties right away. Your close relationship is a result of shared values and interests, mutual help and support, perseverance, and other small yet major things that are placed at the foundation of your friendship. The same can be said about a community. Though it takes time to create, just like a friendship – it is worth the time and effort you put into it!

7 Mindset Shifts to Level Up in Your Business

 What’s your most important asset in your business?

It’s your mindset — the structure and quality of your beliefs shaping every decision you make, and how you show up in your business each day!

It’s the operating software you’re running that allows you to solve problems, spot opportunities, take smart risks and move forward with confidence in yourself.

So if you’re looking to make an investment of time and effort that will pay off in your business (and your life) for years to come… your mindset is the way to go.

And to save you some time, I’m sharing 7 of the most important mindset shifts you can make if you’re ready to reach your next level as an entrepreneur!

1. “The obstacle is the way.”

– Ryan Holiday

Every challenging thing that happens in life is neither good nor bad — you get to decide what lens to view it through, and whether you treat it as a dead-end or a chance to grow and expand in a whole new way.

By seeing obstacles not as roadblocks, but as opportunities — the kind of opportunities that lead to your biggest breakthroughs — you’ll prioritize your own growth and expansion at every step. For example…

Your fear of public speaking may someday be the very reason audiences seek you out and want to hear your story, to see what is possible for them if they believe in themselves.

The fact that you don’t look or sound like other influencers in your space, may be the exact reason independent-minded brands seek out partnerships with you.

Your struggle with insecurity and imposter syndrome may make you the exact right coach or mentor for others who experience similar challenges.

I can guarantee you that the biggest, most game-changing opportunities in your business will arrive disguised as impossible obstacles and dead ends… ones that most people will give up on, and turn back.

So ask yourself, “How might this be a gift? How will solving this problem cause me to grow, learn new skills, have a unique perspective, or stand out from the crowd?” … and you’ll become a pro at seeing through the disguise, and right to the heart of the opportunity!

Before: This problem is impossible to solve. I’ll never get past it, and I’ll be stuck here forever! I’d better just give up before I waste any more time, or risk any more disappointment.

After: This looks like a difficult problem, and I bet most people see it that way… but I’m someone who looks for opportunities. Maybe it’s not obvious right now, but if I get creative, I think I can make this work to my advantage!

2. More work ≠ more results

In the first couple years of your business, there’s so much to do!

And when you’re in that early phase, you’re trying a lot of different things… so it’s easy to get caught up in trying to be everywhere, and do everything, all the time.

Eventually, you might wind up hustling all the time just to keep the balls in the air!

It’s time to simplify, streamline, and restructure your business to work for you, and feel energizing and easy.

Because building a business does take work, and a significant investment of time, energy, and creativity… but working yourself to the point of exhaustion DOES NOT equal better results.

At a certain point, doing more, working extra hours, and trying to be all things to all people, only serves to wear you out, drain your energy… and subtly signal to your community that you’ve chosen a road that leads to exhaustion (who wants to come? probably no one.)

What gets results is always bringing your very best self to your community!

Prioritizing your wellness, your joy, and the sustainability of your business… So you can show up fully energized, aligned, and treat your business and your client relationships as the icing on the cake of your life — not something you’re depending on for your happiness. 

Before: I have so much to do, how will I ever get through it all? I just need to buckle down and get it done, or I’ll never make any real progress. If I want results, I need to put in the time – once it’s all done, I can finally rest.

After: There are a lot of things I could do, but I’m going to trust myself to focus on the one or two things that get me closest to my goal. I’ll use the extra time to do something that fuels and energizes me, so I can show up as my best self for my business.

3. Good for her, not for you

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” — Theodore Roosevelt

So there you are, minding your own business and doing your own thing when — oof! You see someone celebrating a major milestone you haven’t reached yet, and it knocks you off your feet. 

Most of us can relate; it’s human nature to compare our position to others, because slipping down in the pecking order feels like a threat to our survival.

But unless you’re part of a family of gazelle running away from a cheetah, you’re not actually in a race with anyone.

You’re each on your own path, heading to your own destination, going at your own pace, and stopping as many times as you like to rest, enjoy the view, camp overnight if you feel like it, and along the way, do things you enjoy and that feel fulfilling to you…

Building your business isn’t a race to escape an apex predator. It’s a journey that is yours, and yours alone… there’s no need to compare your journey with anyone else’s!

Everyone has their own set of circumstances, priorities, and ideal destination in mind — and the best we can do is cheer each other on and enjoy each other’s company when we happen to stop at the same watering hole.

Before: They’re so great, they clearly have something I don’t have. And they must know something I don’t know. I’m too old/young/shy/etc. for anyone to take me seriously or see me as the expert — what makes me even think I could succeed?

After: They’re doing awesome in their own way, and I’m doing awesome in mine! There’s no competition between us, we’re each just on our own path. I love seeing others thrive, and I love thriving in my own way, on my own terms.

4. Fear is your friend

There’s a popular myth that in order to become unstoppable and reach your goals, you need to ditch your fears altogether and become “fearless”!

In reality, all you need to do is allow fear to be part of your equation. Don’t let it stop you — but don’t wait for it to go away before you take any action, either.

Let fear come along for the ride. Let it be part of your journey and a companion on your path forward. Listen to its worries, and allow it to feel how it needs to feel.

Because fear actually has a lot to offer you!

Fear is a sign you’re moving in the direction of what you really want. What if I mess up? What if they say no? What if I’m disappointed? None of these thoughts would occur to you if you didn’t care about the outcome.

“When you dare to identify your greatest desire, the possibility of falling short sneaks in beside it. “ — Meera Lee Patel, My Friend Fear

Think of your fear like a game of Hot and Cold… when your fear runs cold, you’re pretty far away from anything that feels exciting, interesting, and like a new frontier for you.

But when your fear gets warmer… warmer… hot!! then you know you’re really onto something.

Over time, as you grow in your business journey, you’ll start to recognize fear not as a roadblock telling you to turn back, but a sign you’re on the right path.

Before: I’m scared to take action — what if I mess up? What if someone doesn’t like what I say? What if I’m disappointed? What if the worst case scenario happens? I don’t think I can risk it…

After: I’m scared right now, which means I must be on to something big! I wouldn’t be afraid if I didn’t care about this deep down. Fear is always there, but it doesn’t call the shots in my world anymore. Come along for the ride, fear – there’s a spot for you in the backseat!

5. Failing is learning

Failing can be scary and overwhelming… but the truth is: failure is a necessary part of learning and growing!

When you start a business, the idea of failure may feel different from how it’s felt in the past… it feels more public, more vulnerable, more reflective of your worth as a person… but it’s actually none of these things.

“If I launch this offer and it doesn’t sell, everyone will see and judge me for it!”

“If I share this content and it doesn’t get engagement, everyone will see and think I’m struggling!”

“If I host this event and no one shows up, everyone will think…” – you get the idea!

The truth is, no one is paying close enough attention to notice when you fail. And if they do happen to notice, they won’t think anything of it because they see ALL their own failures up close and personal.

As you grow in your business, you’ll get better and better at “failing well” — allowing yourself to feel disappointed, but also recognizing that it’s not a life sentence.

Your failures do not define you. They are a necessary part of your learning and growing process, and  they’re not the end of the story. They’re just the beginning!

As long as you’re learning from failures, mistakes, and missteps, you’re still moving forward. In the end, you’ll be hard-pressed to even remember your failures, or what anyone else thought about them…

But you will remember and value (and maybe even teach others) the lessons you learned by getting back up, and moving forward!

Before: I really messed up back there. I can’t believe I said that / did that / tried that / etc… What must people think of me now? I totally botched that… I’ll never get past this!

After: That went well in some ways, and in other ways it could have gone better. There’s definitely room for improvement, and I think if I did it all over, I would do a few things differently. I’m proud of myself for trying, and next time I’ll remember what I learned from this experience so I can do better!

6. Experiencing your offer is a privilege

Early in your business, it’s tempting to say “yes” to anyone who asks to work with you.

Because booking new clients and customers is the best feeling in the world, right? It’s living proof that your offer is worthwhile, and that someone trusts you enough to hand over their hard-earned cash to work with you!

But beneath those warm and fuzzy feelings, is a lingering uncertainty…

When you’re eager to work with anyone who asks, and you’re waiting for someone else to validate you and your services… you’re just one “no” away from feeling discouraged and second-guessing yourself.

Instead, remember that working with you is a privilege, not a right — and a sales conversation is as much your opportunity to decide if it’s a fit, as it is your client’s.

Your expertise and insight are immensely valuable, and those who get to work with you are fortunate to have your guidance and support, on a journey that would otherwise be much harder.

So celebrate every booking and every sale… not just for you, but for your clients, for their journey ahead, and for all the benefits they’ll enjoy from working with you!

And remind yourself that a “no” is a gift, saving you from working with a client who’s not a fit, so you can hold space for the ones who are.

Before: Does anyone want what I’m offering? What if no one signs up? Maybe I’ve just been lucky to sign the clients I’ve had so far; what if my luck has run out?

After: I have experience, insight, and wisdom to share that helps my clients get further, faster, and my approach is unique in my industry. I’m a pro at what I do; my clients are fortunate to have me in their corner.

7. Selling can be easy

Ever since starting my business, I’ve handled sales conversations pretty much the same way:

1. Ask questions to understand the client and their situation
2. Assess whether and how I can help, and which offer would be the best fit
3. Support them in deciding whether the offer is right for them, right now

That’s it!

I’ve never taken a sales course or program — and while I’ve tried techniques my mentors and coaches suggested, I’ve settled into a flow that feels natural for me and my pre-clients, and that leads to a “yes” in most cases.

Here’s the thing: You don’t need to assume the responsibility of making any one else’s decision for them, or persuading them to work with you. You don’t need to corner people into a “yes” or outsmart your clients.

You can 100% trust your clients and pre-clients to make their own best decision – and focus your energy on creating a space where they feel free to make their own choice and trust their intuition.

Think about who you want to support, and how much responsibility you want for their choices…

Do you want the client who relies on other people for all their answers, and expects you to make the tough calls for them?

Or do you want the client who values your support and insight, but ultimately trusts themselves to make their own decisions?

…decide which one is right for you, and lead your sales calls to serve those clients best: holding the space, being honest about how you can help, and allowing your clients to reach their own conclusions.

Yes, there are ways to improve your sales game, and increase your conversion rate with integrity – but unless it feels aligned for you and in the highest service of your clients (i.e., easy for you to execute), it won’t hold water. Let sales be easy for you, and your business will grow!

Before: Selling is so hard for me – how can I convince people they need what I have to offer? It feels like an uphill battle just preparing and showing up for a sales conversation, much less converting prospects into clients.

After: Selling is easy and simple. It’s just about listening to understand my prospect, deciding whether I think my offer is a good fit, and if it is, helping them assess and decide their next steps. I trust myself to be honest about my offer… and I trust my client to make the right choice for them!

5 METAPHORS TO HELP YOU VISUALISE YOUR BRAND

 If you’re in the process of DIY’ing your brand, or rebranding your existing business, chances are… you already have an idea of how you’d like your brand to look.

Often, people don’t have any idea of the visual direction for their brand. So in this post, I wanna share 5 favorite metaphors that I love to use to help my clients visualize their brand .

In fact, these 5 questions are incredibly helpful to me as well, because it helps me gain clarity to perceive brand. So this is to ensure that we’re on the same page before diving into the design process.

BEFORE THE VISUALISATION – YOU MUST KNOW YOUR PURPOSE

Before we jump into it, it’s important to note that I ask these questions at the very end of my 3-step Signature Brand Development Process. Before this visualization exercise, you need to be crystal clear on:

You Brand Purpose, Vision and Values

Your Ideal Client

Your Competition

Your Offering (and how it stands out from your competitors)

Your Brand Personality

Only then can you start thinking about the visual direction for your brand. Remember, that although visuals play a big role in your branding, they don’t benefit you if they disconnect with your brand purpose and who your ideal client is. So make sure to spend some time to really nail down these bullet points before answering the next questions. 

5 FUN METAPHORS TO BUILD DIRECTION FOR YOUR BRAND

Before you start answering these questions, remember that there is no right or wrong answer.

Most people know what they want their brand to look like, but they don’t know how to express it or visualize it in their heads. That’s why I challenge my clients to create these metaphors, so they can step outside of the design world with its color palettes, fonts and logos, and bring them back to what they feel most comfortable with: their everyday life. So, don’t overthink the answer to these. Try to listen to your gut and your heart because the answer lies within you.

1. IF YOUR BRAND WERE A MOOD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Is your brand funky and happy? Does your brand make you feel like a kid’s laughter on a carousel? Or maybe you’re more sophisticated and discreet?

Here are some answers from my past clients (I looooooove the first answer. We got the mood right straight away!):

You know the movie Hitch? When Will Smith is teaching Albert how to dance and slaps him around a little? That’s the mood for our brand!

Freedom – when you sit on the beach, breathing in the ocean and really letting go for the first time in a while of all your worries. Really connecting with your inner self.

I don’t know how to describe the “mood” but it’s the kinda mood when Miranda Priestly walks into the office – admiration, sophistication with a touch of fear (in a good way though)

Write down what moods come to mind and try to make it come alive as much as possible!

2. IF YOUR BRAND WERE A COLOUR, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Let’s forget about color theory for a moment .

But here, I want you to let go of what you think your brand color should look like or what it should make you feel, and focus on the first color that comes to mind when you think about your brand.

Here’s what my clients have said in the past:

Earthy, warm tones (can’t come up with one single colour) – my brand feels like home, there’s a sense of belonging, of warmth when I think about it. I want our beauty products to make you feel the same way.

Gold. I think it’s the best color to portray our expertise and also the level of clients we work with.

Warm greys and pastels. But with a touch of black. As in… “calm and sophisticated, with a touch of boldness and strength”.

Once you think of the first color that comes to mind, also try to explain why you associate this color with your brand too.

3. IF YOUR BRAND WERE A SONG, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Oooh, this is my absolute favorite question! I believe the answer to this question gives the most powerful visualization of your brand. And I love reading the answer to this question from my clients because that’s the moment when I can clearly see what the final result for their brand will look like!

But I think it’s also one of the hardest questions, so take some time to think about it.

Here’s what my clients made me listen to:

“From Now On” – The Greatest Showman, or “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson

“Hôtel Costes Best Of (Official Full Mix)” – eclectic mix of wonderful songs

“Girl on Fire” – Alicia Keys, but with the incredible emotion and power from Angelica Hale’s performance (AGT)

What jam would be playing when you were talking about your brand?

4. IF YOUR BRAND WERE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

If I had to answer this question myself , I would’ve said a black panther. It’s powerful, strong, but most importantly they are natural protectors and leaders. And that’s what I want to stand for: we will always protect our clients and do our best to lead them to success.

Now, what did my past clients say?

A wolf pack leader, or even better… Mufasa.

A horse – the most graceful animal with lots of character

A Siamese cat – affectionate, friendly, loyal and bold. Also very exquisite in its appearance and movements. 

Which animal do you feel suits your brand the most and why?

And finally…

5. IF YOU COULD DRESS UP YOUR BRAND, IT WOULD WEAR…?

Let’s imagine now that your brand is a person and play dress up! What kind of clothes would it wear? What brands would these clothes be?

Here’s my clients’ fashion thoughts on this:

Beige, knee-length sophisticated dress, with a short blazer/jacket and black heels. 

I don’t have a particular item in mind, but I know it would be tailored clothes. Made specifically to fit THEM , not “off the rack”. 

Light fabrics, organic cotton or linen, beige, grey and white. Only shop at sustainable brand shops. My brand would probably have a small capsule wardrobe and only shop occasionally but for quality, sustainable items.

Once you have answered this, think about whether this style would appeal to your Ideal Client. If not, then how can you improve on this and make it more aligned with your ICA?

___

And there we have it, friend! 5 questions to ask yourself to help you visualize your brand and bring it to life!

If you’ve answered all of these, you should already have way more clarity for your visual brand direction than before. But if you need some extra help here, try to come up with more metaphors like these to help you out!

For example:

If your brand were a book, what would it be?

If your brand were a movie, what would it be?

If your brand were a dish, what would it be?

If your brand were a city, what would it be?

If your brand were a flower, what would it be?

Etc…

Which question helped you visualize your brand the most?

SLOW LIVING TIPS

 Many of us long to slow down.

And many of us desperately need to.

But too many slow living tips involve ditching everything at once for a picture-perfect slow living lifestyle.

The harsh reality of struggling finances mean that slow living idyll isn’t on offer for most families so it becomes another fantasy to fail at!!

Yet there are simple small ways to slow the crazily busy treadmill of our modern world and find more joy.

And these are the very doable slow living tips I have for you here.

They truly have brought real riches in health, happiness and resilience to my family. I do hope they help.

HOW TO START A SLOW LIVING LIFESTYLE SIMPLY

My slow living tips are NOT a strict set of rules we all must live by.

Most are tiny tweaks to strengthen our daily life whilst creating chances for us either to press pause for a period or to take the first steps on a longer journey in slower lanes.

There is no single place to start so explore first what speaks to you :

Let Go

Gentle Rhythms

Proper Rest

Unbusy

Local Living

Embracing Nature

Being In The Moment

Loving Low Info

Celebrating Seasons

Weaving just a few of these slow living tips into the fabric of our day lets us feel for real that we don’t have to hurtle hectically through our time here holding on for dear life!!

There are different slower ways to live and they can be very good.

LET GO

Letting go little by little releases the chains of anxiety that lock us onto the treadmill of busy-busy :

• Very gently declutter just a few things every single day.
• Ditch … don’t delegate.
• Stop reinventing the wheel for the sake of it when same old does fine.
• Enjoy the familiar.
• Detox from stimulants … coffee, sugar, alcohol & screens … for at least 6 weeks every year.
• Start living debt free so you stop having to run so fast to fund a lifestyle you can’t sustain …
• Stop buying things you never use.

REST PROPERLY

Resting properly truly can transform our family’s health. It is the foundation of a slow lifestyle :

• Cherish sleep …
• Learn to sleep better …
• … and stop sabotaging it.
• Have a day of rest weekly …
• … and when you just need one.
• Put aside time to energise yourself in the right way for you … introverts need time alone, extraverts need time to talk … every day.
• If you’re an introvert and get exhausted by other people, don’t try and live your life by the standards of extroverts.
• Give yourself time to recover …
• … from illness …
• … from grief …
• … from heartache …
• Take care of your circadian rhythm, get up & outside in the light early.

UNBUSY

In today’s world we worship the constant buzz of busy-busy as a symbol of both success and virtue but too many of our exhausted efforts are empty of real meaning :

• Build slack into every day.
• Stop making a virtue of having no time available for anyone.
• Stop over scheduling kids …
• … enjoy slower happier parenting.
• Learn to do more in less time and savour the time saved, don’t fill it.
• Keep plenty of weekends free.
• Clear your calendar … by half … and then by half again
• .Write a not doing list, so you consciously acknowledge all the things whirring around in your head that you’re not going to do.
• Learn to say no.
• Time block communication and only answer emails and messages in that time block.
• Travel slowly by train.

Learning to enjoy being unbusy breaks our addiction to the adrenalin of always being on the go.

GENTLE HABITS & RHYTHMS

Gentle habits & rhythms give us back some ownership of the structure of our lives so we’re not always reacting to incoming demands :

• Build simple daily habits.
• Build weekly rhythms.
• Keep going back to the same place.
• Play old games or do old jigsaws with phones off.
• Re-read books.
• Learn to done one thing better and better with your hands.
• Practice something pleasurable for five minutes every day.
• Help children learn to contribute to family chores.

LIVE LOCAL

Living more of life locally cuts the wasted hours and constant pressure of long, tight travel time tables :

• Love local.
• Walk every day wherever you can and use the downtime …
• … to talk
• … to connect with your community
• … to muse & ponder.
• Give up your car.
• Stroll, saunter, wander …
• … take time to stop and stare.
• Ride a bike.
• Holiday at home.
• It roots us in the resilience of a strong community and makes travel more exciting when we do go.

EMBRACE NATURE

By embracing nature in simple ways we can’t help but slow down and feel how it keeps time without the constant call of clock and calendar:

• Notice nature …
• … see which way the wind is blowing every day …
• … look at the stars …
• … spot what the trees are doing.
• Grow a few things but don’t go crazy just start …
• … a few simple vegetables …
• … some basic herbs …
• … a pot of spring bulbs.
• Go hiking.

BE IN THE MOMENT

A slower lifestyle allows us to be in the moment and enjoy the richness of daily life free from the nagging anxiety of diaries and to do lists :

• Notice yourself in the full flow of feeling happy … what are you doing? … do more of it?
• Make time to clean …
• Make time to cook simple healthy recipes you know off by heart …
• … be in the moment …
• … and enjoy what you’re doing.
• Get real exercise from physical work – travelling, cleaning, gardening – rather than constantly trying to squeeze in time for artificial exercise.
• Keep an eye on why you’re doing things … very often it’s not because they’re important or actually make us happy.

LOW INFO

Our chronic fear of missing out has left us addicted to news and updates that distract us from the personal practices and rhythms that truly support and sustain our lives :

• Switch off phone notifications.
• Go out without your phone.
• Go on a wifi & phone free retreat every year.
• Go on a low information diet.
• Break your cable news addiction … whatever our politics, it is equally bad for us!!
• Deinstall any apps you’re addicted to on your phone.
• Stick to one messaging app only.
• Switch your phone off when you’re with your kids.
• Unsubscribe from a couple of email lists every day.

CELEBRATE SEASONS

Marking the seasons of the year provides a profound pattern to the seasons of our lives that over commercial celebrations never reach:

• Follow the seasons …
• … join the harvest
• … sleep more in winter.
• Organise your calendar around simple traditions …
• … and enjoy the calm of the old and familiar.
• Recognise the times in the year you take on too much e.g. Christmas, holidays, new school year and work out what else you will stop doing to build in slack.
• Find time every week to connect with the past.
• My very last slow living tip is to be a little more skeptical of progress.

A forever chase after the future leaves us rootless and lost. A simpler slower lifestyle builds a stronger bridge to both the opportunities and the challenges of unknown times ahead.

3 OF THE BEST INTROVERT-FRIENDLY MARKETING STRATEGIES

 I know exactly where you are, fellow introvert.

You’ve been focussing your marketing efforts on Instagram for a while now.

You’ll spend ages creating graphics and editing images for the ‘gram, before you edit and re-edit the perfect caption, add those all important hashtags and spend enough time engaging to bring people back to your post, once your post has gone live. 

You put pressure on yourself to be active on your Instagram stories daily and you’ve seen the articles about needing to post everyday to gain traction. 

And perhaps recently you’ve felt like the effort you’re putting into social media isn’t rewarding you in the way it once was. In fact, social media has become an exhausting time suck – but the annoying thing is that, you’re kinda reliant on it now because you’ve neglected your other marketing channels. 

And perhaps you’ve also run some live launches. And it was great at the time, it gave you a buzz and it delivered results but afterwards you felt done in. 

And for several weeks you simply didn’t have the energy to show up as much as you would have liked across your marketing channels. 

How do I know this?

I’ve been there, this is my story as well as yours. But – I want you to know I have discovered a much more introvert-friendly way to do marketing in your business.

Not so long ago I was focusing all of my marketing efforts into Instagram and regular launches. But to cut a long story short, I ended up burnt out. 

Without any energy left to keep going, I discovered that Instagram isn’t actually ‘all that’. I was forced (luckily) to find more introvert-friendly, sustainable approaches to marketing. 

It’s easy to fall into the trap of spending all of your time and energy on creating Instagram posts, scrolling the app, and feeling overwhelmed by DMs. 

But more recently I know I’m not the only one who was found that you’ve got to put 5 times the effort into social media to get the same results.

How would it feel to be focussed on introvert-friendly marketing instead? 

How would it feel to take the pressure off yourself to be speaking to camera every day and ‘doing reels’? 

Imagine if you could find a way to do your marketing while curled up on the sofa in your PJs! Read on fellow introvert! 

None of these introvert-friendly marketing strategies are going to be things you’ve never heard of before, in fact you might think – well DUH! But here’s the kicker – you might know all about these marketing strategies, BUUUT are you actually doing them right now? Or is social media gobbling up every last bit of your time and energy? Let’s dive in.

Introvert strategy 1: Blogging

At this point, blogging feels like the oldest trick in the book. It almost feels like blogging was the OG of online marketing and things have moved on since then. You don’t tend to hear people talking about blogging so much anymore, it’s all about Instagram reels and smashing your next launch. 

But when you’re talking about introvert friendly marketing – marketing that is going to reward you in the long run not, just in the next couple of days this is absolutely where your attention needs to be. 

Consistent blogging and building up your bank of evergreen content is a sure fire way to drive organic traffic to your website – where they can find their way onto your mailing list and into your online shop and courses. 

Here’s why blogging is such an introvert friendly way to do inbound marketing… you can do it in your pyjamas with a cup of tea curled up in bed, you can do it from your garden chair, you can do it by dictating into your voice notes whilst out on a walk, and editing it onto your blog later. 

I know blogging can feel overwhelming. We make ourselves believe that blogging is a huge ordeal (and it absolutely can be if you make it an ordeal) – but it doesn’t need to be! 

If you’re not blogging right now, the best place to start is by creating a healthy blogging habit that helps you find the JOY in it, before you get bogged down in keyword research and meta tags. 

Your next step? Creating a consistent blogging routine that you can stick to. 

How about, you challenge yourself to blog everyday for a couple of weeks? It doesn’t need to be War and Peace in length, it doesn’t need to be filled with beautiful imagery, and it doesn’t need to be endlessly researched for the perfect keywords – at this stage you just need to focus on building the Habit.

Introvert strategy 2: Pinterest

Pinterest is my happy place. 

When you’re scrolling Pinterest you’re thinking about your own life, and getting inspired and excited about the possibilities – your dream home, your business development, that clever organization system for your wardrobe. On Pinterest, you collect images and links to blog posts that inspire and inform you.

Whereas on Instagram, you’re looking at what’s going on for other people as you endlessly scroll. And so often this leads to comparison, frustration and that feeling of not enough-ness. 

So why wouldn’t you want to hang out and do your marketing in a place that makes you feel happy and inspired!? 

It’s also another platform that’s all about imagery, so if you love creating beautiful graphics, photography and faffing about in canva – this is the platform for you.

Here’s why Pinterest is one of the most introvert-friendly marketing strategies… it’s NOT a social Media platform, it is a search engine. Think of it as Google for images. That means no commenting and no exhausting DMs – just inspiring imagery and creating beautifully curated moodboards. Yes please! Perfect for introverts like us! 

The basic premise of Pinterest is that you create graphics and upload them to your Pinterest account, linking through to content on your website. 

This is where Pinterest works hand in hand with blogging. You create a pinnable image, or perhaps ten pinnable images for each of your blog posts, and pin them to the relevant boards on your Pinterest account. 

Once you get into the swing of it it’s really enjoyable and easy. And once you’ve mastered the basics there’s no end of geekery you can get into around keywords and optimizing your graphics if you feel so inclined. 

Introvert strategy 3: Evergreen marketing funnel

When we talk about marketing in business what we really mean is creating connections with our audience, and nurturing them through the customer journey – from discovering us, to knowing, liking and trusting us, to becoming a customer. 

One way of doing this is to do all of the legwork by being present on social media and running regular live launches – but that’s not a sustainable approach for you, fellow introvert. 

For us introverts, we can subsidies or even eventually replace the need for live launches and social media by setting up clever, automated systems that nurture our audience along that customer journey without us having to be there 24/7 – AKA an evergreen marketing funnel. 

An evergreen marketing Funnel can take lots of different forms, but let’s say you set one up that invites visitors to your website to opt-in to a free offer. 

Let’s say someone has Googled something that has led them to land on one of your blog posts. From there they see a link to sign up for your free lead magnet, that is going to help them overcome a pain point and give them some quick wins that will help them get the result they want. 

Once they have signed up for your free offer, and therefore opted-in to receive your emails, you then follow up with a sequence of automated emails or other content that continues to give value and nurture this person through your customer journey. 

Later on in your evergreen marketing funnel, you invite this person to learn more about how your offers could help them, and give them the opportunity to become a customer. 

Perhaps you’re thinking – sales funnels – grooooosss. Don’t they have to be really gross and aggressive to actually work? And that’s definitely not me. 

We’ve all seen really gross sales funnels out there. But that’s NOT what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about a value-driven and feel good approach to marketing funnels –  and an evergreen sales funnel might just be the answer to increasing your business income. 

And let me reassure you, it is possible to build funnels that deliver value and serve your audience with integrity. These is the kind of sales funnels I build for my clients.