Change is inevitable – growth is optional!! Isn’t that what they say? When a new way of thinking and operating in this rapidly changing world of emerging ideas comes SMACK up against ‘established’, ‘orthodox’, - the “forgive me for pointing this out to you, My Dear, but I have been doing this for so many years now I think I know what I am talking about….” way of thinking. And the new way is vigorously – robustly – opposed .
In times of change the learners will inherit the earth, while the knowers will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
- Eric Hoffer
Pow-Wows
So we dropped anchor this week and spent some time on a business encampment, engaging in various pow-wows with inhabitants, old and new. We discussed aspects of business and how to promote our specific areas more effectively. Isn’t that what we are all about? Achieving more awareness, expanding our markets, gaining more clients and customers, more sales? Does anyone have a problem with that?
This was a recent business networking event, the first I have attended since taking out an expensive subscription, and – quite frankly – I think it will be my last!
Maybe I’m just useless at communicating the essence of what I am setting out to do – or more likely, ineffective at putting over a concept of “Givers Gain” – in an environment where hard-edged business methods still prevail. There were nice, friendly people with whom I was able to hold nice, friendly discussions. Some of them had heard of “The Twittering Granny” and were saying very kind things about these Diaries. But there was also quite some hostility to the business I am in and the way it’s promoted. And as for blogging as a way of achieving an identity in a global marketplace, raising awareness of the quality of the product and service you provide, well that was dismissed as being fanciful and almost definitely not an effective business strategy. I felt uncomfortably close to being Gulliver in the Land of Lilliput!
Do you know what my dear Readers? I’m SO glad that the options open to us through Social Media have evolved in the past few years, which means that I don’t have to waste time, energy, and indeed my life, building a business in that “dinosaur” way.
Do you see that rusty old hulk out there in the harbour, the pride of the fleet in its time, but now holed below the water line? It’s the SS (Sad Ship) "Corporate Thinking" and the Captain and crew don’t seem to be aware that its ocean-going days are over.
Anyone who says that the web is not impacting how businesses must engage on-line is in denial. The web is impacting every area of society and business on many different levels. You cannot turn the internet off. The paradox is that we are all are using the web now to read this (whether now is 30/11/09 or five years time).
I’ll trust my goals and my vision of making a valuable contribution to global health and wealth through the business I am in, to the speedy clipper “Twittering Granny”, and will navigate the high seas of the Web on the winds of change and optimism.
Super Troupers
That’s done with the nautical stuff for today, you’ll be relieved to know, I’m sure. But I would just like to acknowledge some of the really friendly “natives” who truly follow the Open, Random, Supportive philosophy advocated in Penny Power’s excellent book (which I am reading and relishing) “Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me”. They are Aron Stevenson whose huge smile and whole being glows with a love for humankind and who lifted me up from a low point that day. Aron leases cars and is one of the best in the industry, I gather.
I would dearly love to be commissioning a car from Aron right now. ...........Probably next year though!
I will treasure the connections. And hope that some of my connections will prove to be of benefit to them.
Thought Leaders
In a recent edition of "Networking Times", Doug Firebaugh noted that many people are not yet using Social Media as a marketing tool, because it is on the internet and they shy away from it as if it were the plague. He tells of speaking to a small business owner who commented that she didn’t have time ……… as she needed to go and find more customers. He goes on to say “ …… if people really understood Social Media marketing they would be running to the social media zone and staying there”.
I’m going to quote an extract from an article by Seth Godin in that same edition of Networking Times, (author of the New York Times bestsellers “The Dip” and “Tribes”) where many of the world’s thought leaders (John Assaraf “The Secret” , Stephen Covey “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Michael Gerber “The E-Myth” and Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI, to name but a few) speak on the power of networking in a global economic downturn:
Says Seth: “……. Here’s my dream for you: find a product and a price and a story that people choose to seek out. Discover a niche that people would miss if it disappeared. Offer an experience that’s about more than money, more than making a living and more than recruiting a new salesperson. When you bring joy and utility and trust to people (at a fair price), they’ll embrace you.”
One of my mentors Nick Tadd with Seth Godin
That has been my ideal for a business model. It is one I have been following for over 10 years now and will continue to do for the rest of my natural. As the saying goes!
Back pain
One of the most common health issues I am asked if I can help with is back problems. Well, the first and immediate answer is “Yes, we can!” (Who said that recently?) We don’t claim to ‘cure’ or ‘heal’; backs are a specialist area in every way and specialists have spent years studying their subject and honing their skills to the highest level in an age when medical and surgical resources are probably greater than ever before in history. However, there is a lot that individuals can do to help themselves when the message is “That, I’m afraid, is the best we can do for you. You may possibly have to live with some pain………..”
From my own personal experience, and from those of the many, many people I have encountered in the time I have been working in this business, I know that some of the technologies developed by the company I’m associated with that relieve stress, improve circulation and reduce muscle tension work astonishingly well for those with lower back problems.
Firstly: WATER! If the body is dehydrated and there is not enough water in the cells, guess what happens? The brain, which has first call on your entire system, will demand water from other parts of the body, and this demand can be made substantially on the lower spine. Leading to back discomfort. So if you are suffering, try drinking an extra litre or two of water every day.
Secondly: when muscles relax, circulation improves, oxygen and nutrients in the blood are directed to an area of discomfort and can very often help to relieve that discomfort. The principle of stress reduction in all areas of life is, to an extent, predicated on releasing muscle tension and improving blood flow so that the body - an organism that is breathtaking in its complexity but which responds to natural solutions that restore balance and flow – can provide its own solution to some of the problems that it is experiencing.
So please, if this is something of concern to you or someone you care for, do explore some of the products that have been developed that contain these stress releasing technologies. And ask me for testimonials …… of which there are hundreds! No drugs, no side effects. And very, very effective in so many cases.
The rain is sheeting down here again and I’m doing my best to feel positive about it. And you’ve been so patient and understanding, bearing with me while I had a bit of a rant earlier on. I was feeling slightly bruised as you can probably tell. But I’m resilient and enjoying the wind in my hair again after being just a little becalmed in that backwater. We’ll be moving onto more destinations next week and I will list them so that you too can decide if your business or service would benefit.
We will really be hammering my new website into shape this week with Nick & Vanessa Tadd. It’s time to get it finalised and I’m poring through reams of stuff about directing people there to raise visibility. "You can never learn less" is a popular saying isn’t it? And I am so grateful to all the legions of experts who really know what they are talking about and have the generosity to reach out a hand to a stumbling beginner.
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” ~ Isaac Newton
Until next week,
Joy Webber - Director a.k.a. "The Twittering Granny"
Balanced World Limited - Wellness Home Consultants
+44 (0) 1442 876022
+44 (0) 7970 836 937
joyce@balancedworld.com
balancedworld.com
nikkenwellbeing.co.uk
P.S. Have decided that as the weather and the television are equally dire,
I am off to see a screening of “Alvin and the Chipmunks II” with the little ones. So that gives you an idea of where my priorities really lie.
“Boomchickawawa !”
Joy,
What a delightful read this was. I love the graphics, and all the great analogies. I understand exactly where you're coming from. Great work.
Posted by: Elizabeth Thomas | December 06, 2009 at 06:32 PM