THIS GIRL...
2 This Girl Means Business
She knows what she wants and she visualises seeing it happen. Even though she doesn’t know every step she needs to take, she isn’t afraid to get started. She doses up on inspiration and positivity every day and believes that she will reach her goals. Whenever she has doubts or worries she surrenders them and trusts that everything will work out in the right way, at the right time.
This girl is determined to make her dreams come true.
This Girl... 3
IN THIS ISSUE:
14 PG. 18: The stories of 3 women who followed
their dreams & achieved amazing things
10 Quote of the Month 12 Note from Carrie 14 How to Visualise Achieving What You Want By Carrie Green 18
The Pursuit of a Dream: The stories of 3 women who followed their dreams & achieved amazing things Curated by Carrie Green
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32 We Asked, You Said: How do you stay motivated? 36
How She Did It: Interview with Kerry Harvey, Co-founder of BOING By Carrie Green
50 Step Into Your CEO Stilettos by Natasha Vorompiova 56 This Girl Loves... By Samantha Green
58 36 58 Cover Story: An Interview with Carrie Green Intro by Samantha Green 82
Ask & Answered: Alejandra asks, “How can I write a catchy press release for my brand without sounding too salesy? Answer by Susan Harrow
ISSUE #12 Quick Links: Share This Issue Subscribe / Contribute View Past issues
88 Sales Series: Step 7 - How to Collect Your Money By Lara Morgan
Share Your Story
94 Top 10 Tips: Ten Things to Remember on Your Journey
s dqwertA S Hy yY Table of Contents 5
contributors
Natasha Vorompiova // systemsrock Natasha Vorompiova is the founder of SystemsRock, architect of business systems that work and a Certified Book Yourself Solid Coach. Her clients are small business owners who start their businesses with passion and a desire for freedom, but find themselves stuck and buried in day-to-day operations. Natasha creates systems that ensure clients get more done in less time and pave the way for greater profits and long-term success. Check out the FREE Systems Chick’s Guide to Transforming Busyness Into Business for simple ways to grow your business.
Susan Harrow // harrow communications For the past 21 years, Susan Harrow been the brains + heart behind Harrow Communications, a media coaching + marketing agency based in Northern California. She’s also the author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins) and a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and Psychology Today. You may know her as the “Go To Girl” for getting on Oprah.
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Lara Morgan // company shortcuts Lara Morgan is the founder of Company Shortcuts and best selling Amazon author of “More Balls than Most�, her story about building a global enterprise. Lara is a straight-talking entrepreneur who understands the frustrations felt by small and medium-sized businesses that have lost their way. Rather than administering generic big picture advice, Lara is dedicated to delivering honest and practical help to enable businesses to achieve their full potential.
We're looking for contributors! If you're interested in writing for us CLICK Here for more information.
Contributors 7
MEET THE TEAM
{This Girl Means} ISSUE #12 / BIRTHDAY EDITION
Editor-in-Chief
Carrie Green, UK style editor
Samantha Green, UK features editor
James Stephens, UK Design & Illustration
Natalie Walstein, USA design assistant
Rebecca Brayman, USA
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Quote of the
Month
� The future belongs to those who
believe in the beauty of their dreams. - ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
NOTE FROM CARRIE
his time last year I was getting ready to lau nch the very first issue of this magazine and as I sit here writing this, a year later, I can’t believe how many incredible things have happened since I took that leap of faith. In March 2012 this magazine was just an idea in my head; I had a vision, a dream and I really believed in it. There was just one problem… I had no idea how to turn it into a reality. So I started
T
12 This Girl Means Business
where I always do – dreaming. I took time to soak in the dream, visualise what I wanted to create, see the magazine in my mind’s eye (read my visualisation exercise on page #16). Once I could see and feel it, I began to make a wish list of people to interview and then I started to work out what kind of people I’d need to find in order to help me turn my idea into a reality. It took 4 months of learning, discovering, hard work, excitement and frustration to get
the magazine ready to launch and then once it was ready I panicked. Would people like it? Would anyone want to read it? I felt like I’d put my heart and soul into it and I was nervous about what people would think. So I did what I always do when I’m holding myself back – I surrendered all my doubts and worries and trusted that it would all work out exactly as it was supposed to.
“I did what I always do when I’m holding myself back - I surrendered all my doubts and worries and trusted that it would all work out exactly as it was supposed to.”
So, in July 2012 (after a kick up the arse from my mentor, whose words to me when I told him I was going to put off the launch until September were, “Carrie LAUNCH IT NOW!!”) This Girl Means Business was live. The past 12 months have been the most incredible journey and after receiving a ton of emails from people asking how I did it, I decided to share my story with you in this birthday edition, on page #60. In this issue you’ll also find a great strategy for creating systems in your business, top tips for getting media coverage and much more. I hope this issue leaves you feeling inspired and empowered to achieve amazing things.
- Carrie Green
Note from Carrie 13
14 This Girl Means Business
How to Visualise Achieving What You Want Words by
CARRIE GREEN
isualising what you want to achieve is one of the most powerful things you can do to help you to actually make it happen - so why is it that we end up spending most of our time visualising things we don’t actually want?! I will admit that in the past I have spent more time visualising all the things that were stopping me from achieving my goals and all the things that could go wrong, instead of visualising actually seeing the results I wanted. It’s so silly, but I think most of us have a tendency to do this. However, if we really want to reach our goals this is something we must stop doing.
V
zig ziglar once said:
“If you want to reach a goal you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.” This is what successful people do – they focus on achieving the results they want, they see it happening, they believe that it’s a done deal. So start to make time every day to visualise achieving what you want.
How to Visualise Achieving What You Want 15
i A challenge for you... For the next 30 days I want you to take 5-10 minutes every morning and every night to visualise achieving what you want. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Close your eyes, take a few deep
breaths in and relax your body.
2. Start to create a movie in your
mind and see yourself achieving what you want. Make the picture big, bright and bold. 3. Once you can see it clearly, put
yourself in the movie - like you’re replaying a memory. What can you see? How do you feel? What can you hear?
4. Really feel the emotions.
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5. When you’ve finished visual-
ising say to yourself, “It’s a done deal” - you’ve got to believe with conviction that you can make it happen. If you have some doubts lingering in your mind just release them - let them go. You can do this by saying, “I release all my doubts and trust that I will make it happen.”
Give it a try and start attracting more success into your life!
Curated by:
carrie green
The stories of three amazing women who have followed their dreams through thick & thin and achieved some incredible things. leanor Roosevelt once said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams and I think she was right. The problem is that taking that leap of faith to follow your dreams is scary and sometimes it can be really challenging to figure out how you’re going to be able to make it happen! During those times it’s easy to stop believing that it’s possible, but don’t. Here are the
E
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stories of three amazing women who have followed their dreams through thick and thin and achieved some incredible things. But it’s not just what they’ve achieved that makes their story inspiring, it’s who they had to become to make it happen; their drive, their unwavering determination, their courage and their belief in their dreams. I hope they inspire
you to follow your dreams and never give up.
Emma Reynolds // e3 Reloaded, Hong Kong
Go forth and conquer Pursuing a dream takes guts. The road is filled with failures, setbacks,tears,pain,and sometimes, suffering. You hurt people along the way. You definitely hurt yourself. Pursuing a dream takes courage. Dealing with failure, getting back up off the floor and starting again. Embracing each day with renewed energy and optimism. It takes courage to listen to people’s criticism, because you will never be short of getting it, whether you welcome it or not. Pursuing a dream means committing to a marriage, and a death sentence at the same time. Yes, I said it. Guts, failure,
“Pursuing a dream gives you a sense of purpose, a mission, something to believe in and wrap your whole self around.” hurting people, hurting yourself, criticism, a death sentence. Doesn’t sound like much fun does it? Well, the truth is, at times, it’s not that much fun. And most of the time it’s really, really difficult. But it is exhilarating. It gives you a sense of purpose, a mission, something to believe in and wrap your whole self around. The Pursuit of a Dream 19
“There are moments of elation that take my breath away, mixed with moments of sheer terror.” And it’s this belief, this unending sense that you’ve got something, which gets you up everyday and pushes you forward. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. My pursuit of a dream spans four continents, over seven years. It includes many failures, including insolvency. It includes hiring the wrong people, firing people, making massive mistakes and starting all over again. It also includes the best memories and the best experiences and makes me the person I am today. It has been filled with the most joyous occasions that I find hard to put into words, as if they wouldn’t do any justice to the incredible nature of past experiences. There are moments of elation that take my breath away,
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mixed with moments of sheer terror. There have been health issue and relationship breakdowns. There have been times when we’ve made money, and I’ve had money, and times when I have no money, not even enough to take the bus home. So I walked. I got through it. I live to tell the tale.
I am going to make it easy for you and summarize my journey…
I dropped out of University, twice. I am not degree educated. I started working when I was 17, totally curious and wanting to learn from real-life experience. I spent five years in Australia learning as much as I could about marketing, consumer insights, community engagement, etc. I
had some great jobs, learning from incredible mentors whom I still keep in contact with today. My curiosity and desire to travel the world led me to South America. I spent 6 months traveling the world (at age 21) and ended up volunteering and living in Peru for a while. Then I was broke. So I moved to London, United Kingdom. My Dad is English so I have dual-citizenship. I arrived with less than £10 to my name, so I needed to start working, fast. At 22, I found myself working for a MNC, in London, advising senior people on their marketing strategy, client partnerships and client engagement approach. It was here I met my soon-to-bebusiness partner Bruce Morton. We were coming back from a business trip to Hong Kong and we decided on the plane that we wanted to start our own business. So we had 12 hours to write the
‘business plan’ and when the plane hit the tarmac, he resigned, and I resigned the next day. At 23, I was the co-founder of e3 Unlimited, registered in England. For the next two years we had incredible success, we worked with some of the world’s best companies including Virgin, PepsiCo, Tata Steel etc. We were featured in many publications, traveling the world keynote speaking and sharing our research.
The Pursuit of a Dream 21
At 25 we started a sister company, Ask Gen Y, that made headlines too and we continued our disruptive consulting work. Everything was awesome. We were making good money, we were working our asses off and having a load of fun along the way. During this time we definitely made mistakes. We hired some wrong people, we made mistakes with some of our projects, but we learnt and we continued moved forward.
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Then disaster struck. The Global Financial Crisis punched us in the face and made us realize we hadn’t been running the business as efficiently as we should have. With a team and an office, our overheads were significant. After six agonizing months, every day realizing that things were slipping from my fingers, we had to make the team redundant, close down the office, and close down the business. We were technically insolvent, but we didn’t declare bankruptcy. It culminated with us having to sell some belongings at the Wimbledon Car Boot Sale just so we could afford some food. So there I was, 26 years old, walking away from my dream, heartbroken, shattered, broke, and with a personal debt in the tens of thousands. My pride was hurt. I felt every emotion possible; relief, embarrassment, shame, pain.
Six months later I moved my life to Hong Kong, and six months after that launched e3 Reloaded in Asia Pacific. I had no money and no contacts, but I had guts, courage and a whole load of determination. Having the courage to uproot your life and follow your dream can lead you to meeting amazing people. Soon after arriving in Hong Kong I met Jared King, and it was
one of the best things that has ever happened to me. We started e3 Reloaded 3 years ago. Together we are building the business and disrupting the market here. I am approaching 30 this year and as I reflect on the journey in this part of the world, it has been filled with many highs and equally as many lows but I am proud of my resilience.
The Pursuit of a Dream 23
It is because of this past experience that we are in a much stronger position now. Our business is thriving; we have clients in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. I travel 100 days of the year and get to experience so many cultures. I am learning to speak Mandarin. We have a fabulous team who are dedicated to the dream; to transform the world of work.
In summary, my advice to my fellow dream pursuers… 1. “It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.” - Lucius
2. Practice gratitude, be vulnerable and have no patience for mediocrity. Truly believe that ‘Impossible is nothing’ and it will shape your life in ways you could never have imagined. 3. Be the most positive person you know. Tell everyone about your idea, your dream, make sure everyone you come into contact with is inspired by what you believe in.
Go forth and conquer. And don’t forget to be awesome. The world needs it.
Annaeus Seneca
Develop a healthy association with failure. Fail fast, fail often, always fail forward. Always remember, “what defines us is how well we rise after falling”
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watch emma’s ted talk here.
Kirsty Straggon // kirsty tv, usa
‘a pinch of delusion, a dash of audacity & a shot of courage’ Sometimes I reflect on where I’m at in my life and I find myself shaking my head and quietly laughing. What in the world am I doing?! I ask myself and in th next moment, I know; I’m listening to my soul and making my way to realize what my core is telling me. I’m one of those “crazy” people who has an outrageous dream. The great thing about being a dreamer who shoots for the stars, is that I know I’m not alone! My secret recipe is ‘a pinch of delusion, a dash of audacity and a shot of courage’. I believe those
“I’m one of those ‘crazy’ people who has an outrageous dream.” three ingredients are what it takes to commit to your dream. I’ve even engraved it on a bracelet and I wear it as a reminder to take a dose when my faith is running low. It’s been a year since I sold everything I owned, at the height of my career in Australia and moved across the planet with 2 suitcases to Los Angeles, or “Lala Land” as some like to call it...to start all over again and launch my own talk show.
The Pursuit of a Dream 25
“I did what I always do when I want something badly enough. I do it.” 26 This Girl Means Business
In my heart I knew that I could live with losing everything, but I couldn’t live with not trying. It has been scary, uncomfortable and hard, but it has also been the most exhilarating, life changing experience. I have changed in ways I could never have imagined. It has been a roller coaster ride, but I would not change a second of it. The self-help guide, ‘So You Want To Be a Talk Show Host,’ was a lifesaver. Kidding! I don’t even
know if there is such a book out there. I did what I always do when I want something badly enough. I do it. I wish that sentence was longer, more profound and not as easy for people to throw away, because that cliché is gold! After 18 months of blood sweat & tears I was featured on The Today Show, the title of the story was, ‘The Next Oprah’. Dreams really do come true and it was a huge moment to savour. If I were to sum up my toughest times, I would say that Sir Edmund Hillary said it best, “It’s not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves.” What keeps me going at even the most challenging of times is an ‘inner knowing’ that this is what I am supposed to do, an inner guidance that keeps pushing me forwards. Here we are today and Kirsty TV is a real online show with incredible guests, amazing stories and a real audience.
I hope you find your own recipe for success but in the meantime feel free to borrow mine, all you need is ‘a pinch of delusion, a dash of audacity and a shot of courage’.
The Pursuit of a Dream 27
Aisling Larkin// the academy for junior chefs, ireland
Go Big or Go Home I remember when I was little, all the other girls wanted to be just like Kylie Minogue, Madonna or Blossom. They would play dress up and dream of stardom, glitz and glamour. My ambition, however, was slightly different. I remember every Tuesday night my Mom would sit down to watch Darina Allen’s Cookery Show - to those who are slightly unaware Darina Allen is the matriarch of Irish food and cuisine. My mom had this old copybook - we had to be so quiet as we watched and concentrated intently as my mother took down each measurement and step 28 This Girl Means Business
“Establishing a new business venture in the middle of a recession has been my biggest challenge.” precisely. She would then try to recreate the dishes that week (with our wonderful help of course). I remember Darina so vividly with her glasses slipping ever so slightly down her nose and it was then that I realised I wanted to be just like her – that was my dream. I had a little kitchen of my own and I would go and pretend
to be her the next day talking and dictating recipes out in the garden to any poor creature who would listen. Now, just turned 30, I run the most fabulous kids cookery school and love every second of it. I achieved my goal by working part time from the age of 15 in the most beautiful seafood restaurant in my local town. This gave me
such a wealth of knowledge and an appreciation for local, quality produce. I then progressed onto Trinity College Dublin to earn my degree. From here I got a job working with inner city teenage boys teaching them about food, cookery and nutrition.After further education and on completing a Masters it became very evident that healthy eating, scratch cooking
The Pursuit of a Dream 29
“I believe in my dream and the value it has to others.” and positive interventions will really pay dividend to our future generations. I wanted to make a difference and be part of this. I teach my budding young chefs about super foods, healthy cooking methods and using foods from our edible garden so they get a real sense of where food comes from. Establishing a new business venture in the middle of a recession has been my biggest challenge. With unemployment, emigration and household budgets tighter than ever it has been difficult.
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However parents still have their priorities and follow their instincts – they know The Academy for Junior Chefs will teach their little ones invaluable life skills and an appreciation for the produce around us and our health and wellbeing. Margins are tight right now, but I believe in my dream and the value it has to others. There are a couple of things I firmly believe in - not only for my business, but also in life in general. The first is to always be brave, be strong and be kind. The other – go big or go home!!! I took a chance, invested my savings, my time, my name in the hope of creating a worthy brand and I feel each day I get a little closer to achieving this goal.
I am living my dream and loving each day of it.
We asked... When you’re lacking motivation and drive, what do you do to get motivated again?
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You said...
“My top tip is to package up some va va voom. In my bookmarks I’ve got a folder called ‘inspiration’. It consists of articles, videos, webinars and other little treasures that have simply made me go ‘wow!’ Start to build yourself a similar collection and when you need a bit of a kick, dig out something that you’ve not watched in a while to get your heart pumping and your mojo back. Va va voom!” - kathryn hall // my virtual sidekick, uk
“I write. I open a blank page, ask myself
what’s blocking me, and then type whatever comes into my head - without pausing. A few
hundred words later I’ve usually found my block, worked through a solution, and am motivated to get on with whatever I was putting off. - soozi
hadj
lazib
//
maternity
leavers,
uk
We Asked, You Said 33
we asked, you said...
“When I need motivation I always find a change of scenery helps. I either go for a quick walk to get some fresh air or move myself to a coffee shop for a while. Just having a cup of tea in a different environment gives a renewed energy, an ability to focus and therefore helps with some motivation too.” - MICHELLE
CHASEY // MICHELLE CHASEY INTERIORS, UK
“I go for a walk outside and get as far away from my phone and computer as I possibly can. Unplugging for even 30 minutes helps me tap into what’s really going on in my mind, which usually leads to uncovering all sorts of new ways to get at a problem that seems insurmountable, when there’s no fresh air circulating. - cate rubenstein //
moonshined designs luxury fine jewelry, usa/france
“I turn up the music, get out my favorite pen and colored pencils and draw, journal or dance it out. As long as I am in a place of creativity inspired ideas will flow.” - MICHELLE HASTIE //
TOTAL
BODY
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HEALTH
SOLUTIONS,
USA
“Whenever I get in a slump about work, I go back through my past project files, photos and events and I look at how I started out and compare it to where I am now. Then I question myself: Have I gotten any better? What could I change? How can I improve from here? Would I pay for my work as a client? Then I get back to the drawing board and devise a plan to improve - SAMMI RIVERA // REBEL ROUGE MEDIA, USA
“When I’m lacking motivation I do one of several things; turn off the computer and allow myself to indulge in a day of PJ’s and watching my favourite movies, listen to loud music, eat my favourite food and go for a walk in nature. It gives my brain time to reset and to remember the joy in life. Otherwise I get huge sheets of paper and do some goal setting, but I also go over the great big board I created of ‘My Passion’.” - caroline williams // druid therapy, nz
We Asked, You Said 35
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How She Did It Interview by:
NAME: Kerry
Harvey company: BOINGTM LOCATION: United Kingdom
erry Harvey set up BOING™, a UK co mpany that makes colourful neck, wrist and ankle bands out of climbing and sailing rope with a unique tactile, high strength steel magnetic clasp in a variety of diameters two years ago. With the support of her husband she launched the company in June 2012 after a year of hard planning, moments of despair and excitement. Here she shares how she did it (get ready to take notes)…
K
carrie green
how did the story start? The origins of the BOING band actually came from my husband who, before he was sucked into corporate life, had dabbled in combining silver jewellery while travelling in the US back in 1989. He created bracelets with some of the ropes he had amassed from his nomadic climbing and sailing experiences, but he didn’t have the time to take this any further. Twenty-five years on and looking for a business to start up, in the little spare time I had with 3 children between us, my husband passed me his bag of half finished bracelets and suggested there was a business lurking in there amongst the dust, but it needed someone with creativity, determination and commitment and he thought I was just the girl and if I wanted to give it a go then he would put up the money for a year to get it started.
How She Did It: Kerry Harvey 37
How did you get started turning it from an idea into a reality? When I f irst got started there were six key things that I focused on doing: 1. Developing BOING as a brand not a product - and protecting it. 2. Identifying BOING’s true audience as quickly as possible and using it in marketing the business. Marketing is a lot easier if you know what the brand is NOT about. 3. Developing brand awareness, i.e. just getting BOING known and out there. 4. Selling through the internet first (then move to the High Street if needed) not the other way around. 5. Going in small, finding our feet.
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6. Developing the highest quality product.
BRAND NOT PRODUCT From the start we both thought it sensible to have BOING as a brand rather than a product, so that it would allow us flexibility to introduce and launch new products. Plus it was cheaper to trade mark the brand cross the EU, US and Australia far more cheaply than by product names, but trade marking is still vastly expensive.
Identifying our Target Audience and therefore the company direction My initial plan was that I had to start somewhere, so the bands should tick the boxes of appealing to a variety of markets; fashion, sports, children, the university crowd and anyone who enjoyed the outdoors from 15-45. This was a calculated mistake, because by making the target audience very broad it actually ended up not talking seriously to any particular group. Yes, I had sales from all groups and I attended events at Hurlingham Polo Club, the Earls Court Ski Show, Cowes week, local school events and Fashion fairs, but it became more and more apparent that we were just throwing mud in all directions hoping some would stick. There
is a degree of necessity here in the early days to see who is most interested in your product as it is pointless forcing your product on an unreceptive market group. So initially BOING was too diluted, as it was introduced to so many groups making the whole social media set up and targeting of a single group a lot of effort, but lessons were learnt, although I hadn’t factored in the cost of refocusing the website.
{ } “By making the target audience very broad it actually ended up not talking seriously to any particular group.”
How She Did It: Kerry Harvey 39
“Defining BOING helped enormously in selecting events and marketing activities going forward.” I retrenched and with my ever-supporting husband we zeroed in purely on BOING being a rugged accessory brand designed for both men and women equally, who love extreme sports on the oceans or in the mountains. This was logical as sales had been split 50:50 men:women and we had done very well at ocean/mountain lead events. Finally, it gave BOING a credible identity. It also made
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it more aspirational, as suddenly it was seen being worn by climbers, skiers, sailors and kite surfers – rather than students at rock festivals, children, fashion followers and so on. Defining BOING helped enormously in selecting events and marketing activities going forward. Yes, The UK Boat Show would be a good event to attend and the London or Birmingham Earls Court Ski Show, but it meant I could ignore music festivals, football, fashion events, school events, mountain biking, rowing, and a myriad of other sporting events that had clouded our vision as we now had a target audience from which flowed our Marketing Plan. Also, by going for a relatively niche area with this product meant we could attract individuals to blog for us (after
just 3 months we had on board a top UK climber, US slacklining champion – who travels the world and is sponsored by Oakley, a mountain climber/ base jumper who also does wing suit flying, a top UK sailor and the GB champion kayaker all doing guest blogs). These people lend brand credibility and variety and they in turn receive coverage and payment for their support. Anyone reading about
BOING then has a clear message of who we are and they can buy a band and ‘feel part of the select group too by association’ – so through the niche marketing we can still reach all the original sets of people we wanted to reach, but indirectly, letting ourselves be discovered rather than whacking people around the head with who we are, which as we discovered was never going to be a successful route.
How She Did It: Kerry Harvey 41
develop brand awareness: My third overall aim was to establish and build Brand awareness; chat, noise, media coverage and excitement. This is done through a variety of means, some of which were; Attending Retail events rel-
evant to Mountains or Sailing - Cowes, Ski Show, Boat Show, Outdoor Show. There is no substitute to having your product
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physically there in front of a customer for them to try on. Sending BOING bands to
‘Influencers’ in the hope they and your BOING band may be ‘papped’ – not a great investment strategy we learnt, you should always ask yourself, “what am I hoping to get out of giving a freebie away to someone.” Sometimes, promised doors are opened, sometimes not, but this
requires a degree of pushiness (don’t just stand quietly behind your stand at an event, find time to network with others – we have had most of our successes here) and judgement. For example, at Cowes last year we heard at very short notice that the Team GB Olympic Sailing Team were going to come on stage and give a talk about their challenges, so I bribed various people with bands to get backstage and I managed to give our BOING UP BRITAIN (red, white and blue) band to all the team, then get some fun shots before they all went on stage. Saskia Clarke a silver medallist was still wearing hers atop a bus welcoming her back to her hometown captured on TV Look East!
Talking to and sending pro-
ducts to hard copy magazines or on-line bloggers who may be interested in doing a feature.
Recruiting University Stu-
dents to help create online social media buzz to drive interest amongst a key target audience.
Getting other online shops,
like Amazon and Etsy, to spread ourselves.
internet not high street: Our second decision was whether we start with an Internet business, build it up to a credible size, dealing directly with customers to maintain margin and learn our business properly and only then look to move into more mainstream trade through concessions, then own branded shops, or start with the High St possibly with internet presence if budget
How She Did It: Kerry Harvey 43
“Go in small to find your feet.Think of the carnage if you started big and made mistakes.� allows and go in reverse. Both are expensive, but the former is far more flexible and cheaper. go in small to find your feet This is true on many levels.
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I made mistakes in the past two years, which cost precious money. Accept it, learn from it and move on. Think of the carnage if you started big and made mistakes. It is also easier for BOING to make mistakes and move on quietly withouttoo much damage, certainly on the website. develop the highest quality product I have ensured that I have only used the highest quality materials in making all BOING bands. This is imperative if you want to be successful, as a good product will mean possibly a second sale; we have 1 customer who has bought 16 from us as they make fantastic gifts. Also we have had no complaints to date about the quality of the product.
How did you actually launch boing? I have pretty much developed the company from scratch with valuable advice from my husband and have ‘bought in’ specialist advice as needed where I’ve lacked knowledge, so PR, Social Media, accounting, parttime help on event stands and product manufacture. Then I
adopted a ‘just do it’ attitude. I didn’t have a structured business plan, as I was fortunate not to have to seek bank funding and my husband didn’t demand one, but he did want to see the running total of where money was going and he was a very good sounding board.
How She Did It: Kerry Harvey 45
There were endless amounts of things to do and at times I felt despair and exhaustion, but as my husband said at these times; ‘KBO’, which was something Winston Churchill used to say at times of darkness, ‘Keep Buggering On’. Wherever possible I avoided using the big boys, preferring instead individuals who I felt I could work with personally to achieve the aim, as firstly it saved a lot of money and secondly business should be about communication and fun as well.
{ } “Business should be about communication and fun as well.”
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key challenges & tips: Coming up with the name
BOING – after endless pages and weeks of ideas and crossreferencing them with domain registrations we finally decided on the name BOING.
Designing the company logo – My sister-in law assisted by her partner who is a Design Technology Teacher. Countless drawings - payment was my husband’s old guitar, don’t ask!
Registering the domain names – I used 123Reg.
Protected the brand through
trademarking it as widely as possible, so I did it not just for wrist jewellery, but also for clothing and leather goods as I don’t know which way the company will evolve – for this, my husband suggested a company he had used and had a contact with.
This was expensive, but arguably worthwhile as although we are tiny, I felt it important. You will need to consider at what stage do you do this, how many categories you go for and in which jurisdictions? Leave it too late and someone else may have moved in, do it too soon and it may financially cripple you. Insurance, VAT, accounting
records & corporate set up – all the usual general headache as with all businesses, some of this has been out-sourced locally, as I justify the cost by saying ‘why waste my time doing something badly when I could spend it on driving sales and marketing my areas of experience with better returns’.
Product photos – essential
to get top quality images as they are used on the website, literature,
press briefs and so on. Ecommerce web site design
– potentially one of the biggest challenges. This can be a major risk area for new businesses falling for the trap of big companies offering to set up your social media, design your logo, brand name and website for a huge fee – and if you break it down you can find you can achieve most on your own.
Selecting
a cheap and reliable credit card processing partner – tedious, but top tip: really study the prices of card services, they all do much the same. We are with Cardsave who charge far less than Streamline, yet it is the same systems used, it’s just that Cardsave are a smaller subsidiary. Your direct debit charges shouldn’t be more than 20p and credit card % charges
How She Did It: Kerry Harvey 47
less than 1.5%. Note this can also take 3 months to set up, not sure why, so kick the process off well before your website is nearing completion. Obviously Paypal charges 3% plus, which is not a sensible alternative if you have high volume and relatively low value transactions. Stand design and images –
attend a few events yourself and see how small some company’s stalls are and they are probably doing as well as if they spent £’000s on a full-blown stand. Start small but do get a few good colourful graphics and strong lighting, this is where the investment should be.
Part-time staff to assist in
production and support at events – friends, students – once you find one they all seem to be linked and you can call on many more.
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Social media set up –
Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest to start. Here I needed help to set it up and post things to start the ball rolling. I have a strong view that for us social media is essential for keeping us fresh and maintaining the story, but I am yet to be convinced that it is driving many sales to our site. It could be construed as necessary froth, but not to have it is like having a shop with no windows. Having said that, froth or no froth, PR is essential to get your brand out there.
how did you finance it?
It took £50,000 to get started. We financed this out of our own personal funds and sacrificed various luxuries, so we didn’t have to go to the banks. Obviously this isn’t an option for many people so we feel really lucky that we could do this.
What do you love most about running your busiNess? I
love the freedom to make decisions, to nurture something from conception to product and take pride in the brand.
What has it taken to get to where you are today?
It has been a massive learning curve, perseverance, focus and good old-fashioned hard work. We have been careful not to spend thousands on unnecessary marketing and advertising. We have invested our funds directly into the product and as a result have more solid real process as the brand is evolving. We thought carefully about what our strengths and weaknesses were and acknowledged those weaknesses by hiring in expertise in those fields.
What are your top tips for others looking to turn their idea into a successful business?
Don’t be afraid to pick up
the phone to people who have done it before and ask for help. Most will be more than happy to give you free advice.
If you are going to be a
business looking to wholesale to shops, make sure you develop your brand online first. Establish yourself as best you can online with your website and social media activity.It makes you a more credible business proposition for potential stockists.
How She Did It: Kerry Harvey 49
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Step into Your CEO Stilettos Words by
natasha vorompiova
Stop letting your business run your life by creating powerful systems, so it runs itself an you turn your business fantasies into realities? Running your own business is liberating. After all, you get to choose how much, or how little, time you spend working. Plus, you have the luxury of focusing only on what you’re good at—and love to do—and delegating the rest. Then, there’s the amazing lifestyle that you can create with all this freedom. Well, those are the fantasies. The fact is that you don’t get to
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enjoy all these wonderful perks until you get your business to the point where you don’t need to keep your finger on its pulse every minute of the day…and night. I’m sure you’ve had a few sleepless nights wondering how you’re going to get your business to the point where it doesn’t run your life and you can finally be in charge of your own schedule again. If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably even questioned if that’s ever going to be possible.
I’m here to assure you that you can. Even better, I’m going to share with you a few tips that will show you how you can accelerate the process of getting your business to that minimally viable stage.
IMAGINE THAT... You’re the CEO, the most powerful executive in charge of developing and implementing highlevel strategies, as well as overseeing how things are done. What would change if you conceived of yourself in this way? Would you have a clearer picture of each aspect of your business? Pay closer attention to how the individual activities necessary for running your business fit into the broader picture? Insist on streamlining business processes to ensure everything runs more smoothly? Seeing yourself as your company’s CEO can really open your eyes and inspire you to make necessary changes in your business.
every little thing you do... You might have discovered that
you need to get a clearer handle on all the things you need to do in order to successfully run your business. Gaining this clarity is simple: Record all the activities you engage in on a regular (daily, weekly, or monthly) basis. Then, create a document and arrange these activities into broader categories like Administration, Sales and Marketing, Client Management, and Finance. This simple chart will help you see your business as a tapestry of Step Into Your CEO Stilettos 51
processes instead of random tasks you check off your to-do list. Now you’ll be seeing your company through the eyes of a CEO.
SIMPLE SYSTEMS Envisioning yourself as the CEO may have opened your eyes to the need to streamline your company’s day-to-day operations. All you need to do is get very clear about each step you need to take in order to accomplish the tasks on your chart. Then, record all the steps so that you no longer waste time guessing what you need to do and how you need to do it. You’ll be amazed at what happens when you have these systems. You won’t have to think about keeping yourself on course. You won’t be stressed or confused about which way to go. You’ll feel the way you sometimes do when you know the way to a familiar destination and arrive there with almost no effort 52 This Girl Means Business
“You’ll be amazed at what happens when you have these systems.” or thought. Effective business systems serve exactly the same purpose—they spare you the burden of having to think about how something needs to be done.
BABY STEPS Avoid getting overwhelmed by breaking your systems-related work into small, manageable steps that you can take one at a time to reach your bigger goal. Set aside 15 minutes a day to write down one of your current processes. The next day you find the gaps in the process. Then, come up with ways of optimizing the process. Last but not least. . . start implementing the new routine. Step by step, by step, by step.
Here’s a simple systematizing process you can follow:
1. Name the process. If you write a post for someone else’s blog, call the system guest posting. 2. Identify the category in which this process belongs— administrative, financial, client management, marketing, communication, sales, etc. 3. State the purpose of this process. This step is optional, but it helps you see the big picture. For your guest posting system, you could write: The purpose of guest posting is to establish myself as an industry expert, get greater exposure for my services, and grow my list of newsletter subscribers. 4. Note how often this process needs to be performed (daily, weekly, monthly, or only if a certain condition is met). 5. Create detailed instructions on how the final outcome should look and, if possible, give examples. For your guest posting system, include links to old guest posts, the
photograph you use for promotional purposes, and your biographical blurb. 6. Outline the process stepby-step as if you were explaining it to someone else. For example, here are possible steps for guest posting: Choose blog by conducting
research on Alexa.com. Select a topic that will appeal
to the blogger’s audience. Send a pitch. Include details about how to create effective pitches. Record the date you sent it and the topic suggested.
Record the blogger’s response to your pitch. If it’s a “yes,” note the information she provided (e.g., requirements and due date).
Write the post. Note any strategies you use to create great blog posts.
Submit the post. Record the
link and save a copy of your post when it’s published. Copy the logo of the website
and add to the “As Seen In” section on your site. Track your Google Analytics.
Note if the blog generates traffic. If so, guest post there again.
Step Into Your CEO Stilettos 53
“Creating systems is just about that—owning the fact that you are the CEO of your business.” Uniformity is Key Make sure you save this information in a folder dedicated to your systems and create a uniform labeling system so that you can slowly build up your very own business operations manual.
Overnight perfection isn’t necessary Just streamlining a single part of one of your processes—a questionnaire, template e-mail or standard opener for your instructional videos—is great. You’ll pick up speed as you get used to looking at your business processes as an observer, finding optimal and consistent ways of 54 This Girl Means Business
doing things and sticking to these new routines. Working in these new ways will become easier, smoother and more enjoyable. Bit by bit the freedom you’ve been fantasizing about will become a reality. Creating systems is just about that—owning the fact that you are the CEO of your business. Try your CEO stilettos on! I bet they fit you perfectly.
this girl loves...
1
3 2
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7
by samantha green
6
4 5
1. lipstick from Dior / 2. heels from Karen Millen 3. dress from Karen Millen / 4. nail polish from Dior 5. sunglasses from Ray-Ban / 6. bracelet from Stella 7. watch from Michael Kors
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COVER STORY
an interview with
Carrie Green By:
SAMANTHA GREEN
arrie is the founder of the Female Entre preneur Association and the visionary behind this magazine and for the past year I’ve worked with her to help turn the vision into a reality. But I’ve known her for much longer, because she’s actually my sister. So when we started receiving a ton of emails from people asking how she did it I thought I might be in a good position to dig deep and uncover some of her secrets. There are some things I can share with you about her myself, ever since she was tiny she’s been ambition and determined! She’s
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had her fair share of put-downs over the years, but somehow she always manages to come out stronger. In 2005 when she started her first business it was clear that she’d found something she loved: business. She drove our family insane, because she wouldn’t stop talking about business, business, business! But it was that enthusiasm and desire to figure it all out that helped her to succeed. I think what strikes me most about her though is the fact that she sets her sights on achieving something and then she will just persevere until she figures it out and watching her do this
inspires me in my entrepreneurial adventures. In the space of a couple of years, she’s built a network of over 55,000 from scratch, launched one of the fastest growing magazines
for female entrepreneurs, inspired thousands of women, won an award and was even invited to Buckingham Palace to discuss entrepreneurship‌ here she shares how she did it. Interview with Carrie Green 59
COVER STORY
When did your entrepreneurial journey begin?
I started my first business back in 2005. I was 19 and had just finished my first year of studying Law at university and I’d run out of money, so I had to figure something out. I began
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to research to see what options were available – none of the jobs appealed to me whatsoever! Then an opportunity came up to start an online mobile phone unlocking business as a reseller. I had no clue about mobile phone unlocking, let alone how to build a business,
but I thought it sounded like an adventure, so I decided to go for it. I realised quickly that when you don’t have a clue what to do you have two choices; you either give up or get help. So I got help. I asked anyone who I thought could help me for advice and discovered that I would need to set up a website and then find a way to drive traffic to my website. After asking lots of questions I managed to set up a website (which was awful, but got me started!) and I’d learnt that I could use Google Adwords to drive traffic to my site. So with a credit card and a spending limit of £30 a day my business was officially up and running. How did you business?
grow
the
Over the next couple of years, when I wasn’t studying I was learning how to build my business.
I read books, listened to audio programmes, researched online and in my third year of studying law I went to night school to learn more about web development. I then applied what I’d learnt to my business, it was all just trial and error – I was constantly tweaking and testing the adverts and changing the landing page of my website to make it convert better. In 2007 I brought on board a business partner to help me grow the business, I felt like two heads were better than one and he knew other people who could help us with online marketing. In 2007 I graduated from university with a degree in law and a successful business. I then decided that being an entrepreneur was going to be way more fun than being a lawyer, so I set myself a goal to go global and make the business even more successful.
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How did you take it global?
I started by looking online for other suppliers who could unlock phones worldwide, eventually we found a supplier in the US. Once we got the new website and system up and running we had to figure out how we were going to actually go global, so we started off by making a marketing plan. Luckily, around this time I came across a set of CDs by Jay Abraham called the Mastermind Marketing System. Every time I listened to those CDs my mind would start racing with new ideas and new ways to market the company!
“Having a process for everything made it so much easier to manage.� 62 This Girl Means Business
I remember drawing out our business on a piece of paper and mapping out all the marketing strategies we could try and how they would work and which people and companies could help us to execute our plan. I literally mapped out everything, from how people discovered us, to their experience through the website and what happened once someone had ordered. Having a process for everything made it so much easier to manage, it made our service really consistent and meant we could outsource work easily. The main strategies we focused on were developing our Search Engine Optimisation, we outsourced this to a company and negotiated a good deal for getting us to number one on Google for our primary keywords in the UK and the US. We developed our Google Adwords, again this is
“I remember drawing out our business on a piece of paper and mapping out all the marketing strategies we could try and how they would work and which people and companies could help us to execute our plan.” something we outsourced and we set up a deal so that instead of paying the company up front we paid them 5% of the net profit every month, which worked out well for us. We also created an affiliate, reseller and referral programme, as well as introducing corporate bulk unlocking. We partnered up with other companies, like global sim card companies, whose customers needed to get their phones unlocked before they could use a global sim card. We searched the internet for websites that were high up on Google for some of
our keywords, but who were not directly offering an unlocking service and we paid to advertise on their site – this converted really well for us. In 2008 I began to develop a social media strategy, I focused on YouTube – I came up with the idea to ask customers for video testimonials, so I set everything up so that a few days after someone had placed an order with us they would receive an email from us asking how they found our service, offering them a 20% discount on any future orders and asking if they could leave us a video testimonial.
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We started to receive amazing videos from customers and I uploaded them to YouTube. I made sure I included specific keywords in the title and description and a link to our website and I also created a promotional code that people could use to get a 20% discount code, so I could track how many people bought a code from seeing a video on YouTube. Those videos have had over half a million views. I really think that all businesses today need to leverage the power of the internet – it’s incredible what you can achieve when you do. By this point the business was doing really well, we were receiving around 100,000 hits to the website every month, selling thousands of codes all over the world and we had a great virtual team of people working with us.
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What inspired you to start the Female Entrepreneur Association?
I’d started to feel really isolated and lonely running my business as I spent most of my time by myself working from home. A lot of my friends were on graduate schemes, meeting like-minded people, socialising, going to work parties and I felt like I was stuck by myself. I started to feel unhappy and began questioning everything I was doing.
“Even though my business was really successful I felt off track and started to wonder what life was really about and what I wanted to achieve.”
Even though my business was really successful I felt off track and started to wonder what life was really about and what I wanted to achieve. At that point all I knew was that I wanted to be successful (and quite frankly doesn’t everyone?!). However, I realised that I didn’t actually know what
success meant to me – I thought it was about being financially free, but I had more money than I knew what to do with; I wasn’t happy and I certainly didn’t feel successful. I spent quite a while feeling lost, I even packed my bags and went travelling around Australia for 3 months in the
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“I realised where I’d gone wrong – the reason I was so off track was because I’d never been on track, I’d never considered what I actually wanted my life to be like .” hope of having an epiphany, but it didn’t happen. Then at the very beginning of 2011 I realised where I’d gone wrong – the reason I was so off track was because I’d never been on track, I’d never considered what I actually wanted my life to be like (beyond having money and material things). I realised that mobile phone unlocking was not my dream, so I needed to figure out what was. I remember reading The E-myth by Michael Gerber and in it there is a chapter on primary aims – he says something like, imagine it’s your funeral, what
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would you want people to be saying about the kind of person you were, about the kind of life that you lived about the kind of things you achieved. It hit me so hard. I knew that I had to start figuring some of this stuff out. So in February 2011 I decided that I was going to do something that meant something to me, made a difference, andthat I believed in. Thus, I created the Female Entrepreneur Association, an online resource to inspire and empower women to turn their ideas into a reality and achieve
amazing things. I thought it would be a great way to discover likeminded women and I could do it in my spare time. At this point it was more of a hobby and a desire to connect with other women, but in the back of my mind I did have a bigger vision. This was one of the biggest turning points in my life, because when I made the decision to start FEA I also made the decision to live the best life I possibly could and I knew that in order to do
“When I made the decision to start FEA I also made the decision to live the best life I possibly could.”
that I had to start to programme myself for success. I had to stop focusing on the things I didn’t like about my life (feeling lonely, feeling unhappy etc.) and take control of my thoughts and focus on all the amazing things, all the exciting possibilities and accept that life is an adventure and it’s ok not to have it all figured out. This made me feel liberated – it was like a weight had been lifted and I knew that whatever happened I was never going to give up on the idea that I wanted to live an extraordinary life and make my dreamscome true. How did you fund it all?
I funded it on a shoestring budget, but I was lucky in that I had another business providing me with an income. In the beginning I literally did everything myself.
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What was involved setting it all up?
in
When I first got started I knew I wanted to create something big, global and impactful. I didn’t know how to accomplish this, so I started off by figuring out what I could do. My plan
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was to create a website where I could publish stories about female entrepreneurs. That was it, I kept it simple – I find that if I don’t keep it simple I confusemyself and get overwhelmed! I bought my domain name and I set up a website myself using Wordpress.
Next, I had to find women who wanted to share their stories; the problem was I didn’t know any other female entrepreneurs! I decided that LinkedIn would be the best place to look. I went on there and started joining relevant groups and posting messages asking if anyone wanted to share their story. I also began to network offline too. Within a few weeks I was inundated with stories from all over the world! I struggled to keep up with publishing them. It was amazing that I was getting all these stories through, but the problem I faced then was that no one was really reading them! I had hardly any visitors to the site, so I needed to devise I plan. I decided to get really good at one social media platform; I selected Facebook and set myself the goal of getting 25,000 fans.
“When I first got started I knew I wanted to create something big, global and impactful.� I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do it, but I started by taking a screenshot of my fan page (I had about 10 fans!) and I changed it in Photoshop to say 25,000. I printed it off, put it in my goal box and I was determined to make it happen. Slowly but surely, I began to gain more fans and this created credibility, traffic to my website and enable me to communicate easily with my audience to build an incredible relationship with them.
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At what point did you begin to view it as more than just a side project?
Within the first few months I knew it was going to be a big thing in my life. Firstly, I absolutely loved working on it and secondly, the feedback I was getting was incredible – people loved it because they connected with it! I was publishing stories which were so truthful that it gave comfort to people (to know they weren’t alone) and it made them feel like FEA was a community they belonged in. However, it wasn’t until 2012 that I exited my first business to focus full time on developing the Female Entrepreneur Association. That’s when I had to figure out how I was going to keep it the same, but make it financially sustainable.
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How have you made it financially sustainable?
Mainly through advertising in the magazine and doing joint ventures. The advertising has been much more of a bumpy road than the joint ventures – it’s hard trying to convince people that advertising in a digital magazine will get them a return, even though I know how great the conversions are! At first I outsourced the advertising to a sales team, which was a disaster. It was hard to get other people to have as much persistence and determination as I had! Then I started to think about what else I could do to give my network more – how could I add more value? I did a survey to find out what people wanted to learn more about so they could grow their business and based off the findings I decided to contact leading experts and host online Masterclasses.
“Within the first few months I knew it was going to be a big thing in my life. Firstly, I absolutely loved working on it and secondly, the feedback I was getting was incredible.” This has been incredible. Not only do the Masterclasses support FEA financially, the feedback from them has been incredible. I get emails from people thanking me for organising them and it’s the most satisfying feeling. From the outset I was very clear that I would only work with incredible experts, who would really share amazing content and whose courses and products I’d actually used and applied successfully. I think staying true to your values and sticking with high standards is so important.
Did traffic on your site grow steadily over time or was there a specific turning point when you saw exponential growth?
Traffic has just grown steadily. Its taken time, patience and lots of hard work and learning to grow the traffic to where it’s at today. You just have to go one step at a time and not give up. I see so many people giving up because no one’s watching their videos or reading their articles – they get disheartened with it all and think it will never happen. I always think, where would they be today if they’d kept going? Everyone starts off at
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“Everyone starts off at zero; zero followers, zero visitors, zero e-mails on their list!” zero, zero followers, zero visitors, zero emails on their list! If I can build a list, a following and lots of traffic, then anyone can. There is no magic formula, you just have to decide what you want and work hard to get it and keep going, even when you feel like it’s all hopeless. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself, “What the hell am I doing? Will this ever work? Should I give up?” but in those
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moments you have to take a step back and look at the big picture of life and ask yourself, “what would I be giving up for?” and normally the reason in the grand scheme of life is insignificant and then you have to ask yourself, “is it worth giving up on my dream because of this?” Most of the time the answer is no. In 2012 you launched this magazine, which is now one year old and read by thousands of women every month – what led you to start this and how did you get started?
I love reading magazines and I love learning about business, but none of the business magazines out there resonated with me and so I searched online to see if I could find something more feminine and there was nothing. So I thought that I would create
a magazine and amazing content together in a way that would really connect and resonate with women. My vision was to create something that would really help to inspire and empower women every month. When I first came up with the idea I had no idea how I was
going to do it. I sat down and I wrote out what I wanted to do, who I’d like to interview, what I wanted it to look like and then I really committed to it – I wanted to launch it fast. This was in March 2012. Around the same time a girl called Natalie Walstein submitted her story to be shared on my website and I noticed that she was a graphic designer. I looked on her website and saw that she had experience creating magazines, so I got in touch and told her about my idea. Fortunately, she was really excited about it, so we started working on making it a reality. I really believe that when you get clear on what you want, believe it will happen and commit to it, all sorts of coincidences start to happen – the right people pop up at the right time, you stumble across the information you needed or the help you were looking for.
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“I really believe that when you get clear on what you want, believe it will happen and commit to it, all sorts of coincidences start to happen – the right people pop up at the right time, you stumble across the information you needed or the help you were looking for.”
How did you manage to interview such successful entrepreneurs right from the beginning? Did you already have contacts that could help you?
Again this was something that I didn’t have a clue how I was going to do and I didn’t know anyone who I could reach out to who could introduce me to people! So the first thing I did was get really clear about the people I wanted on the front cover. I made a massive wish list, which included people like Marianne Williamson,
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Louise Hay, Michael Gerber, Michelle Mone, Jacqueline Gold – it went on and on. These are BIG people– best selling authors, entrepreneurs with companies that turnover £50 million+ and I honestly didn’t know how I was going to make it happen. I created fake front covers with the people I wanted on them and I vividly pictured what the interviews would be like, how it would feel to see the final issue and I trusted that it would happen. I have the craziest
stories about how some of the interviews came about. My simple strategy for getting the interviews was: 1. Research online to find media contacts – an email address for press enquires, a phone number, a PR company. 2. Get in touch – keep it short and sweet and get across why I think it would benefit the person and why my readers would read it. 3. Set up the interview. Sometimes it really was this simple, which was surprising, but amazing! Other times it took a bit more persistence. I remember trying to contact Michael Gerber, I’d sent emails and called them and I got no response. I just kept picturing the front cover in my mind and I knew that somehow it
was going to happen. Then one day I decided to go on his Facebook fanpage and there was a picture quote which looked like one I had created for my fan page. I headed over to my fanpage to have a look and there it was, the exact same picture quote, I literally couldn’t believe it! Michael Gerber had somehow seen a quote I had created (even though I had hardly any fans at this point), he’d
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downloaded it and uploaded it to his fan page! So I left a message saying that I was flattered he liked my quote and could I interview him and within a few hours I had a response and within a week the call was set up and we did the interview. I think some people thought I was crazy for thinking I could do it. Most people live life being realistic, but sometimes if you want to make amazing things happen, you’ve got to push back the boundaries of what you believe is and isn’t possible, you have to feel it in your heart. I think a lot of people also dwell on the fact that they don’t know what to do or how to do the things they know they need to do and they let it hold them back. I think we’ve all been there, but if you want to reach your goals you’ve got to shift your focus, you’ve got to let
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the belief in your idea drive you forward, to take action. What has been the single best marketing strategy for you and why?
For me, Facebook has been an incredible marketing platform. I’ve found it to be an amazing way to keep in touch with my audience, to communicate with them and to build relationships with them. At the beginning I didn’t have a big budget and I was doing everything myself, so I didn’t think trying to leverage every single social media platform was a good idea – I wanted to just focus on using one platform really well. I think the strategy has paid off, because now I have an incredible fanpage with over 55,000 fans and it drives so much traffic to my website. Don’t get me wrong though, I have not completely ignored other
A “ t the beginning I didn’t have a big budget and I was doing everything myself, so I didn’t think trying to leverage every single social media platform was a good idea – I wanted to just focus on using one platform really well.” social networks – I have a Twitter account, a LinkedIn group and I now use YouTube and iTunes a lot and I’ve had some great success from them. I just didn’t spend much time at all focusing on developing them. I can’t tell you whether that’s the right approach or the wrong approach, but for me it’s worked. I think the key thing with marketing is to have a plan – to actually formulate a marketing strategy for yourself and it doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to
be something you can follow. Know what you want to achieve, why you want to achieve it, when you want to achieve it by and how you’re going to do it. You also need to be really clear on what your proposition is – who’s your target audience? Why would they value/need what you’re offering? Based on those answers you can make sure that the language you use, the style you create and the way you deliver your message is all in alignment.
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what was the Best moment of your career so far?
Winning the Change Makers award, which was presented to me by HRH The Duke of York! As soon as I found out I was nominated I wanted to win, but I was up against 25 incredible
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entrepreneurs. So, every morning and every night I started to listen to a guided visualisation and I’d vividly picture winning the award. I’d hear them announce me as the winner and then I’d feel how it would feel, I’d hear the crowd cheering! I knew the winner was
going to get a helicopter mentoring session with Lord Bilimoria and so I pictured getting into the helicopter with him, I would imagine sitting next to him, having a conversation with him. When it got to the day of the awards I was stood up on the stage and when they announced me as the winner it was like I’d already been there. It was surreal. I felt like I already knew Lord Bilimoria, because we’d already had so many conversations… in my head!
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my favourite book is... It’s
hard to say, because I have read so many amazing books. I do love the E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo.
(I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted because I was afraid to make a mistake!) the hardest part of building my business has been...
my favourite quote is... “I can
and I will. Watch me.”
Not having a clue how to do most of things I need to do and having to make all of the decisions!
my favourite business tool or resource is... My laptop. I
when i face a big challenge i... Try and get inspired (go on
love the fact that I can work from wherever I take it.
the biggest lesson i have ever learned is... To not be so
afraid to make mistakes. The faster you make them, the faster you succeed… I have to admit that I’m still working on this!
i believe... That you don’t have to
be mean, backstabbing or ruthless to succeed in life and in business – I think it’s an old paradigm.
if i could go back in time to when i was 20, i would tell myself... To not be so
afraid to make mistakes and to trust that everything will work out.
YouTube, read a book, listen to music) – when I feel inspired I feel like anything is possible, like I can overcome any obstacle. Then I go back to the problem and look at it and break it down and take action to get past it.
i love building my business because... I’m making my
dreams come true and living the life I want to live.
my top piece of advice to entrepreneurs is... You have
one life in which to do all the things you want to do, so go for it. Dream big, believe in yourself and trust that all will work out in the right way at the right time.
Interview with Carrie Green 81
Ask & Answered Q. How can I write a catchy press release for my brand
without sounding too salesy? There are a lot of magazines, websites, radio stations etc. that could find what I’m doing very interesting – 3 years ago I created my own lingerie brand specialized in D+ bras, due to the lack of bras for large chested women in my country. I want to approach them in a playful and confident manner, but I’m not sure what the structure of a press release/kit is. — Alejandra Montemayor Dragonne // La Talla Perfecta, Mexico
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A.
Alejandra, this is a question that I think most entrepreneurs are wondering about. Getting media exposure is an incredible way to raise awareness of your business, build authority and credibility and increase sales, but most of us haven’t got a clue how to do it effectively! So I asked PR expert Susan Harrow of Harrow Communications to shed some light on this topic and share her top tips for how to write a press release and get media coverage. Susan is a beloved media coach and consultant whose clients include everyone from rock stars to and celebrity chefs to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, as well as women entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, speakers, and authors. She shows clients how to double or triple their businesses with PR by using sound bites effectively.
I love that you’re looking to convey playfulness! While it’s an admirable idea to approach the media in a playful and confident manner – that’s more about
your style than your content. If your content isn’t a good fit for a media outlet’s audience all the playfulness and confidence won’t make a lot of difference. Most people make the mistake of thinking that the press release is Ask & Answered 83
about you. That’s not true. It’s about what you have to offer the journalist or producer’s audience. So some typical focuses of press releases are on pointing out a new trend, solving a problem, making a difference in your community, disseminating new research or findings, sharing innovations in your industry, to name a few. But let’s backtrack a bit, because typically the people who approach me to be clients or who take my courses believe that the first step to getting publicity is sending out a press release. But it’s not. You must know what you’re going to say when the media calls – otherwise you lose your chance at “fame” or critical acclaim and it won’t have the results you want – which is to attract the business, sales, partnerships and experiences you want – both personally and professionally. Plus, you need to be able to say it in 10-45 seconds. Publicity can open the door to enormous opportunity, if you are properly prepared. 84 This Girl Means Business
I recommend following the 3 Ps to get you the publicity that produces results: 1) plan – Ask yourself these 3 questions. 1) What is my deepest
intention? How do I want to serve? 2) What is it I want for myself ? Be specific and concrete. Use numbers, dates and results, for example, ‘5 new speaking engagements in the next 12 months paying me $5000 each.’ 3) What do you want your audience to do? Ask yourself, “What action do I want them to take after they read about me or hear me on the radio?”
2) Prepare – Your sound
bites are the most important thing to have before you even contact the media. To create the sound bites that get the results you want, the three questions above will help guide you to the kind of stories, statistics, facts, anecdotes, analogies, acronyms, and one-liners that you’ll use during the course of conversation to create interest in your business, book, product, service, or cause. This is what produces results from your media interviews. It isn’t enough to just be entertaining. You want to be fascinating with purpose. Purpose to grow your business and name.
“ It isn’t enough to just be entertaining. You want to be fascinating with purpose. Purpose to grow your business and name.”
3) Practice – Practice your
sound bites with a friend and run through all the possible questions you imagine the media will ask you once they receive your press release. One woman who took my sound bite course sent out a press release and got the local media to do a story on her, then called me to media coach her for that interview. She discovered that she wasn’t prepared for some negative questions that she didn’t want to address, but that would inevitably come up about her husband, given that he was an intrinsic part of her story from hardship to success. We framed the story in a new way to make it so vivid and compelling that those nosy questions wouldn’t even arise. That way she avoided a potential lawsuit and she presented herself in a beautifully positive way as an example for other women who could escape similar circumstances and turn their lives around. Ask & Answered 85
After you’ve finished the above you’re ready to send out the press release. The structure of a press release is very formulaic.
1) Headline – This is the
subject line of your email as well as the headline of your press release. It must immediately capture the attention of the media – so they’ll open your email – and let them know why it’s timely and is of interest to their audience. So for my client, Dr. Sara Gottfried, author of the New York Times Bestselling book, The Hormone Cure, we came up with: Oops! I Forgot to Pick My Kid Up From School: Memory Freeze Plagues Moms
“Tell what is newsworthy or current about your topic and why you’re the one to discuss it.” 86 This Girl Means Business
– Tell what is newsworthy or current about your topic and why you’re the one to discuss it. You’ll notice that we start with a little story, since the media love stories. You can visually picture the scene quickly. a) Dr. Sara Gottfried didn’t think she had a memory problem – until she forgot to pick her kid up from school. Harvard trained, boardcertified integrative gynecologist and hormone expert who has helped thousands of women recover from feeling fat, frazzled, and forgetful, Gottfried thought she had escaped from “horrible hormone syndrome” that zaps the memory of millions of moms.
2) first paragraph
3) Second paragraph –
Give some fascinating details, perhaps including a quote of yours, about why whatever you’re offering is new, different, trendy, or topical. a) “Memory exercises like Sudoku just don’t cut it,” says Gottfried who
started to notice her memory tanking when she hit age 40. The scientist in her took over and she started intensively researching the subject and experimenting on herself looking into the root cause of memory loss.
4) Third paragraph –
A short bio that shows why you are the authority on the topic of your press release.
5) Wrap up with all of your
contact information as well as links to whatever you’re promoting and the essential details about that (for example if it’s a book, give the title, price, publication date). 6) Make sure your press release has the proper SEO terms so it can easily be found, not
just this once, but as an ongoing trusted resource for the media when they are searching the Internet for experts.
7. Be sure to provide links throughout your press release for more
information for your bio, product, service, cause, social media, and a demo video of you if you’re trying to get booked on TV. The media will want to see how viable you are to be a respected source or mediagenic guest.
8. Keep on. If your press
release doesn’t get a response from the media try a different headline or angle. Sometimes a tiny tweak to your approach can make the difference between getting a media interview or not. Good luck!
To discover more amazing PR advice from Susan check out her free webinar on 5 Surefire Ways to Become a Media Darling.
Ask & Answered 87
sales series
How to Collect Your Money Words by
lara morgan // company shortcuts
When you close, close fast and efficiently and get it right – but remember you’re only half way to profit…collection is key. hinking about how you will be paid and the fastest and most profitable way to get your money is a really important part of the sales process. Before I get into that let’s recap the steps of the sales process… The phases in the sales process are endless, recurring, sometimes
T
88 This Girl Means Business
frustrating, but IF, and only if, you are asking the right questions and answering with the right facts, will the process be rewarding. Frankly, the faster you get to the order conversion stage, the more business you will contract. In the early days of my company I set myself small targets and small rewards for achieving them.
Over the past few issues we have discussed various sales steps: Cold calling, making appointments, listening hard to your customers’ requirements (fact finding and qualifying that they are the right person to be speaking to).
Then you make an introduction of your business services and product. Following these first steps you have the ability now to make a proposal, offer or recommendation to take away the identified pain that the client has share.
to invest (buy) in your product. If you have not introduced the service well enough to establish the value of your service, you will not get much further and can be stuck on a merry-goround of heavy lifting workload, with limited conversions. Hence we encourage you to qualify the opportunity and get to the close fast.
Selling
is a conversation – exchanges of words to identify wants, needs and the pain point that then convert into an opportunity. The proposal has to include the value that the client will gain through making a choice
Look constantly throughout conversations and exchanges for the buying signs. You then must summarise, with absolutely clarity, the service you are going to deliver in return for money, which in a lot of cases is not paid for until the work is delivered. Collection of the money – being paid, quite simply is the only point at which the sales process is complete (albeit smart sales people are already building the next growth opportunity).
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sales series
You have 4 core skills sets in the sales process:
Ability – you can teach this,
you can practice techniques and you can constantly grow and learn greater sales ability through studying the competition, the sector and the products that you offer. Constantly innovating is part of the building process.
“Constantly innovating is part of the building process.”
A process to sell within –
great introductory creativity, original email approaches, and straightforward systems to follow so that you maximise sales success.
90 This Girl Means Business
Sales skills – the language
you use, listen for, techniques in proposals – endless skill sets that help professionals sell. Combined with an overriding strategic intent to deliver your product or service, in a worldclass, market leading way that is better than the rest. Is your pitch really well defined in giving clarity on this message? Revise and keep perfecting it - it is a neverending game to constantly grow and develop. Be passionate about selling, it is the growth engine of everything and we are all in sales of some kind.
So, back to the collections… By the time you come to collect your money, you should have already clearly defined the payment terms and conditions in
the contract. Don’t get too hung up on endless terms and conditions and contracts in law, these things can be simplified, but you need a signed order document and you need to have stated the payment process and YOU need to stick to it.
Exporting Payment Warning & Benefits: Rule one of export – get your money secured before you deliver anything or simply DON’T do the business, as you will not get paid. As a client relationship is established there are a myriad of ways of changing the payment terms in the client favour.
If you have said you need a deposit to get started, as you have a new relationship and this is a sign of good faith from the customer, do not start working without the deposit being paid. Between 30-50 percent is a sensible deposit level. We are bad enough at asking for the order and we’re even worse at asking to be paid when we have done the work, which is madness! If you have delivered a good service and delivered on your promise, you should be paid on time. Make sure you establish how the payment systems work at the company you are providing a service or product to.
Make sure you find out the name of the person in the accounts department, so you know who to chase.
Sales Series 91
sales series
When you’ve secured a new order, make sure you arrange to have a chat and get yourself set up in their payment system, so that when payment is due there are no paper work and administration delays.
Make sure you do everything you can to take away the delay tactics often played by the company owing the money.
Money Lessons: If it is in your bank, it is yours and you are in control and can maximise profitable business decisions and investment. If it is anywhere else, it is not doing anything for you and you are not in control. Simple.
92 This Girl Means Business
Companies often use the excuse of the month end payment run, so make it clear in your terms that 30 days means 30 days. You really do have to think about how you will be paid and the fastest and most profitable way to get your money.
Your invoicing system Your invoice system is paramount. Do you actually raise the invoice for the service you are selling on the day you sell it? Can you hand it to the person concerned, who bought the service, so there is a clear communication chain about your needing to be paid? Do you have a system of your own for making sure your invoice is received and you have given all details required and there are no reasons to object to payment processing? Working at the understanding of other companies’
“You really do have to think about how you will be paid and the fastest and most profitable way to get your money.” payment systems and processes and removing obstructions will get you your funds faster. The faster you have funds, the sooner you gain your profits and the more money you make out of the profit you build. Every day counts in collections and you should treat this part of the sales process as important as every other phase. Plan a time in your diary for collections. Keep a collections log of clients and the day terms they actually pay in against the
invoice date raised. Get in touch fast if they fail to pay on time and consider adding in higher margins to slow payers. Do not discount early payers unless you have done your maths, as the discount may significantly reduce your actual profit from the deal. Remember business is a competitive game, you have to be in it to win it and if you are building more than a lifestyle business it is a full on, continual improvement process, starting with maximising the sales hours of the day. Wishing you well,
Lara Morgan
» If you need that daily nudge to keep improving, trial KUTA , your daily Kick Up The Arse! «
Sales Series 93
THIS MONTH’S
TOP
10 TIPS 94 This Girl Means Business
Ten Things to Remember ON YOUR JOURNEY
1.
Don’t be afraid to follow your dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem.
6.
Which entrepreneurs do you admire most? Take the time to learn from them.
2.
Write your goals on a post-it note, stick it on your computer and look at it daily.
7.
Listen to your gut instinct – you already know deep down that it’s right.
3.
You run your business, don’t let your business run you!
8.
Building a business is trial and error; sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t. Learn what you can and move on.
4.
Find a group of like-minded people who can help hold you accountable for reaching your goals.
9.
Take the time to celebrate your successes, no matter how small.
5.
Take time every day to get inspired – watch a video, read a book, listen to a podcast.
10.
Stand up and make yourself heard; live the life you dream of.
Top 10 Tips 95
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