KICK 2020 TO THE CURB AND CREATE AN AWESOME 2021!
It’s been a hell of a time the past 6 months hasn’t it! And now 2021 is bearing down on us and I know lots of our clients (myself and probably you too!) want to look at ending this year on a high.
I’m not sure about you, but the past 6 months did affect the way I have been doing my marketing. I was a bit all-over-the-shop! Flooding the airwaves at different times with super-helpful videos, long emails offering free consultations and many Facebook lives… I put hours and hours into so much free content just to try and help anybody that really needed it – and I know it helped me to feel useful! But then I regressed into periods of silence when I went inward and did some much needed personal growth work – great for me personally, not great for consistency with my marketing!
I think part of the problem was that the direction we thought we were all taking in 2020 took a massive detour. Everything got shaken up and existing marketing plans got hurled out the window. And unless you were really on the ball and updated your marketing plan, from then on everything became more REACTIONARY rather than PROACTIVE as we tried to understand the new playing field and deal with our emotional reactions as well.
It felt like the whole Western world either when into a Netflix/food and alcohol binge, or retreated into a self-imposed healing period. Personally, I LOVED not being over scheduled. So during that isolation time I did a huge amount of personal work on some very old self-limiting blocks of mine. I connected back to my why and my purpose – to sincerely make an impact worldwide with the people I connect with to live a more engaged, empowered and happy life. I re-evaluated my values and got super clear on what is important to me.
Finding your passion again…
I bought myself a keyboard to mess around a bit and through an amazing turn of events (nothing is ever a coincidence though is it!), I started a creative music project with my co-collaborator James Lopes and found myself singing again after a 30 year break! Now that was the best therapy and healing ever for old head trash and limiting beliefs around having a voice that deserves to be heard, and it connected me even further with my purpose and why.
Our businesses are a PART of who we are, but they’re not ALL of who we are. And part of my personal mission is to remind people approaching middle age and say “Remember that dream you had in your 20’s? Well it’s not too late!” And then lead by example.
We’ve just released our first music single – if you want to check out our video clip the link is below. (A subscribe to our YouTube channel would help us out tonnes and some love on Spotify also helps too if you like it!) We also have an album coming out early next year, which still blows me away, because I sure didn’t see that coming at the start of the year!!
So it has been a very inspiring time of being productive in my business, creating my own music project on the side, doing the deep work in my personal development, and lots of self-reflection after a turbulent 3 and a half years since my late husband passed away. Try as you may when you face such a massive loss (and loss can be many things to different people, it doesn’t have to just be death), there is still all the unresolved stuff that you push down by being constantly ‘busy’, and eventually seeps to the surface when you are given the time to settle!
So why am I sharing this personal stuff you might ask?
Because I want to practice what I preach. This week I presented to a global community of very impressive female business leaders, and my clear message was that the secret to creating a really authentic personal brand online or in person, is to create unique content that differentiates you from everybody else… AND to boldly turn up as YOU in every way that you can, sharing your knowledge, your experiences and your lessons. And how can you do that if you only share the glossy bits?!
You don’t need to go into graphic detail about your life, but if you want to truly share a connection with another human being, you do need to share multiple aspects of your life and let people learn from your life wisdom. That’s one of the advantages of being older and more experienced! But you need to share it for others to gain from it.
I can turn up to you in these e-newsletters with just a glorious veneer and blah on about marketing and branding and give you great marketing advice… but how do I then differentiate from everybody else doing the same thing?! By injecting my life WISDOM into it as well.
So with full transparency, I have lived through tough financial times where my credit cards were completely maxed out and I was so ashamed, I have been through a messy divorce, I know what it’s like to live silently for years with a partner with debilitating mental illness. I have raised a son with challenging special needs (and got to the other side beautifully!). I’ve felt the social sting of been a single mum with 3 young sons, and I’ve embraced the trickiness of co-parenting for 8 years with wonderful step kids.
My second husband unexpectedly died when I was 45 and that spiralled a whole lot of social judgement because we don’t deal with death well in our society. And at 49, I find myself solo in middle age but for the first time ever, I am completely cool with that and really embracing this great chapter of my life!
(As I type this I’m heading off to a beginner’s pole dancing class tonight and going to a roller skating disco tomorrow night. Mid life crisis? Maybe, but it sounds like a lot of fun huh!)
I know what it’s like to live through tremendous guilt and shame (and it’s not cool), I created adrenal burnout in my body as a result and also healed myself from it. I discovered meditation mid last year and it has changed my life. I even tried a year long stint as a vegan as part of the detox! And now I’m a bonafide recording rock musician with an album coming out…! All this while running my agency for the past 21 years and raising 3 amazing young men.
So these are the glorious stories that make me really, really human because if there’s one thing that shines through in all the stories, it’s my resilience! I bounce back every time with greater knowledge, a higher awareness and understanding of how to live with grace, and I’m happy to share this!
Does getting personal in business make you feel uncomfortable?
If it resonates with you, that’s awesome, and if it doesn’t you wouldn’t even have gotten this far! The point is, it’s okay. Not everybody will like you or understand you. Connection marketing around your personal brand isn’t for everyone, and I have lots of clients that don’t feel comfortable to engage! But I have a lovely small army of clients that do, and their reach grows far faster and the positive impact on their businesses and personal happiness expands in such a way that is inspiring and uplifting, and the bond with their audience is far stronger.
I just ask you to consider this, when people make 95% of their buying decisions emotionally… who do you think they’re going to choose next time they decide to spend their hard earned money? With the person that is good at their job? Or the person who is good at their job AND they can relate to because they understand them on a personal level.
So if this does resonate with you what are the next steps?
You can do 1 of 3 things today:
- We have a webinar next week you can attend which guides you through how to put together a Marketing Strategy and Action Plan for 2021. We called it KICK 2020 TO THE CURB AND CREATE AN AWESOME 2021 for obvious reasons!You can register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEufuuvqDsqG9zj1oiL0IJl4Pixk6H2aW3p - You can call or email me and book a time to have a chat about how we can work with you on your Connection Marketing Strategy and personal branding. info@divinecreative.com.au or 0408 602 181
- You can skip chatting to me and look at our Connection Marketing course yourself and see if it’s for you! More info on that coming out next week, but here’s a sneak peek at it if you want to join up now and get a head start on everyone else. Our special THRIVE deal only lasts until next Friday at 5.00pm and then the price goes back up by $500.
www.connectionmarketing.online
Or you can do nothing! That’s absolutely cool. This honestly isn’t for everyone. But if you are frustrated that your marketing isn’t being heard, it’s not making an impact, and you are just stuck in the same-same rut as everybody else in your industry… go back up to point 1 and sign up for our webinar at the very least!
Okay, so that’s enough from me today. Have an awesome weekend, no doubt I will share photos of myself trying to lift my body weight on a spinning pole if you follow me on Facebook or Insta! Much love and peace to you.
