Close your eyes and imagine yourself connecting to others to share your “PURPOSE”. How are you currently letting others know about it?
When you take a trip, you can map it out or you can head in a general direction and course correct along the way. Often, lack of planning can lead to unexpected results, including never reaching your destination. While this can be great for life adventures, it is not wise approach for running a business. I see many people approaching social media in the same way. Personal use of social media leaves room for surprises, but if you have limited resources—time, money and energy—it leaves little room for a struggle.
To assist business networkers and visionary entrepreneurs, I want to share the process I have used for myself and my clients to make the journey a little bit easier. I recommend going through strategic planning so you can better connect with a PURPOSE of reaching an intended goal when you are building relationships, both online & in-person.
PLAN. Vision. Goals. Focus. Big picture. Intention. Strategy. Meaning. Project. Course of Action. What You Want to Attract. PURPOSE.
What do these words mean to you?
I wake up each day excited that life is a journey that is connecting me to others and is guiding me on the right path. I am also excited to be a part of On Purpose Networking because it gives me a Community of amazing women that are also looking to explore their unique gifts and talents and share them with others. Through the connections I have developed, I have been inspired to expand my business way beyond my comfort zone, speak in public (something that terrifies me), listen to my intuition and actively seek and surround myself with people who will uplift me on my journey—personally and professionally.
I have faith in my purpose. I believe in it even though it’s just a vision in my head. But I can’t move forward on faith alone. I take action to turn my purpose into reality. The groundwork and preparation that I do opens up numerous channels to make the connections to the right people to assist in my journey.
My journey has always been heavily assisted by technology. I’m passionate about the Internet, because it’s about PEOPLE, not the machines that run technology. My purpose is to help people get online and put out to the world who they are so they can experience life-changing connections, like I have. Please connect with me and I’ll share some of my connection stories to inspire you.
Personally, I have many friends and a boyfriend thanks to the Internet. Professionally, I’ve received multiple full-time job offers, freelance work, travel opportunities and a steady flow of referrals. My connections have always been a source of strength and career insurance through some twists and turns such as job layoffs, budget cuts and cross-country moves. I have course corrected and kept steadily moving towards my goals. At times it has felt like magic when the right people at the right time have just flowed into my life. But it’s not magic. I’ve done the groundwork and created paths that allow the connections to find me. You can, too.
BRAND. Personal & Professional (not Private). What Sets You Apart. How People Feel About You. Your Unique Gifts & Talents. Your Products & Services. VALUE.
When I heard The Story of On Purpose Networking for Women by Ginny Robertson at my first meeting, I got tears in my eyes, because it’s the story of what I want to do online. Many of my clients come to me to create a website, but then struggle to create content. I ask, “what sets you apart”, and they don’t know. Do you feel a bit of sadness when I say this? It gets me every time because I want every single person to be able to express their value to others, both when they stand up to give a 30-sec introduction or online.
Your Brand may change over time, as it is a reflection of your journey, both personally and professionally. The new Facebook Timeline (launching soon) is going to be a revolution in the way our online profiles reflect who we are. It won’t just be about what we Like TODAY, it will show a full history of what’s important to us AND our relationships. While Facebook’s algorithms will be guessing “what’s important” to you, it’s also a chance to clearly define this to both ourselves and the world. (And of course, make a decision on what’s PRIVATE and not shown online… which I’m also a huge advocate of).
Defining your Brand in relation to your business is about clearly saying your WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY & HOW. When using social media FOR BUSINESS, it’s an essential part of the process to be easy to reach from as many avenues as possible. I see many business networkers who are spending a ton of time away from home, trying to make connections, and they are working much harder than they need to because they don’t have the extra boost of a complete online Brand. My goal with helping people Brand is to leverage all networking time—online and in-person—to multiply your time into LESS EFFORT = GREATER RESULTS.
Clearly expressing your brand also means others see what you saw when you closed your eyes and thought about your PURPOSE. Use social media to share YOUR PURPOSE & VALUE with others and to help your connections pass on recommendations to your products and services.
COMMUNICATE. Networking. Educate, Enrich & Engage. Contacts. People. Sharing. Relationships. Your Voice. Conversation. CONNECTIONS.
A business card or online profile might be the first minute of the relationship, but the conversations you have online and in-person is the rest of it. Facebook created the new Timeline feature with this idea in mind. Your online profiles combined with status updates, photos, videos, likes, shared links and history give people new insight into YOU.
Ideally, your connections will be attracted your updates and then take action to become a client…while you sleep, while you are out living life, almost like magic. This is essential for leveraging all of the networking efforts you are making, both online and in-person. Your network will grow and support your PURPOSE.
TAKE ACTION: The secret of my process is to COMMUNICATE after you have your PLAN & BRAND in place, so each communication can easily flow back to your PURPOSE.
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DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in my posts are affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you like my recommendation and then click through and make a purchase. Details...
Hello Service-Based Entrepreneur,
I know it’s easy to get overwhelmed by reading blog posts full of ideas, tactics & tools. Be honest...
- How frustrated will you be trying to implement this on your own?
- How much time will you waste if it's not your next best step?
- Did you just take the time to read this but you won't make any changes?
- Or are you ready to take a small next step to build your brand?
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To your success,
Marketing Strategist & Designer
I offer a blend of 30+ years of expertise in marketing, websites, brand identity, strategy, tech solutions, and more. I work with service-based entrepreneurs with a practical and flexible approach to adjust to changes in business & life. I offer both targeted & flexible solutions that link together like blocks to create a custom fit. We’ll focus on a series of “next steps” to build your brand over time. Let’s talk about how we can work together to start & grow your business.
