Nov 27, 2019
Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 48 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.
Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!
If you’re a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you’ll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! I’m all about marketing your life, your business and your marketing simpler. Because business isn’t always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler.
One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven’t joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast
www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners
Today I wanted to share with you something that just might give you a nudge. The nudge is for you, although as I am recording this podcast, it seems like the podcast is all about me!
But it’s really not, yes these are my stories but the message is 100% for YOU my gorgeous listener.
But before I get into all that, let’s do the discovery of the week.
THIS WEEK’S DISCOVERY!
This week’s discovery is an app that will add captions to your videos. It’s called Mix Captions.
If you’re a avid listener of the podcast – you’ll know that I have often talk about and use Clips – an app that does captions on videos as you speak.
But the difference with this app – Mix Captions - is that you can upload a video you’ve already recorded and add captions to it!
How sensational is that??
So, I can use my favourite app for recording video – which is Snow – one of my discoveries of the week in episode 19 and now upload it in Mix Captions and have it captioned.
For me this is a game changer!
We all know we should have captions on our videos for social media, more than 65% of people watch videos without sound, so this app is solving that problem.
It’s available in your app store – search
As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too!
Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you’d like to share, please do so. Email me at jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler!
THE YEAR OF SAYING YES
I have to say, straight up, this episode is putting me out of my comfort zone. I am always ALL about my listeners, my customers, YOU – so talking about me, is giving that rolling tummy feeling.
But I wanted to share and hopefully even inspire you to think about what you’d like to achieve in 2020 and how, just maybe, having a year of “saying yes” just might get you there (wherever it is that you want to go).
BUT what this story isn’t about is being busy. I’m not telling you my story about “saying yes” to every opportunity to encourage you to book up your calendar with “stuff”.
It’s about saying yes to opportunities that align with your values or your business values, with your hopes and dreams, but may have always been outside your comfort zone and therefore you wouldn’t normally say yes to.
So, again, this isn’t about being busy being busy, it’s still about alignment and strategy, it’s more about comfort zones.
Ok, so the story starts about 3 years ago, on News Years Eve.
I’m at my besties house, it’s very late (way past my bed time) and my bestie and I are laying watching the stars. We’ve consumed a bit of wine, ok a lot, and we are starting to get, well, DEEP!
For me, the coming year was either going to be EPIC or horrid. My choice right?
About a week ago I’d listed my retail business for sale and we already had a purchaser. I know right, insane.
I was selling my baby. Something I’d built up, nurtured, poured my heart, soul, and salty tears into and now it was going to be someone else’s baby.
So, my bestie turns to me, keeping this in mind, and also keeping in mind that we were pretty cloud 9-y by now, and says “Jenn what are you going to do this year with no shop”?
I said, “I don’t know, I really don’t know, but I’m not going to say no to opportunities”
Bestie said “No, ok, me either”
And so become to drank pack of having the year of not saying no.
Just an edit here – why not the year of saying yes you might be asking – wine. Wine is the answer to that question.
So here I am, basically unemployed because I sold my business, feeling just a wee bit lost but determined to make this work – I just didn’t know what “this” was.
Sometimes we don’t have to have it all worked out – we just need to trust the journey.
Here’s what the year of not saying no gave me or did to me!
- Firstly, not business wise, but that very bestie used this “not saying no” against me and signed us up to do a 20 mile race (32 kms) from one side of King Island to the next.
I DON’T RUN!
It took me almost 5 hours, it was emotionally draining. The footage of me crossing that finish line will never see the light of day. Oh the crying, not just normal crying, ugly face crying – everything hurt.
But the lessons I learnt about myself and business from that day make a fabulous Keynote presentation.
I would never had said yes to anything like this… EVER.
- I landed my dream role in a business. I’d always had a mentor, a marketing mentor, in my business so it was like Christmas when my mentor rang and said “hey, want to come work with me – you’d make an amazing business coach”.
Umm, heck yeah – I’m in.
Although, there was bumps and some which couldn’t be overcome in this partnership, those 2 years, 110% changed me and gave me the confidence to do what I’m doing now and freaking loving it.
I am beyond incredibly thankful for that time.
Again, I would never have said yes to an opportunity like that if I had time to think about it – but there was no time to think about it – the answer simply was yes, because it was the year of not saying no.
- I got my first ever paid speaking gig.
You may not think that’s big, but for me that was HUGE! Only 12 months beforehand I was a steer in headlights when it came to public speaking.
I never thought, NEVER, that I would have a business that involved speaking to audiences.
And although before that very first speaking gig, I was in the toilets bringing up lunch, because I was so enormously nervous – there was no choice – the answer was yes.
- Sometimes I think I need a new bestie, because that year she also made me do a half marathon ☹ - she really took advantage of me …
- I started networking. Again, a deer in the headlights when it came to networking – so very far outside my comfort zone back then. Something I’d never done before.
I was asked to attend the Professional Speakers Association night, which made my tummy roll, but I said yes. I wasn’t networking with my own kind here, I was seriously upleveling my networking.
But there was no choice. I had to say yes.
At the night, I found some other newbies attending and they made wine – so I was set – they talked wine – I tasted wine – it was perfect!
I could go on and on about all the different parts of my journey to here, today, that were brought on by the “year of not saying no”. But I’m hoping that just those few above might just inspire you.
So, when you sit down and think what’s my new years resolution going to be this year, make it that you’ll have a year of saying yes (or not saying no!) and see where the yes take you.
Commit to it. It’s the only way. When someone asks you to do something – don’t hesitate, say yes.
Of course, I mean in reason, it’s got to be safe of course.
But I’ve found in my life and many of those around me, that fear takes over and they say no to opportunities because saying yes is too scary.
Embrace the scary.
Be bold
Have the year of not saying no – I promise you it will be the best year of your life.
Oh, but word of warning, watch who you tell about this little “saying yes” thing, because people will take advantage of you – umm 32 kms – say no more.
I didn’t really tell anyone. Not until the year was almost done and people would say to me, wow you’ve had an amazing year haven’t you and I would say, yep, it’s because I said yes.
Who’s in? You in?
Send me a message or email or head into the Facebook Book, Like Minded Business owners and commit to everyone in there that you’ll make 2020 the year of not saying no! Or the year of saying yes!
If you’re not a member of Like Minded Business Owners, simply head to Facebook, type in Like Minded Business Owners and join up. Otherwise, there’s a link in the new notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast
www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners
I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course.
If you’re enjoying this podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying!
But that is all for Episode 48. I’d love to connect with you all on social – so let’s get social on social – I’m on all the platforms, so let’s do that!
…….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!