Simplicity wins every time

Posted on by Laura

Simplicity wins every timeThe idea of keeping things simple in both life and work has popped up everywhere I’ve turned lately – from social media to business to family and friends. Okay, okay, I can take a hint. 🙌🏼 I get it: It’s worth talking about again.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

~Albert Einstein

Such wise words and so true. So why is it that we frequently struggle with keeping things simple? Perhaps because our natural inclination is to want people to believe in our businesses and beliefs as much as we do – and that often means we try to make things sound more sophisticated or more impressive than we need to.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

~Leonardo Da Vinci

So, how do we keep it simple?

One of the tricks I learned early on in my career was to tell stories as if you’re speaking to a friend. How would you explain your business – and why you do what you do – during a face-to-face conversation?

Would you use formal language and lots of jargon? You could, but then you’d probably be met with confused or blank looks, and you’d quickly adjust the way you’re explaining things, right?

It’s easier to see this when you’re speaking directly to someone, but if you visualize yourself speaking to someone when writing your promotions, your website content and your blog posts, you’ll connect with the person reading it.

Just let your passion shine through. Simplicity wins every time.

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Personality matters!

Posted on by Laura

casualIt’s funny to me how often this notion of personality, style and even how we dress arises in our daily business interactions. Just recently, I had a conversation with peers about dress code and first impressions.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself: How in the world does how I dress and my personality have anything do with how I market my business? That’s not part of marketing strategy…is it? 🤔

Yes. It is. After all, the saying goes…

You never have a second chance to make a first impression.

And, that goes for your business, too. For me, dressy jeans, a classy shirt, nice fitted jacket and heels are the impression I’d like to make. It’s friendly, stylish, casual, fun and, yes, professional. And that represents not only me, but Ripple Effect.

For many, that may seem odd; it goes against tradition. But, it would be odd to me to present myself – and my company – as something I’m not. And, I’m not the suit-wearing, conservative business woman who was once the expectation in the business world.

People are just people. Why should we put on airs? Why shouldn’t we look nice, look professional and…simply show off our personality. After all, personality matters – it speaks to who we are. And, more importantly, it speaks to who our company is.

How can you possibly connect to another person if they look and sound and act exactly like every other person? If every person in the room is dressed in a black suit, where’s the personality? Where’s the fun? Where’s the individuality? How do I know who you are – who your company is?

I crave those differences. I love quirkiness. I want to know what makes you you. What drives you? Why do you wear a compass necklace? Why do you have a tatoo of a dove on your ankle? Why do you choose to dye one strand of your hair pink? Or, even…why do you choose to wear a black suit?

And more importantly, how does that impact your business? How does your personality translate to your company’s voice?

Being true to yourself is important when interacting with prospective clients, crafting marketing messages and demonstrating who you are and what you bring to the table.

After all…personality matters. It’s a ripple effect that infuses life into your business.

Learn how you can create your own ripple effect. Let’s start today.

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The forest for the trees

Posted on by Laura
See the forest for the trees
Source: Rachel Olshausen

Why is it that it’s so easy to fall into the trap of focusing on only one tree when there’s an entire forest around us? It happens all the time. We get caught up in one thing we’re trying to accomplish and forget to broaden our view a bit to take in the big picture. And when we do, we miss the forest for the trees.

So, how can we stop doing that? 🙂

How to see the forest

  1. Before you start any endeavor – whether a simple meeting, a new project or a new marketing piece – ask yourself: What is my objective? What am I trying to accomplish with this meeting? project? communication piece? This will help you realize that while you may want to check off a single task, each action item has a ripple effect.

2. Then ask: What do I want the meeting participants/project participants/audience to do? What action do I want them to take? In other words, what is your overall objective?

Simply keeping those two things in mind can make the difference between seeing a single lovely tree – or a realizing there’s a huge, beautiful forest all around us.

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