Nicole can be seen, read, and heard at various events, publications and podcasts. She’d love to share her thoughts with you, too!
Please get in touch with her today to learn more.
Expert Profile Magazine, Summer 2024 includes this 4th installment in the series by Nicole. How do you turn fear into action?
Expert Profile Magazine, Autumn 2023 includes this article by Nicole. It is something that crosses every entrepreneur or founders mind … should you fake it until you make it?
Expert Profile Magazine, Winter 2024 features the second installment of articles by Nicole. How do you face your fears as a founder?
This latest installment looks at mindset as it relates to success. How do you celebrate?
Shoutout Arizona spent some time getting to know me a bit better, here’s what I shared during our conversation.
Stay focused on a few channels. It can be overwhelming to be everywhere; pick one or two channels to focus on and really engage with your audience. Use a tool like Hootsuite, Buffer or Socialbee to schedule your posts for the week, then spend 5-10 minutes, twice a day, for focused interaction with your current audience and those you’d like to connect with.
Create Value. Always create value with your target audience before you move towards the sale. Whether it is a white paper, tip sheet, video, or another format, giving first will build trust and help to establish you as a subject matter expert. Doing this will move you further along in the sales discovery process than making a bunch of cold calls/emails.
Chair Massages. Chair massage is almost always well received. Beyond the aches and pains we may experience from extended time spent at desks/computers, it also serves to focus the mind on positive thoughts and ideas. I’ve found after these types of sessions, creativity flourishes.
Delegate What Drains You. We all have different tasks that we dread. For some of us it’s invoicing and accounting, for other business owners it might be managing our social media. No matter what that task is, if you find it draining you’re either not getting it done at all, or when you do get to it, it zaps all your energy. These are more than likely the right tasks to look at delegating or outsourcing, so you can spend your time focused on your strengths and driving the business forward.
Encourage Trust and Transparency. Have regular conversations that encourage trust and transparency. More than anything people want to belong, have a voice, and make an impact. Regularly having in these discussions will help you continue to engage your top performers.
It’s a lucky opportunity. I choose to look at failures as a lucky opportunity. Instead of wallowing in a failure, if you get critical about what you will do differently the next time, who you need to know or work with to improve your success rate, and what skills you are going to acquire between now and then; the failure can serve as a springboard to an amazing next career step, new business venture, or other innovation that may not have come about without those hard lessons learned.
Podcast – The Lionel SHIPman $HAPE YOUR FINANCES Show is a financial and life empowerment show focusing on our lives around money and finances. The show aims to educate and motivate people to improve their financial outlooks and empower them to take charge of their lives and to live life to the fullest.
Resilience. Things will go wrong, things will have a different result than expected, and there will be failures along the way. Being able to say, “well, ok, I learned this and now can be better,” then dusting yourself off and getting back to work is key.
Be consistent with keywords. Be consistent with the use of your keywords, and use them inside every post, every blog, every article. Discipline and focus will pay off.
Invest in the Future. Take a look at expenses and determine which ones are unnecessary, and which ones are truly an investment in the future. Instead of making hasty decisions, really consider both the short and long term impact of spending.
Be Understanding. For some employees, there may be an emotional toll that they haven’t yet realized. Stay present and check in on your team when they return, have solutions and resources available for those who may need it. Finally, be understanding – everyone deals with situations differently.
Be Understanding. For some employees, there may be an emotional toll that they haven’t yet realized. Stay present and check in on your team when they return, have solutions and resources available for those who may need it. Finally, be understanding – everyone deals with situations differently.
Keep in Touch. Make sure your marketing has a purpose and adds value. Don’t just send communications to “keep in touch”. Now more than ever, it is about building trust.
Webinars and Seminars. I like to take advantage of the many webinars and seminars offered by top thought leaders and software solution providers. These can be anything from one-hour sessions to full certification courses. It’s a great way to stay current or learn something brand new!
Nurture Customer Relationships. Before you re-open, engage and nurture relationships with your customers via social media. Let them know what you are planning and thank them for their support. When you are ready to open, let the community know specifics on when you’ll be open or if you’ll have any restrictions or limitations. Many businesses will likely be on different schedules as it relates to re-opening, so transparency is key.
It Promotes a Dynamic Team. No matter the size of the business we work for, or whether we are the owner or work for someone else, we all want to be part of engaging and dynamic teams. Continuing to develop personally is key to the overall company being able to foster creativity, innovation, and growth.
Two-way communication. Employee surveys are an amazing tool to gain a pulse of the organization. I like to integrate an opportunity for open-ended questions back to leadership, and then have town halls/video chats/etc… where those questions can be answered with transparency. My favorite questions are around asking for one product enhancement or addition, and if there was one thing they could ask the CEO, what would it be. The goal is to create an environment that supports two-way communication and creativity.
Keep it Fun. While training and development are necessary, they should be fun too. Always look for ways to make the process interactive, and allow for discovery of application versus dictating the outcomes.
Stay Grateful. No matter what is going on in the world, we all have something each day we can be grateful for. Keeping a daily journal of those gratitudes, and then reflecting upon then at the end of each day is a best practice. The impact this has on your mindset quickly bleeds over to the results seen in your business.
Consider What Your Want Next. Before making a career move, take inventory of your current skills and your ideal work culture and environment. This is also a good time to consider if you want to continue working a traditional job or would like to look at contract work or starting your own business. There are several websites that provide surveys and resources to help narrow down a search. Additionally, working with a career coach or executive coach might be worth considering.
What didn’t I ask you today that you wish I had? Almost always I ask this question. Then I invite them to answer it. I do this because I’ve found that this question is either something they’ve done that they feel is really aligned to our company or it is something they are quite concerned about. I usually follow-up with asking about what they’ve since learned or applied from that scenario, which, to me, is a truly interesting discovery. How people grow and apply experiences in the workplace is very telling about how they will develop and grow into the future.
Have An Open Dialogue. This is time to live as a fellow community citizen, listening to stakeholders’ needs and wants beyond the service/solution you provide. I am doing this by having dialogues about life experience, family, etc…. Making connections within my network to create value and provide the support that will allow us all to move forward post-crisis.
Be yourself. Really. We want to get to know you for several reasons. Yes, we want to make sure you’ll enjoy working inside our work culture, but we also want to build rapport with you during the interview. If you can’t be yourself when you answer this question, then how will you feel each day when you come into work at our company? Take a deep breath, smile and let us hear what makes you an amazing person!
Requirements Change. Rather than pushing ahead and demanding terms previously agreed upon are met (which is short-term thinking), the right action may be to end the work for now, and re-approach in the future. This gives the client space to focus on what is critical and creates a true partnership for the long-term.
Start With a Clear Vision of Your Purpose. It starts with having a clear vision of what the purpose of the business is about—what everyone on the team is going to accomplish together and how you are going to get there. Hire people who are excited to do that work together. Create programs (compensation, rewards, and ongoing development/training) that excites each member of the team while they are doing meaningful work. Ultimately, it’s about making people feel like they belong and are recognized each day, in both big and small ways. Saying thank you, taking time to ask about someone’s family, and celebrating a win like running a 10k for the first time matters just as much as getting a promotion.
Leverage Technology. Create personalized marketing campaigns that provide timely information and promotions which are targeted to your individual customer’s preferences and habits. By spending time early on to set up systems that allow you to track and manage each interaction you have with your customer, you can make future interactions feel unique and special.
Every entrepreneur has a journey. And every journey includes inspiration. If you’re doubting your decision to follow your passion and vision, or convert your “lessons learned” into a business, listen in! Here you’ll gain sales secrets as well as inspiration and a few golden nuggets from featured guest entrepreneurs to help you take the next step and build a thriving business for yourself!
Heart: We work to align the heart, mind, and soul for success.
Purpose: We are dedicated in our pursuit of supporting others to achieve their fullest potential.
Learning: We freely admit we don’t know what we don’t know – and always want to learn more.
7650 S. McClintock Dr. #200 Tempe, Arizona 85284