#BreakTheBias Starts With Owning Your Success And Speaking Out Against Toxicity 🙅
… But first you have to learn it! As women we’re taught not to celebrate our achievements. If we do we’re arrogant, show-off idiots. We’re also taught not to speak out about injustices, toxicity, bullying or harassment. If we do “we’re not cut for it!“, “we don’t have what it takes to make it”. Invisible keeps you safe As Romanian women we are also brought up to care deeply about what others think of us. Image, status and how others perceive you is very important to a country that is barely 3 decades out of communism. Memories of Securitate and its octopus-like infiltrators that tainted families, neighbours and communities are still raw. Too many innocents were thrown into prison branded as traitors. Your family could be next. Your next door neighbours could have been a collaborator and the tiniest comment against the system, the smallest sign of revolt could have earned you a place under surveillance. You trusted no one. Your image was staunchly preserved as neutral. Inconspicuous. Invisible was good. It kept you safe. That’s why becoming a female entrepreneur in a secular society, where females are empowered to want more, to achieve more and to shout it from the rooftops… Well, that’s something we’re still learning. It doesn’t come easy. How the bias keeps you stuck I realised this when we had to come up with our very own content strategy on LinkedIn. We had to go through the content coaching session that we use on our clients. Not because we didn’t have the expertise to create content. But because sitting down to create this content, we each started off with “I have nothing interesting to talk about”, “what could I possibly say? My life is so boring”, “surely this topic is exhausted”. Our limiting beliefs spurred from a narrative of “never draw attention to yourself” were holding us back. “What will others think?” “Am I professional enough?” “Am I making the RIGHT impression?” Being stuck in this mindset does not bring you any closer to breaking any bias. I’m being pretty honest when I say that if every female entrepreneur would have thought this way, the world would have no female role models whatsoever. Oh and we were on track to being invisible! We left school. Went to university. Achieved degrees. Started off on the career ladder and honestly, we were so deep in it we couldn’t see that every step of the ladder was filled with sexism, bullying, a toxic workplace and complete disregard for any mental health, personal development or work-life balance. We did what we knew best. Kept going. Marching on. We had to prove we were cut for it. And never too divergent. Don’t make too much of a fuss. Never tread too far out of line. What would others’ say? I speak for all of us at The Orange Notebook when I say that throughout our journey on the career ladder we experienced panic attacks. We’ve experienced physical sickness out of fear and anxiety. We have been bullied, discriminated against for being Romanians and disregarded for being women. We discarded it as normal, kept quiet and kept going. Part and parcel of what having a career means. We couldn’t disappoint family. And we couldn’t risk the security of an income. Until we quit. The day we decided to quit and start The Orange Notebook, was the day we went against everything we ever knew. Quick facts:✅ No one in our families is or has ever been an entrepreneur.✅ Our parents’ generation holds tight the belief that “you hold on to your job for dear life”.✅ There has never been a safety net for any of us. No investors, no funding, no plan B. The bills always had to be paid.✅ We started this business by putting down a symbolic £30 each. The fact we managed to hit £10k months and pay a wage every month is probably the biggest achievement of my life. Our loved ones were trying to convince us to stick it out. Just as Covid-19 was taking shape and hitting West, the context was the most insecure we’ve ever lived through. Leaving a safe job seemed madness. “What would people think?” Taking a stand may well be the most difficult thing I ever did The day I drafted my leaving email I felt happy. I called out the toxic bullshit I put up with. I thanked mentors and those who taught me something. I also called out the behaviour of those that put me down. And I walked. Into a world of uncertainty, sleepless nights, stress, frustration and the greatest emotional rollercoaster of my life. Two years later I can proudly say that… 💞 We took a stand for our values 💞 We created a freedom lifestyle 💞 We beat down toxicity by taking control and saying NO to misogyny, disrespect, or discrimination from any potential or current clients 💞 We were able to work remotely and spend more time with loved ones more than ever before 💞 We were able to prioritise our mental health, self-awareness, learn and grow like never before And today we cheer for our fellow women entrepreneurs! Because maybe they don’t want to cheer themselves. We know what it’s like. We applaud every single brave woman that’s a full time business owner, or has a side-hustle, working out of your homes, or nomading in a country far away… with kids, with pets, with husbands, or wives or without any of it. KEEP GOING! Oh and we couldn’t tell you what others said or thought. We were too busy building our future…
How To Convert A Referral
Let’s talk about converting referrals into clients… And the power branding and marketing hold over this process.
How To Create A Client Onboarding Package To Elevate Your Brand Experience
Recently, we shared with you on our social media our secret to more money and freedom: the client onboarding package. In this post, we’ll show you: #1 What does it mean to have a client onboarding package? #2 How do you structure an onboarding package? #3 What to include in an onboarding package? #4 How does a client onboarding package look like and when should you send it? #5 Why is the onboarding package important to your brand? Before having an onboarding package, we had emails or calls about work on Sundays, on holidays, at midnight (a 4 am one was particularly annoying). But we always felt the need to reply. So we introduced an onboarding package that: For us, this translated into FREEDOM and MONEY. So here’s everything you need to know about this one small, but impactful element of your branding experience. #1 What does it mean to have a client onboarding package? When creating your client onboarding package, there are 2 things your need to consider: 1. The client perspective: what it means to your clients From the client’s perspective, your client onboarding package sets the rules and expectations of your engagement with your clients. Your clients will perceive you as a serious and committed professional and feel reassured by knowing how your work engagement will run. From your perspective the client onboarding package sets boundaries for your business and creates freedom and space for more clients/projects, so that your business can grow and scale. #2 How do you structure an onboarding package? Think about this as an opportunity to not only tell your prospective clients how you work, but also to convince them to work with you by making it easy for them to take action. We have 4 sections in ours: #3 What to include in an onboarding package? Think about this from your client perspective: what do they need to know? What would make their decision easier and what do they need to be reassured of with regards to your services? Our onboarding package includes: #4 How does a client onboarding package look like and when should you send it? Typically, an onboarding package is a PDF document, structured, written and designed with your brand elements. We like to send it when the client has greenlighted the proposal and confirmed they want to work with us. We attach it alongside the contract. You can send it earlier. Some entrepreneurs choose to send it before the discovery call. Because the onboarding package feels a bit like a VIP service, it may also make the client more interested in having a discovery call. #5 Why is the onboarding package important to your brand? It’s all about the client experience and you should always aim to create a VIP experience. A while ago we shared a post about what your customers want from your brand. In the post, you will find that consumers have high expectations of brands and that your relationship with your clients should go beyond a transaction. We used Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to illustrate how you can address typical client needs in your content. Your clients want to feel safe, reassured, taken care of and empowered. This is what they will actually remember from working with you. So if you want powerful testimonials and social proof, focus on providing the best client experience you can. And your onboarding package is part of that.
6 Negotiation Tips to Make Better Deals in 2021
Running a business means you always have to strike good deals with your clients and partners and these 6 negotiation tips will help you deal with it confidently. If you want to close better deals in 2021, this quote from John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Inaugural Address still applies today: “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” John F. Kennedy So that you never fear a difficult conversation, these negotiation tips will help you stay calm, confident and get your desired outcome next time you have to close a deal. Tip #1: A negotiation is NOT an attack This is the best mindset tip we can share and it can make a difference. Move away from thinking it’s an attack and look at it as a positive sign the client wants to work with you. If they weren’t interested, they wouldn’t be wasting their precious time talking to you. They would simply say no from the beginning. Why is this important? Because if you think it’s an attack, you will become defensive, you will start justifying and you will start compromising. That’s not a good position to negotiate from. If you’re not confident and you don’t believe in the value of your services, your client will start doubting too. And if the client can’t trust your expertise, chances are they will choose someone else who they can trust. Tip #2: Prepare for a negotiation as you would prepare for an interview If you think about it, an interview is a type of a negotiation setting. You go there to talk about your skills and expertise and convince the employer you are the best candidate for the job. Similarly, in a client negotiation, you will end up talking about why you are the best fit for them. Preparation is key. So research the client, go back to what was said in your discovery call to understand what their problem is, how you can help them fix it and achieve their goals. Think about any potential question they may ask so that you are not caught off guard. When that happens, you might talk faster, gesticulate, or become defensive. Worse, you could go completely blank and not find your words. Either way, you won’t seem very confident and that will make the client think twice before saying YES to working with you. Tip #3: Negotiation is about empathy; put yourself in their shoes Your priority is not their priority. They don’t really care that this contract will help your business scale or bring you financial stability. Try to see the reality from their perspective and understand what their priorities are. They care about their concerns, the problems or goals they have and how you can support them. Some need accountability, others need support or a sounding board. Some just need an expert to do the work for them and remove the hassle. Once you understand their reality, you will be able to offer and negotiate a deal that will work for both parties. Tip #4: Use case studies and social proof to remove doubt Showing them what you did for similar clients will help remove their worries and doubts. They will build trust that you can help them too, that you are truly an expert and you are worth the money. Seeing your process in practice will give them reassurance and help them visualise how your partnership will work. A testimonial from a client will confirm their thoughts and perceptions of what you can do for them and will reassure them of making the right choice. Help them rationalise their decision even further. Tip #5: Talking about values can help negotiate easier People seek out values in other businesses as they would in friendships. Research into purchasing showed that when a purchase is tied to values, it makes customers more inclined to spend more money. If you have the opportunity to talk about your values and show how you act on them, do so. Your content is the best place for it. In a call, examples of situations that reveal your values, will make you more relatable. It will help your client connect with you even more and when that happens, emotions are triggered and the likelihood for a collaboration increases. This doesn’t mean you should use manipulation or lie about your values. Authenticity is key when it comes to client relationships. Tip #6: Your negotiation skills will get better with practice We hope you find these negotiation tips handy! The key is to try it out until it gets easier. But applying without a clue where to start, won’t ever make you want to try at all. These templates help you do just that. Even beyond the negotiation stage, some of these scripts cover: Have you ever been in a situation where your fear of negotiation stopped you from getting the best possible outcome?