What You Can Learn From A Lion: Business Ideas From The Animal Kingdom

This morning as I sat down to write my blog entry for the Ultimate Blogging Challenge, I came up blank. I wanted something fun and useful, but nothing was coming to mind. So, I turned to my favorite source of inspiration, my son Jalen. I asked him to give me a topic to write about. His response was, write about lions.

So here goes my post on lions and what they can teach us in the business world and also about life and living. The first thing that caught my attention is that:

·       They are social animals in their own communities or pride. So how about you – are you social in your community, be it your niche market, work, school, church? Being social doesn’t mean being friends with everyone, but it means putting yourself out there.

How will your business grow if you do not network and interact with people who may be able to recommend you or become a potential client?

·      Have you ever watched a documentary with lions hunting? If you do, you will realize that teamwork is helpful in the hunt. Since they are not the fastest or biggest animals, they need to work together to get their prey. What can you learn from their hunting habits? Have you tried collaborating with others?

Have you been looking for opportunities where your skills could complement that of another professional? As a contentwriter, I have been contacting graphic and website designers to write the content for the sites they create. If you are an indexer, start networking with editors and proofreaders – you just never know when they may have clients who need indexers.

·      Lions are courageous and strong and usually dominate the food chain. Are you strong and courageous enough to take risks and make hard decisions so as to improve your business, financial health or life in general? 

So there you have it. I never thought of learning anything worthwhile from the animal kingdom to apply to business. I guess I was wrong.

                                         From Free FreeDigitalPhotos.Net

For Business Success: Stand Out From the Crowd

Sometimes standing out from the crowd is the only way to succeed. In many types of businesses such as article writing, standing out is a MUST! Competition is tough in this business. Even before high unemployment started forcing people to find other ways to earn an income, this business was competitive. To make clients take notice, and more importantly choose you, you have to be different. It’s not enough to be a great writer.  

So how do you stand out from the crowd? These four simple steps are a start:

1. Make an impact: Make prospective clients take notice when you apply for a job. If you are responding to a request for a quote – make your response stand out. Show that you put some thought into it by making your proposal one that someone will remember. Even if you don’t get that job, you may get another.  
    
2. Offer more:  So someone wants you to write an article for them, try to make it SEO heavy or localize the content. One long-term client has been with me for over 6 years simply because I gave him more. I explained what I was doing and the benefits, and I’m now his go-to writer for many projects.                                                                                                           
3. Be an expert:  Guess what, clients will pay for expertise. Many great writers do not make it in this business. Why? They refuse to learn the technical aspects. They have no idea what SEO or Google Panda are. Never stop learning, it’s as simple as that.                                                     
4. Be Nice! Yep, this really does work. Say thank you to clients, even when they may not be the nicest. Send a thank you email for a new project you received. Even when clients move on, thank them for the opportunity of working with or for them. They will remember you.  I’ve had clients come back to me years later when they need something done and done right. 

Ultimately, if you love what you do and you are passionate about it, then it will show. Making your business different is possible – so what’s stopping you from starting NOW!