How long does it take to achieve real change?
July 6, 2008
I’m about to take a short break away from my business – which I admit – that I’ve fallen BACK IN LOVE with only recently – since I’ve achieved a few significant changes.
SIX MONTHS TO LIVE OUT MAJOR DECISIONS
First of all – I have to say – it is my belief that it takes SIX MONTHS to live out a major decision. This is not scientific fact – this is just my opinion and my experience – particularly over the last 7 years of self employment. Whenever I mention this to other people of like circumstance – they agree their experience is the same.
These last six months ( in particular the last three) have been an intense time for planning for and implementing changes that have resulted in the complete reinvention my business and giving birth to the new version of Zulu Communications. On the other side – I can now see the benefits of all that agonising mental, emotional and physical hard labour!
REAL CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION TAKES TIME & PROCESS
If I can step back a bit further to say that the need for these changes were flagged and critical up to 15 months ago! So what the HELL happened 15 months ago to trigger this change and why has it taken so long for it all to come to fruition??
I could write a book about this – but I am a self confessed armchair Psychologist and by no means profess to have all the answers or the ability to help everyone. If by sharing my story with you helps you in anyway – then terrific!
At the heart of it – every change for a business HAS to be owned and committed to by the owner and decision maker of the business with respect to the process of change. You have to REALLY want it in order for it to become a reality and it’s hard work getting there.
Here are some thoughts:
- To change something signficant in your life and your business takes process and time
- You can speed up the time by working through the process more quickly – that requires focus and committment
- You can’t reduce the time by limiting or skipping the processes – without altering the outcome
- There is no telling how much time things can take to change – even if you want them to change
- You can set goals – backed up by realistic actions and steps as one way to ensure you receive a result – again this is focus and committment
15 months ago………………..
I did a Vision Planning program for businesses 3 years plus – it TURNED me on my head. I completely freaked out as I had to review and confront the aspects of my business that really needed to be vastly different. It was all TOO hard, my confidence was SHOT to pieces and my business started to suffer because of it.
I sought professional guidance – some mentoring and lots of coffee meetings with other business owners – who didn’t seem to be having as hard a time of this as me……… or were they?? (This was the birth of GET REAL!)
I was advised back then that I need to:
- Come to terms with my client based and aim for a completely different market
- Consider a change from the isolation of home-based business BACK to and office and business community environment ( home-based was too isolating for a people-person like me)
- Up the ante on my whole approach to web and on-line marketing as my presence was far from "best practice"
- Raise my profile and be BRILLIANT
WHAT DID I GO THROUGH?
First six months: April-September
- Vison planning crisis and freaking out
- Moved into an office community ( prompted by circumstance rather than actually seeking it – never the less………………)
- Re-evaluation of financial circumstances as a result of now having an office…….. and more freaking out
- Re-evaluation of client base – who do I HAVE – who do I WANT
Second six months: October-March
- Being overwhealmed by all the big changes I had made quickly and marinating on what still needed to happen and wondering HOW on earth to do this
- Actively networking, researching, educating myself and planning for making changes (working out roughtly what, how and when I needed to do things)
- Trying to stay positive, working and brilliant despite the realities of a SLOW first quarter
Last three months: April – June
- Complete redevelopment of my web and on-line marketing
- Working with my NEW clients and presenting and consulting to a new range of businesses
- Becoming a mentor to a new business owner
- Planning and implementing the change over of my business entity
- Revising my entire work practices
- Networking and making contacts
- Maintaining a full workload of work
- Relaunch of website, blog and new business on 1 July.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF CHANGE – SUCCESS!
I’m a completely different person today in so many ways – and can appreciate the agonising and stress associated with realising these Real Changes which have already paid off for me and my business – in spades!
Finally – thanks needs to be given to all of those who help me through this process – from beginning to end. You know who you are – and I’ll never forget how you played a part in my transformation.
NOW – how can I help you through YOUR change process?
Zulu's campaign to promote voice to voice and face to face
July 2, 2008
I used to get a little annoyed at being interupted during my working day by telemarketers and follow up customer service calls. Now I’m not so bugged.
Here’s why.
Businesses that STILL employ and invest in human beings to make contact with other human beings via the telephone deserve a TICK and not us getting CROSS at maintaining this very important marketing and public relations activity.
There STILL is a place for the human touch. These days the art of voice to voice and face to face communications has been sacrificed to email and on-line marketing and technology - to the extent that I believe, is detrimental to building real relationships and understanding amongst people.
Some of the great advantages of on-line communications and technology tools is that it’s instant, can be done en-mass, is a efficient and effective way of doing business and staying in touch with many at all times and is a cheap way to communicate and track communications.
High use of technology can also create distance between human beings. What’s lost is the ability to engage, dialogue, express ourselves, gauge mood, tone, inflection and the opportunity to have the social and human aspects of interaction.
Voice to voice and face to face is a lost art.
- Can you evaluate how much of your communication with others – business or social, travels across the internet instead of the airwaves or face to face?
- Are we not picking up the phone because we are trying to save on phone call charges?
- Is it easier not to "deal" with people (especially with emotional or difficult issues) by firing off an email?
- Does picking up the phone or making time to meet feel like an inconvienience to you?
- How much of your social time involves not seeing your friends or socialising face to face?
- Do you find that people require your immediate response to emails and get offended more if you don’t – than if you take a little bit more time to return a voice mail message?
- Does seeing your friends on Skype or Facebook constitute an acceptable level of "contact" with people that goes toward building and maintaining a relationship?
Don’t sacrifice the HUMAN touch to technology too much!
Businesses who continue to invest in opportunities to interact face to face and voice to voice – I believe, will survive better than those who don’t – WHEN the technology backlash hits. You’ll be relying on the relationships that you have established and the rapport that you’ve built – and the best way to promote that is by investing in the human touch.
Happy New Financial Year! – The month of Sue begins
July 1, 2008
1 July 2008 – Happy New Finanical Year!
This is a great time for every business to start FRESH, reassess, reinvent and rejuvenate their businesses.
JULY is the MONTH of SUE!
July has always been a month of celebration for Sue, celebrating birthdays – both personally and for the business.
Zulu Communications will be 7 years old at the end of July – and the COMING OF AGE celebration is that Zulu Communications has matured and will be come a COMPANY today!
Welcome Zulu Communications PTY LTD
Thanks to all of you who have supported me through the rollercoaster that IS business and self employment over last 7 years of growth – clients, suppliers, associates, family and friends!
I will celebrate today by having lunch with a few close business associates who have helped me keep my sanity (and solvency).
All the best and HAPPY NEW FINANCIAL YEAR!
Sue Liu, Director, Zulu Communications Pty Ltd
ZuluQ: How can you help me develop my logo ?
June 29, 2008
Q: I am in process of developing my logo. How can you help?"
Zulu says:
I work with businesses on the strategic side as well as the creative and implementation side of things.
What does this mean? I help businesses establish what their corporate identity should be and how it will reflect their business, products and services – and come up with a clearly defined brief and plan so that you can then take the next step of working with a Graphic Design professional.
Because this is your business and investment – it’s YOU that need to clearly define what your logo and corporate identity should be – NOT the graphic designer’s.
Zulu helps translate your NOTIONS into reality and because of the knowledge and experience we have with working with all sorts of designers through the processes of production – we also act on behalf of the designer to get the brief and scope established so that they can get on with what they do best – DESIGNING.
You can check out the MANY examples of this on the Corporate Identity Page and see the results and case studies in Zulu’s Client Gallery . The case studies that help further define and describe this process.
ZuluQ: Should we align our brand to a parent company?
June 29, 2008
Q: " We are a distributor and have a parent company, we are looking at our logo. Should we align ourselves with them in terms of colour and brand or develop our own?"
Zulu Says:
You need to look at your overall strategy for YOUR business in order to make those decisions.
You may end up distributing products for other companies or different ranges of products – to align yourself too closely to one parent company could be disadvantageous to you and the future growth capacity of your business.
Also consider that your LOGOS will sometimes sit side by side – or perhaps your logo would appear in support of the parent company at times. If they look too similar – it may create some confusion.
I suggest a formal review of your business in relation to your key stakeholder relationships, brands and products in order to make this kind of decision. Being clear on how it all relates will give you more control and confidence about making that critical decision.
ZuluQ: Do I need a logo?
June 29, 2008
Q: Does every business need a logo?
Zulu says:
Do you understand what at logo is and how it will help to differentiate your business and products from ALL that is out there competing for attention?
Having a logo is only PART of your corporate identity which makes up the FACE of your business.
Let’s look at the elements that make up a LOGO
For example: In the case of Zulu’s Logo
- The doll is the icon
- The Zulu text is an icon
- The the name of my business is an element also
- In its entirety – they represent Zulu’s logo
The business name on its own is a version of the Zulu Logo that is used and applied independant of the doll icon . I refer to this as a SUB LOGO and have strict controls over where and how I use and represent both of these elements. The sub logo has ICONIC elements to it ( the ZULU bit)
Many companies choose not to develop and ICON in preferece to just the business or product name. However its HOW you do this and represent it that BECOMES your logo.
The question really is then – does a business or product need an ICON… the answer is – not really. It’s completely up to you.
Just remember – CONSISTENCY is the KEY when you are applying your LOGO, managing and developing your corporate identity.
Have a look at the logos Zulu has created and also read more about developing corporate identity.
Sue Liu presents on Developing Corporate Identity – please contact Sue for further information.
Get creative with your email address
June 27, 2008
Ok – so after my little rant about having your email reflect your business more appropriately.
Larger businesses often have to have these lengthy protocols because they have so many employees to differentiate – but we don’t have to being small businesses!
Here’s a few tips about getting a bit more creative and simplifying your email addresses.
GENERAL EMAIL ADDRESSES
Here are some of the popular general email addresses. There is NOTHING wrong with having these general email addresses – but in my opinion – they’re a bit boring, passive and BEIGE.
- info@
- sales@
- enquire@
Depending on the type of business you operate or services you provide – you could make your email address a bit more descriptive and dynamic by having an email adress like:
- wine@ ( for a liquor store)
- exercise@ ( for a gym or personal trainer
- create@ ( for a designer or artist)
- mortgages@ (for a mortgage broker)
- events@ (for event organiser)
- greathealth@ (for a healthcare business)
YOUR NAME IN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
Having your name in your email address is a great way to introduce yourself to people and get them used to you – the person @ the business. Your name in your email will:
- indicate that you personally will receive your emails rather than it going to a general enquiry account.
- communicate that this is your personal and direct email recieved and read only by you and not lost in a system or read by an assistant
- be easier to remember and is best kept short and simple. If you can lose the (. )and the (-) in your address – it does make it easier for people to remember and get right! Here are some examples:
- kevin@yourbusiness.com
- kevinwalker@yourbusiness.com
- kevinw@yourbusiness.com
- walkerk@yourbusiness.com
- kevin.walker@yourbusiness.com
- kevin-walker@devinewines.com.au
Simple and straight forward is the best – and easier to remember!
The above options are certainly better than ISP and freemail accounts like:
- kevin@hotmail
- kevin@gmail
- kevin@telstra
- kevin@iprimus
What do you think?
Zulu's Campaign to STOP advertising ISP and "Freemail" in your email
June 27, 2008
I’ve just finished entering email addresses from businesses into my database and a staggering 60% of these businesses are still advertising their ISP or freemail accounts and NOT their business!
STOP IT!!!
The likes of Telcos and "FREEMAIL" services don’t need anymore promotion – it’s your business that does!
Here are some examples of ISP and freemail account emails:
- kevin@hotmail
- kevin@gmail
- kevin@telstra
- kevin@iprimus
You will present a far more professional image by making this simple change – it will reinforce to you your customers and associates that you do MEAN BUSINESS.
kevin@yourbusiness.com.au is MUCH better!
- Using a hotmail or gmail account indicates hestiancy, lack of permanence or committment to your business.
- If you have a domain name (website address)- there is NO excuse to not have your email address consistent with your domain. You should be offered at least 5 mailbox accounts with your hosting – some package even offer up to 100!
- If you don’t yet have a domain name registered for your business- you can register a .com.au domain for as little as $35.00 for two years.
- I’ve found hosting for around $4 a month that provides plenty of server space and more mailboxes than you’ll ever need.
- Setting up your email to be received at home in your inbox is so easy – and you’ll also have webmail access.
- All of these costs are tax deductible as it’s part of the operation of your business
Taking this next small step in your business will make you look and feel so much more professional and it’s part of getting serious about your business.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR????
Here are some tips about getting creative with your email addresses:
