There are two concepts to embrace, that are well within your power to do, which will turn you into a powerhouse of energy and turbo charge your business.
Love what you do.
Take action.
Hard to believe, isn’t it, that two such simple concepts can do so much for you.
Do you love what you do? Do you love any part of what you do in your business?
If you don’t, you’re in big trouble. Because loving what you do is what gets you across the line when the going gets tough. It’s what sees you through the darkness when things start to stall.
Physiologically, your body is a chemistry set. Every time you do something, you’re sending messages to your brain in the form of neurotransmitters. They give instructions to your brain to either release or suppress particular hormones.
When you feel fear, your brain releases adrenalin. To give you the energy boost you need to fight – or ‘flight’- the situation.
Adrenalin is a stress hormone. And too much adrenalin without the opportunity to burn it off with flight, creates unchecked, increased heart rate and feelings of anxiety.
If you don’t love what you’re doing, I have a feeling this is how you feel most of the time. Isn’t it?
When you feel depressed, your brain suppresses the hormones that add vitality to your life. The hormones we’ll talk about below that put a zing in your step.
When you love what you do, your brain is releasing dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine into your system. Exactly the same hormones that are released when you fall in love.
These are the pleasure hormones. It’s a chemical cocktail that gives you a natural high.
Winning the lottery, scoring your first big sale, the birth of your child are all occasions when these hormones are raging through your body. You love life and every day is a blessing.
You can tell when people love what they do. They speak with enthusiasm. They find a reason to take action. They have a vitality about them that’s almost like an aura.
And they can’t help but be successful. Their love of what they do keeps them at the coalface, constantly chipping away, until the light at the end of the tunnel appears and bathes them in sunshine.
This isn’t a fairytale. Everyone has dark days.
Thomas Edison did more than 10,000 experiments before he perfected the light bulb. But during his gloomiest moments of self doubt, his passion for his work motivated him to do one more, and another one, and one more again, of those 10 thousand plus experiments.
Until he reached the moment when - there was light!
I’ve seen first hand how love of your craft makes people glow.
Penny Stevens and Rob Ingram of Awarehouse Communications in Cobbora NSW are long standing friends.
Penny Stevens is a powerhouse publicist. She’s the force behind the publicity that makes the Schools Spectacular we see every year on the ABC such an outstanding event.
Rob Ingram is a renowned and well respected wine and food journalist.
Rob also has another identity. He’s the Country Squire for Australian Country Style magazine. My call to Australian Country Style confirms what I suspected. That Rob receives copious quantities of fan mail for his articles.
Rob’s Country Squire Page is a labour of love. And it shows with every article. He keeps us informed about Penny, The Chosen One; Barney the Retriever, his second love in life; and the locals in his extended community out in the bush.
Talk to Rob about the Country Squire, and his face lights up, his talk is animated and he softly chuckles about the goings on in his community. The pleasure cocktail is flowing through his body.
Penny is an edgier person than Rob. Not as laid back. But down to earth and firmly grounded about what matters in life.
Penny and Rob relocated to their country home on a permanent basis in 2006.
The local community admires Penny’s prowess as a publicist. So they approached her to promote the Dunedoo Open Garden Day in October 2007.
There was one major problem, though. Only one garden was fit to be open. All the other regulars were decimated by the extended drought. But the garden organisers thought Kylie’s garden looked terrific and they should go ahead.
Penny put everything she had into this project. She mobilised magazines, newspapers and even got Reg Kidd, The ABC’s garden presenter, to be there on the day. Everyone was talking about the Dunedoo Open Garden Day.
500 people came to visit Kylie’s garden. The day raised $10,000 for charity.
And Penny’s jubilation produced a chemical cocktail that kept her on a natural high for days afterward.
This is what happens when you love what you do.
You figure out how to convince the public that it’s worth their while to drive from far and wide to visit one garden.
You figure out how to convince Reg Kidd from the ABC that it’s worth his while to appear on the day to talk about one garden.
You figure out the angle that’s most appealing to the magazines, newspapers, radio and TV so they publicise your Open Garden Day event featuring just one garden.
A lesser publicist would have walked away from this. But Penny loves what she does and couldn’t resist the challenge.
There’s more than one Guerrilla From The Bush and we’ve all learned that anything’s achievable.
What do you love about your business? All you need to do is identify one element that really switches you on. And then turn that into an asset that you can grow with, capitalise on, and use to move you forward.
I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.
Take care,
CAROL
To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com. We’ve developed markets for 6 products without national or international retail distribution.
Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.
A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.
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