Brighter Marketing

Siobhan and I went to a networking event in Bradford on Friday night, where we heard two really good speakers who had some great messages for us to take away with us. Which we thought we would share with you, as they could really help your business in 2009. The first speaker was John Hotowka, a Laughter Dinner Speaker who uses magic to communicate business messages. His speech was all about asking for help, and how important it is in your business life to ask for help when you need it. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness it just means that you are stuck and need some outside impetus to help you move forward.

We recently asked for help to launch The Brighter Marketing Bible for Small Businesses,  and we were amazed by the positive feedback we received and the number of people who agreed to help us promote the book. John talked about how in the Magic Circle all the magicians help each other to develop tricks and illusions to make them better and better. So why should it be any different in business? So next time you are stuck or in a rut, ask for help, you may be surprised by the response you get and it could take your business to bigger and brighter places.

The second speaker was Zulfi Hussain MBE, an international Speaker and one of Yorkshire & Humber’s best known and most respected entrepreneurs. He talked about how his life and how after coming to live in the UK when he was eleven, with no English as all, he had built a successful career within the telecoms industry as well as running several businesses and being involved in charity.His message was really clear, stop procrastinating and just take action to get your business moving or get your business idea of the ground. And more importantly take the simplest route.

He talked about how during the Space Race, Nasa asked the question “How can we develop a pen that writes in space?”. They spent six months and millions on developing a pen that would in zero gravity conditions.  The Russians however asked a different question “How can we write in space?”, and guess what, they used a pencil!

So sometimes the answer is just there staring you in the face, it’s just a case of asking the right question. Zulfi said there was no such thing as “no”, it was just about asking a series of questions until you got the answer “yes”. So if you are struggling with an issue in your business, then ask yourself, “Am I asking myself the right question?”, if i re-phrased it or changed the focus, would I get the answer I looking for? And the answer is quite possible yes!