How to confront failure.

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” This is a popular quote that is used to define success and it is attributed to the great Winston Churchill, who was no stranger to both failure and success. In the quote, there is no success without failure. The two go hand in hand, however, failure typically has a negative association when used in general conversation.  But it doesn’t necessarily have to be negative. At iVBS, we believe that failure can have positive value for business owners and entrepreneurs. It really depends on your mindset and your perspective. Here’s some tips for when you confront failure.

Fear

Fear of failing is something that all of us have. All of us have egos and all of us fear bruising our egos. That’s why some people never fulfill the massive potential they have. Fear of embarrassment or public opinion can paralyze individuals from making decisions that benefit them over time. Ultimately, as humans, we have to do things that we fear in order to grow. Fear is the glass ceiling that prevents you from actualizing your dreams. Accept your fear and recognize that it is integral to finding out who you are as a person. Take the first step towards confronting failure by accepting it for what it is.

Failure is not final

An important part of overcoming failure is to remember that failure is not final unless you let it be final. When we fail at something, it’s easy to allow negative self-talk to pervade our future endeavors. It’s critical that you prevent yourself from wallowing in the mentality of “I’m not good enough, I
wasn’t good enough last time so I’m not good enough this time” Failure can be a self-perpetuating cycle and only you have the ability to break the cycle of negativity. When confronted with the prospect of failure, realize that it is a learning opportunity. Failure is only final if you continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

Resilience

Overcoming failure is dependent on the ability to “bounce back”. Barbara Corcoran, of “Shark Tank” fame, once said that she noticed that there was one difference between salespeople that make $40,000 and $80,000. That difference was the ability of her $80,000 sales team to stop feeling bad about screwing up a sale and moving on to the next one. That type of determination is not as common as you would think, but if you learn it, you will have a great advantage over others.

All entrepreneurs and business owners will have to confront failure. It is the gatekeeper that prevents you from continuing your entrepreneurial journey. Accept it, overcome it, and bounce back from it. I’d love to hear your experience with failure so please submit your stories either by email or in my comment box.  If you’d like to discuss some strategies on overcoming failure, please don’t hesitate to schedule a Free 30 Minute Consultation with me on my time trade schedule!

iVirtual Business Services is your Operational & Administrative Solution…
because you deserve work/life balance. 

Email Newsletters and how they can help your brand

Email newsletters are a critical part of any email marketing campaign. Email is the most efficient and effective way for a business owner to grab the attention of customers and prospects and a newsletter is a useful tool for leverage the power of email marketing.  A newsletter is a chance for business owners and entrepreneurs to engage with their supporters, customers, or prospects. It allows an individual to share content, update customers on new initiatives or products, invite people to events, and send blog posts to your email list.

What is a newsletter?

A newsletter is a scheduled email that goes out at a specific time and date in a repetitive cycle. A newsletter can be sent on a weekly, bimonthly, monthly, quarterly, or annual schedule, depending on whether you have the relevant content prepared to be sent out according to your schedule. Newsletters frequently contain information such as, but not limited to: call to actions, sale of products or services, relevant industry updates, new business announcements, invitation to events or webinars, and blog posts.  It’s a chance for you, as the business owner, to grab the attention of everyone on your email list and remind them about your business. It’s also a great opportunity to build up your brand. Newsletters can make or break a company due to its ability to influence your marketing efforts or your brand perception.

How do I effectively use Newsletters?

The first step to effective newsletter management is to establish a consistent schedule for your newsletter. People appreciate consistency and if your newsletter comes to their inbox at the same time of the same day on a reoccurring schedule, then it’s easier for you to build up a dedicated newsletter reader base. The corollary of that is that if your newsletter scheduling is inconsistent, then people will forget about your newsletter. 

The second step to effective newsletter management is to create compelling content. People are bombarded with emails every day. The easiest way to create loyal readers is to create content that interests them. Compelling content revolves around creating value for individuals. Remember that, as a business owner, what you believe is valuable to readers doesn’t necessarily mean that it is valuable to them.  It’s important that you occasionally ask for feedback from your readers to see what types of content they enjoy so you can gradually improve your content. 

The third step to effective newsletter management is to identify what time and day is best for improving open and click through rates for your emails. Email marketing open rates are an indicator of how many people on your list open your email. It is an early indicator of how successful your email newsletter campaigns. Click through rates are an indicator of how many people, who have opened your email already, are clicking through any hyperlinks inside your email newsletter. This statistic shows a business owner how engaged your readers are with your content. High click through rates and higher open rates imply that your newsletter is successful in engaging with your email lists. Identify which times of the day and what day is the most successful in driving high open rates and high click through rates. You may have to experiment to figure out what works best for your prospect demographic, but the rewards are worth it. 

How can a VA assist me with my newsletter?

An experienced Virtual Assistant has the requisite experience and knowledge for creating compelling email newsletters. A Virtual Assistant can: assist in creating the content, design the newsletter, create systems and schedules to streamline your newsletter campaigns, and analyze and improve the open and click through rates.  Virtual Assistants can manage your email lists by: adding or deleting subscribers identify unsubscribes or delete bounced email addresses, and segment your email lists into hot or cold leads.

If you have any questions on email newsletters and what they can do for your business, please don’t forget to schedule a free 30 minute consultation with me! Email newsletters are a powerful tool for any marketing department or individual, so schedule a consultation and learn more about how to effectively use and manage newsletter campaigns!

iVirtual Business Services is your Operational & Administrative Solution…
because you deserve work/life balance.