Founders Thoughts: The proof of the pudding

Written during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II and before the 2012 Olympics in the middle of a global economic crisis - I thought it worth mentioning, if only to act as a reminder to myself of the extraordinary times I am privileged enough to be a part of. Extraordinary because of the resilience of people during difficult times, not least in their determination to find joy and to win through and, I'm no different...

After a month of intensive tweeting and networking I am quietly pleased with the results as well as optimistic for the future. If you are new to social media, you might like to read my March post 'Connecting you' here on my blogsite and reading my tweets on the subject.

Already something seems to be working in my favour. Followers on twitter have increased, even if they haven't on here - I am aware that some people don't want to be seen to follow anything, others see following as a form of endorsement, I happen to feel it isn't - the police have to watch and follow suspected criminals don't they? Each to their own though, to suit their personal style and preferences.

Analytics show that over 200+ people have been reading this blogsite and been hooking up to the WildeHeads website too and I feel that's not bad for a novice in just over a month for one person who has deliberately not spent a penny on marketing so far (aside from internet connection and a few pence on electricity). It proves these things can work. Much now depends on how to maintain interest as well as finding new things to say to generate more. That could be tricky but not impossible for even a lone-trader - there are always possibilities and solutions so even if I don't have them to hand, at least I know how to look for them.

In addition, I have been working on sources of PAYE work including full-time positions to maximise options as with more options comes more choice. Happily I have one job offer in the bag already and it is flexible enough to fit in with whatever I may wish to marry it too. Just finalising CRB and paperwork. New possibilities for WildeHeads too, although I am not anxious to steam ahead with it - far better I think to take my time and build WildeHeads steadily, selecting as I go which projects I want to do, which I'll put on hold, which are most viable and which are just not feasible for me at the current time. Rushing things can, and often does, lead to inferior services or complete disasters.

While former line managers of mine may be frustrated that I am not interested in climbing the career ladder, I find I have no problem with positioning myself at the level that suits my personality and interests best. It's not written in stone though, as who knows what a polymath such as myself may be inspired by next. Suffice to say I doubt very much that reaching the level of a CEO is something that will ever grab me because I prefer working somewhere between the front line and upper management and always have.

Aside from community and the Arts I have a keen passion and interest in empowerment, communication and psychology - hence my counselling and teaching qualifications and my intention to develop those skills for sheer pleasure - I've found them to be invaluable in any business environment (another plan I have been actively progressing this month). Empowerment for me means not forcing people where they don't want to go, while encouraging people to reach their full potential for and by themselves. We all have personal lives and the work/life balance is, I think, vital to get right in order to be at our best in both environments.

Politics
Quick note about some of my tweets about politicians... no one will be more delighted than I to extol their virtues when I spot them, but I doubt I will ever name names. I happen to have a healthy respect for anyone wishing to enter politics because it must be extremely difficult to even attempt to try to please all the people all the time - I actually think it is impossible.

However, for as long as they continue to bicker about who's to blame for mistakes, dig up dirt about each others private lives that have no relevance to their ability to do their jobs, or fight over who has the best solutions like squabbling children, I'm afraid I will remain largely disinterested and disinclined to even listen. That to me is not only a bad way to market their policies, ideas and solutions but should be beneath them to even consider entering into even when passions run high.

There is one exception - corrupt MPs should always be 'outed'. I will possibly come back to politics in another article at a later date, but for now my current stance is that any time they collectively wish to grow up is fine by me. We do need to note what they are doing so we can make use of the positives or help fix their mistakes. There have been some good things happening, just not enough of them to warrant it hitting my headlines aside from the superb display of oneness over the Queen's Jubilee. I wish we could see that all the time.

What's next?
The likelihood is that my tweeting and networking will be less frequent the busier I get, but as I've already outlined I can always ask for a volunteer to help out if I feel I need or want that help. Options... there are always options.

Coming up soon will be articles on communication and possibly time management - although there's a glut of information available on the net on that already - and who knows what else; I don't. I will not risk providing a schedule for when such things will be posted, simply because I wish to remain flexible enough to respond to whatever is happening at any given point. As a basic rule of thumb I hope to post a new article once a week every Wednesday on here on something that I hope will be helpful in some way, but I won't promise - I might just decide to go for early retirement instead and pootle at pottery! Another option.

Having survived in business during the last recession I know that keeping the money moving is vital and that teamwork and networking can help to reduce not only the longevity of a recession but the severity of it. As I have tweeted, what is a recession if not a war on poverty and economic collapse? It presents us all with the opportunity to excel in how clever we can be with regard to minimising risks and displaying the best side of us - our humanity. We can all do our bit to help progress that.

To clarify, yes I have a few useful connections and a very diverse work history, but no, I have never been at the top of the business chain although I have certainly been assisting those that are, sometimes even directly. I have always admired their skills and talents, but I think will always prefer to remain a behind the scenes type - hence the range of services WildeHeads offers. All I really know for now is that I am enjoying the journey and the process of just exploring - that is actually an understatement... I adore it! I hope you do too.

Connecting You

If you’ve read our first posting you’ll now know all about WildeHeads ethos and services and how it intends to keep you informed. Then came the challenge of how to promote WildeHeads without it costing a fortune.

First stop - see what is available for free to help promote the company. Without a doubt the most invaluable source (we can’t fathom why every business is not using these to their maximum effect) are all the social networking facilities. Looking at the options and learning to understand how they can be used to work in conjunction with each other was very illuminating.

The most well known movers and shakers (at least to us) in the field of social networking are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Blogger.

Facebook is the place where people socialise, for many Facebookers it’s not the place for businesses at all and yet all manner of companies have a page there now and they can befriend thousands to follow them there. It strikes us as highly appropriate for the Arts and for community groups to advertise and get chatting to customers on Facebook.

Why doesn’t WildeHeads have a Facebook page? Quite honestly, because it isn’t necessary at this stage and we are deliberating on what what it would say there that would be different from here, so it’s on hold for the time being.

LinkedIn is the site known to be for business networking. Those only used to Facebook often find it difficult to understand how it does so. Allow me to explain. It is the ‘contacts’ site. Unlike Facebook you don’t set about trying to ‘befriend’ everyone you see there that you’re interesting in connecting with. Why? Because it would be akin to barging into their office while they’re in the middle of a meeting. Some people might not mind you ‘cold calling’ but others may intensely dislike it. If the aim is to get to know someone, annoying them with your first attempt at contact is not smart.

However, there is a way of meeting many like-minded people in your industry by joining in discussion groups and by people you already know introducing you. With regard to discussions it’s generally considered bad form to start with “Hi, let me tell you about my business” or “Can you give me a job please”, but this can vary within the discussion groups itself. On finding a group you like, read a few postings on different topics first to get a feel for how people are communicating.

As it was put to Mel (our founder) by her business adviser, think of it as being at a formal party or perhaps at a conference during a coffee break - you join in the conversation by sharing your views about the topic being discussed. Try not to get too passionate if you can avoid it. Remember the idea is to connect with people and establish new contacts, thereby increasing the number of people who might be able to help with a bit of advice, or potentially increasing your chances of securing a new job or contract, as well as finding people you might want to team up with for all manner of things.

You can notify people about your own activities on your own profile/home page so when people look you up they can see what you’re about. If you’re careful to adhere to these simple guidelines you should be ok.

Twitter is the account to use to encourage people to take an interest in you, your activities and your business, but again it should be more like being at a coffee break at a conference as a general rule of thumb. Here though is the place to start to notify people about your activities e.g. you might be running a fundraising campaign and people might want regular updates on the running total or they might want to know about your latest newsletter or blog... Blogsites are there to inform and the place where you express yourself and can provide the most detail about your latest project or (as we’re doing here) to provide information to clients and customers.

The final link in the chain is your website where you encourage people to buy. LinkedIn supplies the contacts who, if interested can follow you on Twitter which will notify them of your new article on your Blogsite which can prompt them to look at your website. On your website you have a button to direct readers to LinkedIn, Twitter and your Blogsite. It gives customers the choice of what they want to know, in what format and how often. It’s possible for all to be free although we chose to get a website designed for WildeHeads so paid for what we got.

To analyse who’s reading what, and how to really capitalise on every element in that circle, you need an expert in the social networking field who can also help to automate things such as notifications on Twitter.

I deliberately chose this as one of my first articles for a very good reason. Social enterprises and the Arts don’t tend to utilise these free services as much as they could and in such hard times, free advertising and free ways to network and be able to brainstorm our way out of the difficulties we all face seem highly sensible. Once you’ve started using these tools I think you will soon come to appreciate how powerful they can be. At some point professional services are recommended when budgets allow.

In the first week of trading and launching the website, connections have already increased without us putting much effort in, because we’d done the preparation beforehand... but that’s a subject for another blog.