When Neil Armstrong touched down on the moon and made his famous speech, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” he was beautifully illustrating how even the most humongous of undertakings can ultimately be broken down into single steps.
There must have been hundreds of thousands of tiny steps involved in getting man on the moon and yet during many of those there was little to see in terms of progress.
When you run your own business, it is easy to look at competitors or business friends and see them ‘instantly’ get fantastic results. Whether it’s a huge following on Instagram, get great PR or a gorgeous new website but the truth is that behind that fantastic result there were almost certainly hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny steps that led to the amazing result that you are seeing.
While they were going through those hundreds or thousands of steps a huge amount of motivation, consistency and hard work was required. When you can’t see the end it can be really hard to do this.
As it is coming up to Work Wise week (14th-21st May) I want to share 3 things each week between now and then that you could think about implementing in your business. These are small steps today but which could result in giant leaps in a few months time. I am starting to divide my content into 3 levels so that there is something for everyone, regardless of their stage of business, so there is a tip for each level. If you are just starting out or find technology quite overwhelming then just do the quick win, if you are an established business try my everyday essential and if you are pretty comfy with all the tech stuff and looking to raise your game then check the ninja tips.
Today my tip is related to emailing.
Quick Win – Add an email Signature.
This tip is quick to implement and is something that all business owners should be doing for a bit of extra publicity; adding a signature to your email. A signature is the bit at the bottom of an email and usually includes your name, phone number and website address as well as possibly social media links and a logo. If you don’t have this you are missing out on people being able to easily click through to your website or pick up the phone.
If you want to get really fancy you can also add your latest blog post or some pertinent news from your industry. A client who is an HR consultant at www.rewardrisk.co.uk does this really well and is demonstrating her expert status right from the word go. (see below).
Jane Baalam, MCIPD
Director
Reward Risk Management Ltd
07415 974004
Managing your pay and reward to minimise your business risks
The minimum pay rates from 1 April 2017 will be: £7.50 per hour – 25 yrs old+, £7.05 per hour – 21-24 yrs, £5.60 per hour – 18-20 yrs, £4.05 per hour – 16-17 yrs, £3.50 for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over who are in the first year of apprenticeship.
The information in this email is confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you receive this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email from your system immediately. In such circumstances, you must not make use of the email or its contents.
How to Steps
Outlook – Go to File > Options > Mail > Signatures and choose new. Use the text box to write the content and bingo!
Gmail – Choose the cog in the top right hand corner then Settings. Scroll down the front tab (General) till you get to Signature and enter your info.
MacMail – Choose Mail > Preferences, then click Signatures. Click the + button to create your new signature.
Ninja Tip: Take a look at Wisestamp. This is a really cool app that adds a fancy signature to your email wherever you send it from (one of the problems with signatures is that they can be hard to get the same when you send from multiple devices). It adds pictures and links to social media really easily.
What’s on your signature? Have you gone for fancy or simple? Drop me an email so I can see!
Check back on Wednesday for my Everyday Essential Tip…