Q&A Inspiration for the New Year
“Write when you are in the mood to write.” Some of my favorite advice to give people who procrastinate, or worse, skip their regular blogging and social media updates.
As a lover of words, I love putting pen to paper or fingers to keys. It’s therapeutic. It’s how I express myself. And it’s an amazing release of brain energy – not in a draining way but in a good way. Many times, like you, I ignore this urge, moving onto more tactical work and depriving myself of the contact high I tend to get from words. But today is different. Today inspiration found me with 15 minutes to spare and with something truly exciting to talk about.
Q: What is it that has me inspired?
A: Buzz.
You know that feeling… when something is stirring within your organization. A buzzing of something good about to happen. The days when you can almost hear things falling into place with your team, projects, products, strategic plans… that’s today. There is a definite buzz at Ampersand about what is to come this year.
Q: What creates buzz?
A: Process. Risk. Creation. Fresh Plans. New Business. Change. Environment.
In the past few months we’ve announced a new office space, honed some key processes within our organization, recruited two new team members, Brock and Brian, and are planning the launch of a new service to help our clients grow their businesses.
What’s more, this is the time of year when our clients start to rev their engines back up again. There’s an odd thing that happens in our business in November and December – a time filled with a lot of debate over calendars, plans, and budgets for the upcoming marketing initiatives of the New Year. It’s stressful for yours truly, and frustrating for our team who sits in a holding pattern until budgets are approved. By the time the clock chimes midnight on New Years Eve, we’re all ready to get back to the real work of creating real results. With client marketing plan kickoff meetings happening the first few weeks of the year, things are again starting to buzz here at Ampersand.
We’ve even reorganized our current office space – which has become quite cozy with 7 bodies in it – to make work more conducive until we can all stretch our legs a bit. Amazing how such a little change created a great collaborative common area, despite our desperate proximity to each other these days.
Q: What is the best thing about buzz?
A: It eats fear for lunch.
Let’s face it, being an entrepreneur is scary. I’m not about to use the phrase “It’s lonely at the top”. That’s too melodramatic. But, blazing a trail into unmarked territories such as growing a team, owning commercial real estate, and launching new services has kept me up a night or two. Compared to the stress of Q4 marketing plan season filled with worries, and fears… Buzz is louder. Buzz makes that fear fade into the distance. It drives your passion and energy levels back up again so you can continue to innovate, grow and run forward at a pace fitting for your true entrepreneurial drive.
Q: How do you make things buzz in your own organization?
A: Listen for a little buzz, then get the whole hive doing it.
You may not hear it, but somewhere, faintly, either in a corner office or a cubicle, there’s probably already a little buzz about what could be this year. Listen for it, let yourself be drawn into the rhythm and start buzzing along. Watch for groups of 2-3 people at the water cooler, not just chatting about their weekend plans, but buzzing about a new product, service or goal they are working towards. Get involved, help the buzz grow until the whole hive is chiming in!
If you can’t find the buzz already started in your organization, then you might have to circle back to the question “What creates buzz?” Where can you improve processes to make everyone’s lives easier and your product better? What risks do you need to take in order to create new opportunity? How can you invigorate a stale plan of action to create something fresh in your organization? What types of new business prospects are you missing in your client mix? What do you need to change in your business or your office environment to help generate buzz?
And, if you are feeling stuck and need someone to help get the buzzing going again, give us a call. Be it marketing, sales, PR, branding, or more, we’d love to help you Reach Your Full Brand Potential.
