Over the past month, I’ve talked with three different women business owners who are reaching important milestones in their business this year – either their first year in business, their fifth or their tenth!
When I asked each of them “What are you planning to do to celebrate?” They all shrugged their shoulders, mumbled a bit and said “Yes, I guess I should do *something*…”
Here’s the deal…
With all of the stress and overwhelm in our day to day lives, we need more fun, laughter, love and joy in our lives – and in our businesses. And planning celebrations (big and small) is a great way to do it!
Perhaps you read last week’s article Celebrate the Little Things where my virtual assistant, Danielle, and I were celebrating two solid years of publishing our e-zine! A small victory, but worthy of celebration no less. I had a lot of readers e-mail me to say “You’re right, Elizabeth, I really do need to celebrate the little things more!”
Don’t you enjoy being invited to a birthday party? I sure do!
Isn’t it FUN when someone says “Hey, we’re celebrating an anniversary over here – want some cake?”
Or “Woo hoo! We just hit some sales goals! Let’s go grab lunch and revel in our success!”
The truth is, the world is CRAVING more things to celebrate. So let me give you some ideas to make celebration a bigger part of your business strategy!
7 Ways to Make Celebration Part of Your Business Strategy
1. Celebrate Your Anniversaries Publicly. If you’re celebrating one, five, ten or twenty years in business, let everyone know! Put up a sign in your office. Put a banner on your website or your email signature. Throw a party! Whatever you do, share it with your clients and they’ll love to celebrate with you. (When I celebrated 15 years in business two years ago, I threw a Gratitude Festival on Facebook. Search #gratitudefestival15 and you’ll see all the posts I did during the month of August 2015 related to it!)
2. Acknowledge Milestone Events for your clients. Birthday, anniversaries, weddings, births of children, retirements… they are all special events for your clients. Call them, send them an email or use a cool program like Send Out Cards to send personalized greeting cards!
3. Host an employee appreciation day/week/month where you celebrate the successes of your people. Bring donuts into the office, take everyone out to lunch, send flowers or give gift certificates for Starbucks.
4. Host a client appreciation day/week/month where you celebrate your client successes. Share their stories and testimonials publicly (with their permission of course). Thank them for being loyal customers by hosting a morning coffee gathering or a late afternoon “happy hour”. Give them fun presents or simply hand write sincere thank you notes.
5. Celebrate any media mentions – If you get some great TV coverage, an article written about you or any other time in the spotlight, tell your friends! Have you ever walked into a restaurant that’s gotten a good review in the local newspaper and the article is framed hanging in the front entryway? There’s a reason for that! They are celebrating the public recognition AND they are telling you, their customers, that “Hey, people think the food’s great here!”
6. Share the news about any awards you’ve received. A realtor client/friend of mine received a top award nationally last year and she wasn’t planning on sharing it on Facebook because she doesn’t relish being in the spotlight. I coached her to present it in a way that allowed her to express gratitude to her clients… “Thank you so much to my amazing clients who helped to make this possible” – It’s possible to share your successes and still be humble.
7. Announce any new trainings or degrees – If you got a graduate degree, completed a certification course, completed a really cool continuing education class or anything in that vein, your clients want to know that you are always learning more in your field and applying what you’ve learned to help them solve their problems! Be sure to share that news with them!
Oprah said, “The more you celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate!”
I totally agree.
What celebrations will you be planning now that you’ve got some fresh new ideas?
Elizabeth