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How to stay committed to your PR Goals

How to stay committed to your PR Goals

If you follow me on social media, you would have seen that I recently went to Germany for my friend's beautiful wedding.

In the few weeks leading up to her big day, my dear friend and soon-to-be bride, Kelly, asked if I could read a prayer at her ceremony. I was honoured, and of course, I said YES!

My first thought when she asked me was that all I needed to do was read a verse from The Bible. I was a little mistaken and would soon realise this, thanks to a message from the best man. Fast-forward to a couple of messages later, and worry starting to kick in (lol), I learned that it wasn't a reading of the word that Kelly needed from me. She wanted me to write a few lines that I would say in front of the congregation!

I won't lie; I was a little nervous because I was wondering what I could possibly say to the bride and groom. So, I took a few days to think about it, and these are the words that came to my heart and landed on my page:

How prayer drives PR success

How prayer drives PR success

I come from at least 3 generations of dreamers on my mum’s side. My grandma was a dreamer, mum is and so am I in that our dreams tend to be meaningful and/or prophetic.

In November 2016, I went to bed one Saturday night and woke up on Sunday to the sound of my friend and “big brother,” Daryl, calling me. As soon as he asked how I was, I said “I think God wants me to start a blog”.

I don’t remember all the details of the dream now, but I remember that I felt that I should be interviewing other Christian women to get their views on their favourite women of the Bible and so on in order to dismantle traditional norms around womanhood. Why? Because I saw a Human’s of New York style platform in my dream very vividly and I remembered every detail at the time- which is usually a sign that my dream means something or is about to come true.

Voicing that out loud is what led me to actually beginning the process of launching my platform because Daryl, also being spiritual’s, response was “Well, I don’t know why you’re still on the phone to me. Get started and don’t call me back unless you’ve got results”. Knowing that he was deadly serious and that he’d cuss me out if I didn’t make a move, I got to work.

What this coffee shop experience taught me about using your voice

What this coffee shop experience taught me about using your voice

A few weeks ago, I was at my local coffee shop doing some work when I noticed a man approach a girl sat in the corner a short distance from me.

The horrible thing about her being in the corner like that was that she was hemmed in with nowhere to go.

 

I couldn't hear exactly what he was saying but I could hear that she was telling him to leave but he was just talking and talking and talking, not seeming to pay any of what she said any mind.

 

I looked over at her and she was very clearly uncomfortable. I’ve been in that sort of situation and it's horrible when you’re being harassed, and no-one does anything. So, I tried to get her to look at me, but her eyes were focused on him for fear of what he would do.

 

I then waved my hand and asked "Are you okay? Do you need help?" And she said, "Yeah." So I said…

How to set PR goals

How to set PR goals

About 5 years ago me and my (then) best friend spent a week or so in France

Mainly in Paris

One day we decided to take a day trip to Calais that almost ended in disaster

We had spent a lovely day at an art exhibition and exploring the city a bit before we finally made our way back to the station

As soon as we arrived we looked at the board and could see our train; then, about 5 minutes later, we noticed that it started flashing

Not knowing what this meant and also concerned that none of the others were flashing...

We finally decided to ask one of the station employees what this meant

The issue was that, unlike in Paris, most of the people in Calais didn't speak English

The train guard spoke very little English; so called over 2 of his colleagues

Between our broken French, their broken English and a lot of pointing to our tickets and the board, we were finally able to get them to understand that we wanted to go back to Paris but the train that we wanted was flashing and we needed to know why?

"Aaah," the original guy answered, "c'est supprimer!"

Me and my friend looked at each then back at him in confusion

"Supprimer?" We asked in unison

"oui, c'est supprimer" he repeated again

Sensing that we didn't understand, he turned to his 2 companions to see if they knew the English equivalent to "supprimer". One of them thought for a second and then said "cancelled". "Cancelled?!" We echoed aghast. "Oui, cancelled". He asserted again

I about passed out with visions of us being stranded in Calais. We were counting on that train to connect us to another. If we missed that one, how would we get back to Paris? We didn't have enough money for a hotel in Calais...

My spiral of panic was then interrupted by the guards pointing to the board and then to the map to show us another route that we could take back to Paris

We remained nervous about getting kicked off the train for being on the wrong route throughout the journey but, lo and behold, their instructions came in very handy and we didn't have to sleep in the street in a strange city where we didn't know the language.

Knowing where you want to go but not knowing how to get there has to be one of the most frustrating things ever! This is something that I remember feeling at the beginning of my content marketing journey as well

You see...

2 common brand clarity mistakes (and how to avoid them)

2 common brand clarity mistakes (and how to avoid them)

When we hear the word "branding" it can be tempting to reduce it down to things like logos and colours but it's much more than that, sis.

Your logo and colours on pretty graphics etc are the superficial things that might initially attract people to your brand but your content is what will make people stick around and, ultimately, want to work with you. This is why brand clarity is so important- it ensures that you not only attract leads but can retain them and convert them to customers.

This is also why it's super important to make sure that you don't make these 2 brand clarity mistakes:

How to get your Joy Back

How to get your Joy Back

Chile, this week has been a lot!

Like seriously…

Recently, I talked about the fact that faith increases our capacity to succeed

Click here if you missed that, sis!

But did you know that you have other capacities too?

For example:

A) Mental capacity

The ability to make your own decisions

B) Emotional capacity

The ability to overcome limiting beliefs, your ease in adapting to challenging situations, and the quality of your relationships

C) Physical capacity

The ability to perform a variety of physical tasks

In the wake of such trying times, we run the risk of running low in one or more of these capacities

Which will then have knock-on effects on our ability to walk in purpose because…

As the saying goes, “you can’t pour from an empty cup” and this is really clearly illustrated in 2nd Kings 4:1-7

in which the woman literally took empty vessels, poured oil into them until they were full and then distributed the oil for profit.

2nd Timothy 2:21 says that we are “vessels of honour” so, like the widow did with hers, we need to make sure to fill ourselves up before we pour out to others. Here are 20 ways that I have been doing that this week:

Apart from the typical advice of praying and reading the Bible, in between, work, I have been doing one or more of the following each day:

How to have a Successful New Year

How to have a Successful New Year

Last week we talked about 3 disempowering life and business beliefs

Remember that, sis?

As we stand at the beginning of a new year, I think it’s important that we discuss how to make it a success

If you’re anything like me, you’ve entered this year with a set of goals and things that you would like to achieve

Here are 4 lessons that we can learn from the widow in 2nd Kings 4:1-7 about how we can do that:

Lessons from Esther on how to get on the radar of influencers in your industry/niche

Lessons from Esther on how to get on the radar of influencers in your industry/niche

There are some seats at the table that you have to be invited to rather than create yourself

This is known as vertical networking. For example, Esther would not have been able to get her audience with the king and save her people if she hadn’t first gotten on his radar as described in Esther 5:1-2:

“Now it happened on the third day [of her fast] that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne... So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favour in his sight, and… Esther went near [to speak to him]”

But how do we get close enough to the influencers within our industries to get on their radars in this new digital age?

How do we get to their inner courts, so to speak?

By being an asset to them and/or they’re community through: