Blog Post

Are you in touch with the people around you?

Tracy Pyke • Sep 12, 2018

Are you AWARE? As artists and branders we are asked to heighten our awareness for our clients, and as such, it touches other areas of our life as well.

My friend Jane Bishop, Business Coach with Take the Next Step, taught a group of us the other day about Closing the Gap in business. One of the things she talked about was the 5 A's of Closing the Gap.

The first A is Awareness.

It struck me that one of the most spoken about topics regarding GAPS in the small business realm is the fact that prospects, clients and even associates around those businesses are not AWARE of services, skill sets, and even tools that a business can provide them.

Do people really take the time to look at a person's business card and find out what they have to offer as a business? Do they really know what a friend or an associate does on an on-going basis for their own circle of "FANS". Sometimes the answers people are seeking are right in front of them and yet, it eludes most people because we are taught to be inward seeking and often forget to be others-oriented.

Regarding AWARENESS , I also realize that people in general feel a sense of loneliness and detachment on a regular basis because of several factors:
  1. Technology - although it is necessary for many of our businesses, it also causes people to be disconnected in real life because they choose to let the tool distract them. Cell Phones are a great example of of this.
  2. Busy-ness - Business and jobs create a whirlwind scenario of to do's and tasks that cause people to push aside the ability to stop and really look at others and what is going on with them.
  3. Personal challenges - As the family unit has spread apart and people live so far away from each other these days, things that in the past would have been solved by having a caring family member around to assist is just not the case anymore. People that tend to do better in these scenarios have intentionally created a mastermind of people around them that they can go to in good times and bad.
I guess what I am ruminating over is that AWARENESS is a choice. It is the first step in closing a gap in many areas.

I would suggest an exercise for any business owner over the next week. Make a list of those people that make up that casual network around your business. List people that stand out or look at the business cards that you have taken and really look at them. Write out those things that you think they do and how it might affect your business in a positive way. Don't let time get in your way...this can take you 15 minutes to do... what you are doing is creating AWARENESS for yourself and your business. As you do this more often, you will find that you do it automatically and it will become second nature.

If you desire assistance with this, contact my friend Jane Bishop at Take the Next Step.... https://takethenextstepcct.com/

Awareness is the first step towards closing the business gap and as she would say, "Go for your it!".

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