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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Mandy Wichert. I think snow days are a good excuse for a pajama party and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’ve got some big news that I’ll be sharing. I’ll also be discussing how to make your business stand out and find the best clients and staff.
Here’s an interesting fact about work: On an average work day in America, there are 17 million meetings! In the last 20 years, working time has increased by 15% and leisure time as decreased by 33%.
Friday Forum
I want you to be a part of the Friday Forum! Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278.
What I Learned Yesterday:
In the past few weeks, my life has taken some dramatic turns. With the combination of our decision for me to stay home with our children while simultaneously moving into a new home, our financial situation changed drastically. We have been stretched thin recently, but were making cuts necessary to be able to maintain life as we knew it. We did the things people normally do when faced with financial strain. We cut extras, trimmed fat and eliminated all extra spending. We quit eating out, and began shopping in more budget friendly ways as well.
Clint and I were beginning to feel like ducks – smooth sailing on top of the water while our legs kicked furiously underneath, unseen. Earlier this month, the situation reached a breaking point, and the tidal pool we’ve been staying afloat in, almost swallowed us whole. We prayed, hard. I had faith that God would be able to provide for us in unconventional ways, but was unsure what those ways would be. I had been casually looking for part-time work, but Clint revealed to me that I would need to take on a full-time position search instead, to help get our family over the hump. I was disappointed, but after looking at our situation, I agreed that it was our best option.
I began updating my resume and filling out extensive online paperwork for multiple companies two Fridays ago, and by that evening I had already scheduled three interviews for the following Monday. Monday came with an ice storm, but I managed to make it out anyway. I had marketed myself to the best of my ability, and fortunately, my skill set was in high demand. By the following day, I had multiple offers and other interviews scheduled. I frantically began searching for child care and was discouraged at first to find that my children would likely have to be at three different facilities to meet my childcare needs. It was stressful, but I enlisted more prayer and continued to keep looking. Eventually, my previous childcare provides contacted me and were able to make room for my two oldest children, which was a huge relief and my youngest found a place at her previous provider as well. I came to Clint exhausted by the whirlwind, but somehow resting in the fact that all of the chaos had been settled so quickly.
As I told Clint about my possible job prospects, he said something that surprised me. I began telling him about my discussion with the different companies, and was going over the pros and cons of each position. I also shared with him the things that had me excited about the different positions. One company I interviewed with was so passionate about their vision that it was contagions. The manager insisted that she only wanted the “A-Team” and she was determined to find them. She had hired some well-known and well-respected people within my community and made sure that I knew who they were. She also made sure that I was interested in growing as a clinician and spoke to me of her goals within the context of her clinic and also expounded on her hopes that she would be able to become a successful non-profit soon and wanted to foster a place for research in the field.
As she spoke of all of the potential places her company would go, she really had me interested and excited. The other company I spoke to also had high aspirations and spoke to me of the growth they desired in their near future. They hoped to expand soon and were looking to change their practice’s focus and direction in a major way. I would be on the ground floor of this change and I would be given room to grow. She had a folder on her desk that said “Big Dreams” and I asked about it. The hiring manager there told me that they had been in discussions with an architect to expand their clinic, and as she pointed out the window to where the prospective site would sit, she laid it out for me and told me about her goals for growth.
As I recounted these stories to Clint, he pointed out that it was interesting that while I was the one being interviewed and trying to sell myself, they had done a masterful job of selling themselves to me. I was thrilled to have found such great opportunities and felt like whichever decision I made would be a good one. It made me reflect on the importance of selling yourself as a business. When these companies brought me in to interview me, they were not only sizing me up to determine whether I was a good fit for them, they were also making sure that I would be excited and passionate about their vision and direction. They wanted me to be sold on their companies and their enthusiasm for their own ventures was contagious.
What Did I Learn?
We all know that marketing is paramount to success as a company, but I learned from this process that it’s important to always be sharing your vision with those you are bringing into the fold. If you plan on getting excellent people that are engaged and excited about where you are going, you have to be willing to share your vision and passion with them. By the time these interviews concluded I walked away hoping they would choose me, hoping I could be a part of their vision and part of the team that helped them to fulfill it. I also felt that by choosing only one I would be walking away from something great. Obviously, I still had to make a decision and the factors like time, schedule, work environment, salary and expectations came into effect. Going forward though, I’m excited about my new position and the role I’ll play in my company’s grand plan.
I wanted to share this with you because I know many of you are entrepreneurs, running small businesses on your own. Many of you are selling yourself and your services daily. It’s easy to feel like you are asking people for their sale, but in reality, what you have is highly valuable. I want you to make sure that you believe that and also to make sure that your customer or prospective employee hears that truth when the speak to you. I wanted to challenge you to share your vision with those prospective clients or prospective employees. Help show them what makes you unique. Help share your vision for the future and for where you see your company going. Show them your heart, turn the tables and make them hope that they are picked as clients by you! It’s not just about your product, it’s also about you. Tell them your story. Be compelling. Give them just a taste of what they have to look forward to by partnering with you in your vision. Sell yourself, but don’t sell yourself short!
In conclusion, I wanted to share my news with you. As a result of the big changes in my life, as I again embark on a full-time position as a Speech-Language-Pathologist, I am having to take a small step back from “Stuff I Learned Yesterday”. I hope to have a continuing presence in the SILY community and will still plan to be a regular contributor to this podcast in the future, but how this will look is still is yet-to-be-determined. Darrell and Mark have some other big changes in store, and I’m sure you will be hearing more about those plans in the near future. So for now, I am going to be saying a quick “See you Later” until I get my family and work infrastructure sorted out. In the meantime, I want to thank each and every one of you who have encouraged me along the way in this journey. I am so grateful to have gotten to know many of you through the SILY Facebook community and through your contributions to the Friday Forum. I am very proud of this community and glad that I am able to be a part of it. Be looking for me to come back soon, but in the meantime, share what you know and help others to grow!
I’m Mandy Wichert and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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