If you want to grow your business, through the act of giving; this post will give you a few ideas and help you avoid getting the balance wrong!
For almost a week now, the village where I live has been snowed in, with cars unable to move through the worst snow and ice this area has seen in decades. So, a friend and I decided to see how we could get some food to the elderly residents; who couldn’t walk to the nearest shop, around 3 miles away, in such treacherous weather. Thanks to a very helpful farmer, who took us part the way on his tractor, we were able to get to the shop and carry enough bread, milk and eggs to provide our elderly neighbours with some basic food for the next week.
As we delivered the groceries, without exception, we were greeted with; smiles, handshakes, hugs (and even a few kisses!) The actual cost of the groceries was tiny. The amazing response we received came from the intention behind what we did.
The beauty of contribution
People tend to respond extremely positively, when they know that you are doing something to help them, because you genuinely want to contribute. This is something that many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and business owners have known for years.
I help thousands of people every week, through the information I give away here on this blog. As a direct result, I have no need to market my services or advertise my services, beyond 1 single page on this site, which explains what I do. That’s it! By simply giving as much away for free as I can, I have a highly successful business, numerous income streams and a world-wide readership.
That’s because giving opens up the process of receiving.
The community here on the blog are VERY generous when it comes to sharing my posts and recommending me. You’re amazing! You also download my audio program and some of you hire me, when you decide to invest in professional marketing help. It is very much a 2 way street, with everyone benefiting. It’s a great way to grow a business and connect with brilliant people!
Start giving: One-to-many
However, for this process of giving and receiving to start, you need to get the ball rolling and start giving.
I’m not talking about giving your time away for free, offering one-to-one help, whilst you quickly go broke!
That kind of one-to-one help simply doesn’t scale for most of us and usually attracts people, with no respect for your time or its value. That’s where many small business owners get the balance wrong and end up giving until it hurts them and hurts their finances!
I’m talking about using a one-to-many strategy. In my experience, the best way to do this is via a blog. Rather than spend 30 minutes of your time delivering one-to-one advice to a single person, you can use that same 30 minutes writing something like this post, which will reach hundreds, thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.
Contribution has always been a wonderful experience. With the ability today, for business owners to contribute so much, to so many, for so little, the commercial benefits of giving are mind blowing.
What are you doing, in order to contribute to your marketplace?
Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!