Congratulations WBII – Celebrating 15 years of existence!! Our network facilitator, Dymphna Elsink, reminded us of what the WBII has achieved over the past 15 years. Just to give you a taste, the WBII Annual Reports highlight our accomplishments, membership and activities in recent years, not to mention our continued growth. We are going from strength to strength with our amazing group of women entrepreneurs.
After the usual round of introductions, our member highlight, Aleyda Santos, introduced us to her fascinating new initiative which she has founded and called the GAIA Foundation – ‘Reforesting our Future’ of which she is Director.
With a background in Environmental Science, Environmental Decision Making and with broad international experience, Aleyda is a change catalyst who wants to enforce solutions to prevent the destruction of our biodiversity. Aleyda has conducted numerous environmental activities in recent years, fulfilling her desire to contribute to solutions while creating awareness and benefiting local communities. Urged by this need for solutions, the GAIA Foundation was born! The first projects will take place in Colombia, Aleyda’s home country and a hotspot of world-biodiversity. Please read more about Gaia’s sustainable projects. Good luck Aleyda!
We then moved on to our main speaker for the evening, Maggie Giele. Maggie is an award-winning business and marketing strategist and certified coach, as well as the founder of the Micro-Launch Method® and podcaster. Born in the Czech Republic, she grew up internationally.
Maggie ‘wowed’ us with her expertise and demonstrated how to grow an online-based business and increase revenue in a relationship-focused way.
Maggie first talked through some of the core pillars of her Micro-Launch Method® that allowed her to sell, and sell out, international retreats, masterminds, 1:1 services and group offers. She started by sharing some quick tips to internationalise and grow your business, which you can read in the presentation slides.
Maggie emphasised the importance of being clear in what you have to offer and how you communicate this. Think about how your clients will respond when they read your offer – you really want them to think “that’s exactly what I need!”
From offer to transformation, Maggie then talked us through the Customer Awareness Journey, from -> completely unaware (everything’s fine) -> problem aware (what questions do they have) -> solution aware (they realise there is a solution to their problem) -> offer aware (they realise you have an offer with a solution) to -> fully aware (waiting for the right time, price and offer).
Seems simple right? So why don’t we do it (I’m asking myself!). As a group of experienced female entrepreneurs, we all recognise the need to sell ourselves, and some of us could be more effective in this. Too modest? When it comes to marketing your business, Maggie’s advice is: Don’t be afraid to brag!
Final tips from Maggie:
* To build trust, manage your client expectations and remember you can’t guarantee everything!
* Be clear in communicating ‘“this is how I can HELP”.
* Make more use of the numerous online tools to help build up online trust and remember to tailor your marketing to your target group.
A big THANK YOU to Maggie for sharing her expertise and wonderful, warm presence at our event! We learned a lot and our members went away with loads of inspiration and valuable tips.
You can contact Maggie via her website or the following:
* Podcast: Business Magic with Maggie Giele
* Facebook Group: Bosses in Europe & Beyond
Useful websites for managing your business:
https://www.dubsado.com/
http://thrivecart.com/
https://paypal.com
Teresa Moynihan, Career Consultant, Coach and Trainer / Dual Career Specialist
Moynihan Consulting
