On a day like today, two years ago, I founded Digital Marketing Lanzarote: a new stage in my professional career that I started with great enthusiasm!
Little did I know that a year later my own husband would jump into the self-employed pool and partner with me!
Although I really took the big step towards letting go of the edge of the pool and swimming… on my birthday, December 10, the day I opened my office at the Arrecife Gran Hotel & SPA. Arrecife Gran Hotel & SPA. My first great client and, above all, a team of wonderful people to whom I will never cease to be grateful for everything I was able to grow professionally and personally with them.
But on October 1, 2018 Digital Marketing Lanzarote was born and I took my first steps as a freelancer and entrepreneur. I tell you 3 things that these two years taught me, hoping that, if you are considering launching a business, these words will encourage you.
- You have to believe in your project and trust in your capabilities and your idea.
My first months as a freelancer I had a lot of nerves, lots of them! Although I was closing deals with clients very quickly, I think (within 3 months I was working with 3 hotels and could make a living from my business), I was so afraid that one of them would change their mind, or be unhappy with my work, that I lived in a state of perpetual anguish.
A state that, of course, ended up taking its toll: mine came in the form of Zoster Herpes. Don’t you know what that is? You’d better, because I don’t wish it on anyone. And that’s when I thought: ” But let’s see, Gladys, has anyone ever told you that there’s something wrong with your job? Don’t you see that by being like this you treat people worse and work worse? So relax and get a grip, it’s all right! “
- Be yourself. Your customers are people, love them, take care of them. Things made from the heart are the ones that work best.
When I did my MBA in International Trade at INSEEC Bordeaux (an excellent school by the way), we had a business strategy professor who told us, “You have to read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Because this is war: either you kill or you get killed.”
After 11 years working in international trade and 2 years as an entrepreneur, I have a message for that professor: “Dude, take a breath, take it easy. You are not Rambo and nobody wants to kill you, okay? Of course, this is a market and either you move, or your competitors will move before you. Vaaaale.
But remember that you work with people before you work with companies. And many of my clients don’t even remember the name of my company: they work with “Gladys”.
Watch your market, of course. But above all, give love to your customers, take care of them as people and give them what they need. Take the time to listen to them and propose solutions that really solve their problems. That will help you much more than thinking that you are continually on a battlefield.
- Never stop training and looking for ways to improve what you offer.
This philosophy of continuous improvement in search of the highest quality was used by an entrepreneur you may know: Walt Disney? Sound familiar? It’s perfect. Whatever the area in which you are going to undertake, you can always improve. Nowadays there is a wider range of training courses that you can take online whenever it suits you. Take advantage and improve!
And lastly, organize your schedule so that you can continue to have some time to really disconnect: this is a long-distance race and you are your biggest investment. I hope these tips will help you and encourage you to take the plunge! Do you have doubts and questions? I’ll be happy to share them with me, you can write me at gb@digitalmarketinglanzarote.com
Gladys