When people want to work with you, sometimes they’ll try to get you to do things outside your pay grade.
I take it as a compliment but am quick to deflect. I’ve been asked to design rack cards, be an event planner, co-create an app, start a real estate related business, and more.
Contrary to what some believe, I have said ‘no’ to a lot of things.
The upside to saying no to things outside my skill-set (besides my own personal sanity) is getting to meet and work with people who ARE good at those things.
Problem: Several people asked me for help with flyers. It is tangentially related to online marketing because a lot of people share flyers they’ve created on social media and their websites. I bookmarked it in my brain that this was of interest and let it sit there for awhile.
Now I’ll ‘design’ my own stuff (note the air quotes) but print design is NOT my thing and probably never will be. I have a couple print designers I like working with, one who is in the process of getting her business established. (Jillybean Designs did the card designs I’ll talk about in an upcoming story.)
Around the same time, one of my friends, who is a published author, approached me about sending her copyediting work. She likes helping out locally and figured I would know people.
Solution: Somehow, all these things went together in my brain in a coherent way. We decided that Jill (designer), Carrie (copywriter/editor) and I (marketer) would do a ‘Make Awesome Flyers’ workshop together. I made a online registration form on the Anchorspace website (we charged $35 for the two hour workshop), we promoted it to our people, and we split the proceeds three ways.
We really enjoyed doing it and are thinking of taking the show on the road to chambers of commerce, downtown areas, and other business groups. Plus I learned a lot from Jill and Carrie while they were giving their presentations.
Values demonstrated: collaboration, willingness to learn, education, community service, connecting, problem solving
How this story could be better:
More pictures. So during events, I always mean to take pictures but then I’m so busy making coffee and being in the moment that I forget. If you have an event, just have one designated picture taker, even if you have to pay them. In this blog post is the one picture I managed to take.
More video. Carrie Jones, who is a friend who happens to be a New York Times bestselling author, is a really engaging speaker. I should have gotten her on video talking about typos with a passion that was awesome to witness.
BEC Story #4
BEC Story #3
BEC Story #2
BEC Story #1
Why I Am Writing All These Stories About My Business