3 Ways To Do Business Better

Lately I've been thinking about the right and wrong ways to run a creative business. After a lot of thought, it seems to always boil down to the same thing, relationships.

Good relationships are essential for a happy life and a thriving business.

Here are three ways that I believe will help us all to have more fulfilling jobs and life through the relationships that we make.

1. Meet Someone New and Follow Through

Sometimes meeting new people can be scary, but let's put our fears aside and focus on why it's important.  Meeting new people expands your reach and connects you to opportunities.  Think about all the people you admire, what if that distant relationship became a friendship?  Everyday find someone to invite into your world, find your commonalities and establish a relationship.  It may work out, it may not, but over time if you keep it up you will find more and more people who support you and what you do.

2. Make It Personal and Give A Gift

After establishing a new relationship one way to stand out among the crowd is to go the extra mile and give a  gift.  It could be as simple as a phone call to stay in touch, a lunch invite or physical gift of kindness.  When you focus on giving it always leaves a great impression.

Gift to Tom and Molly Bedell at Two Old Hippies Nashville

3. Stay In Touch and Don't Rush

Good relationships don't happen overnight -- it takes months sometimes years to grow. Find a way to stay in touch with your contacts and give it time to flourish.  Email newsletters are a great way to communicate with your community, but if you want to make a more intimate connection, writing a personal email or mailing a card is far superior.

I hope these suggestions inspire you to make new contacts and expand your business with confidence.  These are some things I'll be working on this year and hopefully I'll make many new friendships and strengthen the ones I already have.

If you know someone that could benefit from this post please retweet or share on facebook!  Do you have any advice that your use to nurture your own business relationships?  Please share and leave a comment!