Tips for Success in 2021!

By Taz Thornton, inspirational speaker, coach and author who was recently named Female Business Professional of the Year for Central England. She can be found here https://tazthornton.com

What are your top marketing/PR tips for 2021? 

Use LinkedIn - and learn to use it properly! That means posting AND engaging at least three times a week, just for starters! It has the highest organic reach right now - it’s fairly easy to have every post reach upwards of 2,000 eyeballs without spending a penny

When using hashtags on LinkedIn, make them relevant to your key audience, not your post. You need your content to be showing up on the right feeds so, if you’re targeting the construction industry for your admin services, for instance, it’s better to use #construction than #adminsupport 

You’ll sell more by selling less. Approach each social media post with an attitude of ‘how can I serve?’, rather than ‘how can I sell?’

What are your top three financial tips for 2021?

Create a separate savings account and set yourself regular savings goals - go for amounts that feel just a little out of reach.

Don’t just stockpile - money is energy - it needs to move and flow to grow, not just sit there stagnating and collecting dust!

Do not EVER tell yourself ‘I can’t afford it’ - that’s a really crippling mindset. Instead, ask ‘How can I create the income to buy that?’ or tell yourself ‘I will earn / attract the money for that and enjoy it!’ - worth setting yourself a deadline for that last one too. 

Who are the top business buddies in your corner as you go into 2021?

My wife, Asha Clearwater - she’s a content coach herself and handles all my internal communications; all those speaker bios, my weekly dose of Awesome Sauce, proofing, book editing - I’d be lost without her.

Dee Atkins - the world’s most incredible VA. Keeps me on track and accountable and, alongside Asha, makes sure all my systems are working and Awesome Sauce / The Tazvocate happen as they should.

Fiona Scott - as demand grew, we knew we needed to outsource external PR to someone with a journalistic background, a keen news sense, someone who’d be able to pounce on every opportunity, as well as creating more. She might not have been part of #TeamTaz for long, but she’s already an integral, and invaluable, part of our awesome machine. 

What are your ethics for 2021?

Keep it real! Don’t play the Fakebook and Instaglam game. If you’re having a rubbish day, there’s nothing wrong with sharing that - just make sure you’re sharing an uplift and a lesson at the same time. Doing this will make your content more magnetic and you more relatable. There’s enough plastic in the world already - we don’t need to keep adding to it. 

Stick to your agreements! Pay when you say you will. Keep your promises. If ever you can’t, be proactive and upfront and discuss alternative arrangements with anyone impacted at your earliest opportunity.

Care! Not just about your products, services and outward impressions, but about the people you serve. Frankly, if you’re in it purely for the money, at the expense of all compassion and humanity, you have no business being in any business relating to people - or any sentient beings. 

What attributes you are looking for in staff/suppliers in 2021?

• Honesty
• Reliability
• Swift delivery

What is your take on the word ‘free’ in business?

There’s a lot to be said for the free attributes we ALL need to be deploying more: truth, compassion, drive, determination, patience, manners, love... the list is endless. 

When it comes to trying to lure people into your business with free products and services though? I wish we’d think more long term and strategically and stop a) prostituting ourselves and b) undercutting our progressions/industries. 

Have more faith in your content, build your visibility, connect more, be relatable... you don’t need to to keep creating free ‘stuff’, you need to up your vibe, your magnetism and you need to show up more! 

We can have an attitude of service without creating crappy lead magnets and bombarding people with sales emails they never asked for! 

What will you be investing in this year? 

• More external PR
• Better webcam/broadcast equipment
• Revamping/converting a room into a dedicated home office. Looks like home working is here to stay, so let’s go pro!

What are you doing for charity or community this year?

Depending what happens with lockdown, I’m in talks with a few clients about us doing a charity skydive in 2021. I’ve done one before, but always happy to throw myself out of a perfectly good plane for a worthy cause 
I started running monthly online meditation/sharing events, via Zoom, at the beginning of lockdown. I used to run these for my local community, but going online has sent them nationwide and then some. We operate a donation system - people contribute whatever they can manage to attend, including nothing. I’ll likely continue this regardless of lockdown.

I operate a bursary/partial bursary programme for some of my bigger training programmes. People who can donate towards fees for those who otherwise couldn’t attend. It usually goes towards places on my 13-month spiritual empowerment programme, and this is also continuing into 2021 and beyond. 

What are your ‘absolute no-nos’ for 2021 in business? 

When it’s purely product, hiking the price monumentally when the same thing is available at a fraction of the price elsewhere. There’s good business and there’s knowingly ripping people off. Never a good ethos!
Lying, or encouraging others to do the same. There are some speaker trainers out there actively teaching their delegates to make up stories - it makes my skin crawl. Everyone has a good enough story, without needing to lie - it’s a one way ticket to a credibility crash.

Perpetuating a negative attitude. I was about to drop thousands on a business coach last year, then heard him advising people to cancel services and pull in their belts at the beginning of lockdown. This, of course, just pushes the ‘problem’ down the line and destroys livelihoods and belief. I’d much rather work with someone who encourages us to create more and develop an energy of abundance... which is exactly what the mentor I switched to does! 

Any special offers for January 2021 you’d like to mention?

We’re relaunching #UNLEASHED - our online mentoring and business development programme for coaches, healers and therapists - and we’re freezing the price at £25 a month. 

Same goes for my online spiritual growth and positivity programme - LIFEFORCE. We’re freezing the price, so anyone can still join us for £19 a month in January.  

And finally: 

Whatever happens in 2021, your future is YOURS to create. It’s not down to Boris, Brexit or COVID 19 - it’s down to you, your attitude and your passion and determination.