Deciding to take your business to a new city or country can be a bit scary and definitely outside of the comfort zone. After all locally you may be well known, respected and in demand – yet outside of your local area no one knows you from a bar of soap. At some stage we all need to take that leap of faith and decide to explore new lands and cities to expand our network and brand awareness.
For me this was 4.5 years ago when I decided to go to Sydney from Melbourne (my home town) for the first time. I had build some social media based relationships over the time I started in business and these were my first port of call to invite to an event I was hosting there. I had to have faith and work very hard to get bums on seats. The first few times I went interstate was very stressful and disheartening to do so much work for not much reward. But I persisted and now I go on a national tour twice a year and my clients are a spread even mix of people from all the cities in Australia.
Building a brand takes some time, but if you do the right thing by people, always look to give and help, in time your presence will have spread a great word in places far and wide. I often have people coming up to me at events saying how many times they have heard of me and wanted to come to one of my events.
And now its time to grow again. Time to take Ultimate 48 Hour Author overseas to the big land of USA. This is a country I have actually never even visited previously; I have just watched movies and images on social media of what it is like. So I am not only taking my business there but having my very first experience of the American culture. I am super excited. Why?
- I am certain my business has a strong point of difference
- I know my numbers
- I have played with advertising for the last 3 years and can predict some outcomes
- I am strong in my delivery of events
- I have calculated my risk to reward ratios
I have also started planning this first tour 8 months earlier. The things I did at that stage are:
- Researched and book awesome venues for my half day event I will be running in 5 cities – this took 2-3 weeks to complete
- Found and built a strong relationship via Social Media with someone that will be crewing for me and driving me around while they’re as my husband will join me with the kids after the tour for a family holiday.
- Asked 10-15 people to introduce me with contacts that are of influence in the US so that we can potentially help each other out through cross promotion.
- Had meetings with all the introductions and set up a calendar or promotions for each other in the lead up months
- Started executing some of my commitments to my JV partners
- Discussed and strategized with our Facebook Advertising Manager what our plan of attack will be and when we will start
- Started joining some local groups and forums in the US where I can add value and network with people 3 months ahead of my events there.I don’t want to be spammer in groups – I prefer relationships long-term.
- Today I am resuming my blogging 4-5 per week so that my Virtual Assistant can share for me fresh new insights and content I will be adding over the upcoming months.
I am a moderate risk taker and I believe in business you must have faith that things will work out so long as you take the actions and look at the feedback from those actions. I am 100% committed to this journey and can’t wait to meet some new clients and friends as I progress.
Ultimate 48 Hour Author is coming to the USA in May 2017! My last of my half-day events also falls on my 40th birthday, which will be in New York. Now that is super special.
If you are thinking of taking your business somewhere new, the first thing you must do is simply decide and commit. The rest of the How will come to you as you start taking action. Don’t forget to give yourself a huge lead up time to build the network and right connections to make it a success. At the end the day be grateful no matter what happens.
Work Hard – Play Hard!
Love Nat x
P.S. If you want to check out our half day events and join in the fun with the Ultimate 48 Hour Author click on the appropriate city: LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix and New York.
LA - http://48.ultimate48hourauthor.com.au/losangeles
San Francisco - https://48.clickfunnels.com/sanfrancisco
San Diego - https://48.clickfunnels.com/sandiego
Phoenix - https://48.clickfunnels.com/phoenix
New York - https://48.clickfunnels.com/newyork
