99 small things to improve your business - episode 6

Uh, what rhymes with "wagic fox"?

I don't know. What?

Magic box! That's what!

Well, Christ.

It's 99 ways to improve your, uh, business.

Yeah. And today it is number... 41. Keep the door open.

What, literally?

Well, it's a, it's a diff it's, there's a few things this could mean. Like, I think one thing could be never turn your back on something that's happened in the past. If someone says no to an opportunity or you've not won a pitch or anything like that, just don't close it off in your mind and go, they're all assholes. Maybe just keep in touch with these people. Never close the door fully cuz they could come back and you might have, um, might have some kind of rapport that means you'll gain some other business some other time.

This could be in life too, I guess.

Yeah, yeah.

Relationships.

Yeah.

Stuff like that.

And also if you are in an office, keep the door open. It's quite nice isn't it? Get plenty of air in.

Uh, is that good advice as we're approaching the winter with the energy crisis?

Well, people might be watching this in spring.

True.

Because this has got a long, long shelf life.

And we did write this before the energy crisis.

Well, yeah.

We're rolling them out steadily, everybody.

Just keep the door open.

Keep the door open, keep your options open.

And also if you're working in a, uh, in an office next to some people, keep the door open. You might hear some stuff.

Yeah. If you're-

Communicate.

I like it. If you are like head of the corporation and uh, you sit in a little office with the door shut, keep the door open.

Yeah, see.

Yeah.

That's got, that's got like 10 meanings.

If you're in the kitchen cooking really smelly fish and you want to share that smell with the rest of the office, keep the door-

If you go for a poop, no. Close the door.

When you are in the bathroom. Uh oh. Right. Okay. Nice. Short one here. Number 73. Remember what it was, Chris, off the top of your head?

No.

Be positive.

Yeah. So easy to be a negative ninny, isn't it?

Mm-hmm.

The daily grind, you just go, oh, I can't do it.

How'd you, how'd you do it then, Chris? How do, how do you switch the script in your head when you're feeling some of that negativity coming out?

I would just, um, turn that frown upside down.

Turn the frown upside down.

Just, just, I think it's a whole culture of the entire business. I, I've, you see many businesses that we go into just shoot videos in. You'll see people who have got a positive attitude and people who don't, and it's quite toxic, the people who don't, the, the way that spreads like a mood in an organization spreads pretty quickly no matter what it is. So if you are positive from, uh, up the top or a particular standpoint that can spread throughout your entire business, I think it's a good thing.

I think we might do a little blog-

Oh yeah.

About ways that you can, uh, rephrase things as well to help be positive. One thing I'm trying to do less of, sometimes I feel myself saying it, oh, what we need to do is such and such. But it's is, that can be a difficult phrase in itself because we're already putting ourselves in a, uh, a needy kind of mind frame. So when I say that, now I'm trying to stop myself and instead go, things could improve for us if we...

Yes.

And just trying to change some of those bits of language and, um, I've seen a few about, so I think it might be nice for us. I've signed a check against one of our teams.

Oh, you are not gonna write it?

No, I'm not gonna write it. No. Oh goodness no.

It'll be out in 2025.

I'll get somebody good to write it.

Right. Next one. 69. Tidy your desk. It's like, um, your, uh, your environment is really important and your office should be nice, but your desk should be nice as well. You shouldn't, your ideas should be sort of in clear, sort of easy to find places, not just sort of scattered around. And it starts with your desk. and your current surroundings. And if that's a bit zen, then you'll feel a bit better.

Uh, most, most of our audience is marketing managers, business owners. So, you know, not everyone has a desk, I guess.

Yeah, yeah.

But I think the philosophy of this follows the age old thing of make your bed in the morning and you set yourself up for the day of how you're gonna tackle the day. Um, so I think in making sure that your, the space where you spend most of your time is organized, I think I can bring you more calm, help you to be more positive, more proactive. Calm, and relax.

Have another one.

Alright.

How many have we done?

I hope it's a good one.

So do I.

They're all good. 68.

68. Wow.

Aren't these properly mixed up?

They are very mixed up.

Again, not, not. Uh, great for the energy crisis. Turn up the heating.

Turn up the heating. Is that, that's probably down to our, um, the people in our office, is it, who get cold?

Well, I think, um, I think the point behind this one is, making sure people are comfortable in your environment. That's the wider story here, kids.

Yeah, I think so. I mean, it's very easy to sort of just go, ah, this, the, the lead someone will just set the temperature for the entire place, whereas that can be wrong because people feel temperature in different way.

Thermostat wars.

Exactly.

Yeah.

We've had that here in the past.

And I think, uh, making sure that people can be comfortable is the key. And oh, maybe there's some rules of thumb you can shout out together, which is, it's, it's probably... I find this anyway. I'm, I'm okay, being too warm, but being too cold...

yeah. Yeah.

Is horrible. Yeah, it's just horrible. It's miserable, isn't it? I've being a bit too warm. I can live with easier, especially under these hot studio lights.

Yeah. I think also in the, uh, this may have also been written in the summer where...

Mm-hmm.

If you have air con going full blast, it's pretty grim.

Mm-hmm.

Especially if you're sat underneath the icy cold wind.

Mm-hmm. So it's all about making the environment better.

Yep. Alright, one last one for today and it is... number 87. Have confidence. That is a, a really important thing in everything you do. I think.

What if you are not a confident person?

Just bluff it. It's fine.

Fake it till you make it.

It is. I mean, a lot of the time people don't have confidence. Even if they've been doing a certain job for 20 years. What is the point when you should feel like you've got confidence? That, some people have that after like a week in a job. So there, there is no set timescale when you should have confidence. Just do it. It's fine.

Yeah. But don't get it mixed up with arrogance.

Well, yes.

Yeah, because, uh, and I think there's a real difference. I think confidence is having, having faith that you are probably more knowledgeable than you may sometime, your imposter syndrome might kick in and, and have you feel that you are not, you're not worthy. You're not right. You're not supposed to be there. And I think it, combating that is where confidence can come in. And there was, um, a podcast I listened to recently and they said that there's a real important thing about going outside your comfort zone. And that's when imposter syndrome kicks in. And it's when you're outside your comfort zone that that's when you kind of need to sort of lean on that, if you haven't, if you haven't got it, just fake it. And there are loads of things you will automatically be confident about. Tying your shoelaces, opening a door, stuff that you're very used to doing. And it's only when you are outside that comfort zone, that's when you might start feeling that lack of confidence and that can show and actually just embrace the knowledge that you've got, that you can tie that shoe lace and open that door and whatever you're probably doing, it's making you feel a little bit less confident, you should head for.

Yeah.

But don't be a know-it-all.

But it also, uh, translates into brands. When brands are confident, you're more likely to win certain pitches as when you are not confident. People can see when a company's not terribly confident in doing something and um, yeah. Have a, have a think about that when you read your next pitch, it's like, oh, do, do you, I think this is going to be a great opportunity for us. Just be really bold in stuff you say and be, uh, yeah. An air of confidence is not, not bad in that respect.

Great. Is that it? Was that the last one?

Yeah, it is.

Oh I was hoping for another.

Oh, well, you can join us for another next week, on another Monkey Monday.