Earlier this week I grabbed one of my old journals and started flipping through it. They were entries from a year ago, and besides reading a ton of unecessary and ridiculous complaints about the size of my 7 month-pregnant belly and swollen tree trunk ankles, I ran into these two quotes I had recorded:
“In network marketing insterad of earning income, you build an asset – your business – and the asset generates income.” – Robert Kiyosaki in Business of the 21st Century
“The ongoing myth is that brands get built by advertising. Actually, brands get reinforced by advertising but they get built by grassroots word-of-mouth.” – Marc Andressen in a Fast Company magazine article
The first one is a great quote, and one that can apply to many types of businesses. But that’s not what I wanted to discuss.
What I wanted to discuss was the quote from Marc and word of mouth. I send a weekly email to my entire Vemma team, and last week I talked about this very thing. It seems to be popping up everywhere I look lately.
Word of mouth.
Networking.
The little things.
One person at a time.
Businesses are built on word of mouth. Fortunes are built on word of mouth. Empires. Futures!
And you know what one person telling one person telling one person telling one person is? It’s a reminder that it’s the little things that matter. The little things, done over and over again, added up, over time, that define the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful.
They say it’s the little things that make the difference. That’s true in Vemma, as it is with most things in life and business.
Everything is a choice. All of those choices, those seemingly inconsequential choices, are important.
Reading that quote just got me thinking about it again. We shouldn’t forget how important those choices are.
Is that one phone call we are making every day adding up? YES.
Are those 10 pages of a good book we’re reading every day making a difference? YES.
Are those 2 follow ups we are making every day worth it? YES YES and YES.
The results will come if you do the work. Even if the work doesn’t seem to be immediately creating results. The results are there! They are just tiny little seeds, sprouting roots and a foundation that is going stronger by the day. And it’s not until that now complex and impressive structure breaks through the ground that you have your proof that something was even happening underneath that dirt. It was happening. It. Was. Happening. It IS happening.
Word of mouth is a bag of seeds. One person telling another is one seed being planted. That seed might never bloom. It might start to grow and then become weak and die for reasons unknown. It might sit dormant for days, months, even years before doing anything. Or, that seed might grow into the very vine you needed to climb to your next step in life.
One person telling another is one seed being planted.
Word of mouth.
Networking.
The little things.
One person at a time.
What are you telling? What story? And who are you telling it to? That’s a question only you can answer. Your story. Your business. Your cause.
Sharing your story with one person at a time is a little thing. On it’s own, it’s not much. But little things done consistently over time, again and again and again, can add up to very big things indeed.
Don’t forget about word of mouth. It’s free. And it’s easy to do.
And I guess that’s all I wanted to say about that. :)
Make it a great one, all!
AS
I'm an author, marketer, and mommy who loves to read, write, and drink coffee. My husband and I live in suburban Kansas City with our two little girls. This site chronicles my world. Thanks for stopping by!
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