Relationship Matters!

Discussions Include:

DISCUSSIONS INCLUDE:

• What relationships can affect your business
• 5 types of relationships you need to nurture to boost your ROI
• How to take advantage of relationships to increase your R+R

The Hangout:

Zef Zan, host of Creative Chat Cafe, is joined by her co-hosts, Kenya Halliburton, Lirone Glikman, and Sondra Firestein, to discuss relationships, and how you can take advantage of your network of relationships to soar into a business and life that pays it forward!

Not enough time on your hands?

You can skip ahead to the information this is important to you using the video's table of contents (TOC) in the video description on YouTube! 

Table of Contents (click on the minute timeline for the specific content):
00:00 - Introduction
00:14 - Welcome back to Creative Chat Cafe!
01:32 - Hello from cast members.
04:23 - Quick facts about Creative Chat Cafe. 
04:52 - What's in this show.
05:43 - Kenya: Favorite quotes on building relationships.
06:28 - Lirone: The 5 types of relationship to nurture in life and business.
08:03 - Zef: The importance of having a relationship with yourself. 
12:08 - Kenya: How relationships with family and friends are important and how they can affect ROI in our business. 
15:36 - Zef: Don't let anyone steer you away from your vision of success.
16:11 - Lirone: How to connect with new people and create opportunities to build our business. 
18:49 - Hashtags!
19:20 - Sondra: The importance of going the extra mile in building relationships and some ideas on how to keep customers happy.
23:15 - Cast: Small actions that create big results.
24:09 - Cast: The benefits of collaborative relationships and how to achieve a mindful collaboration.
24:29 - Sondra's take on how to approach a mindful collaboration.
26:47 - Zef's take on how to approach a mindful collaboration.
28:31 - Kenya's take on how to approach a mindful collaboration.
31:58 - Lirone's take on how to approach a mindful collaboration.
33:19 - Building relationships that matter can help stretch us beyond our comfort zone. 
34:58 - Let's connect!
37:26 - Get your complimentary starter kit!
38:23 - Where to watch Creative Chat Cafe!
38:40 - Let's get social!

The Conversation:

ZEF: February is Relationship Wellness Month! This is a great time to examine how our relationships are affecting our happiness in our lives and success in our businesses. There are sayings, such as "Your network = your net-worth," which hints at the implications that relationships can have on your business. Scott Statton, of Unmarketing, has reported "If you believe business is about building relationships, then make building them your business."

LIRONE: Nurturing relationships to create a better life and business reaches beyond getting and keeping clients. There are 5 types of relationships we will explore today in relation to the importance and impact of each one.

1. Relationship with yourself
2. Relationship with family & friends
3. Relationship with potential customers
4. Relationship with existing customers
5. Relationships with joint venture & strategic partners

Zef, do you believe that the relationship with yourself has the most significant impact on your life and business? Why?

ZEF: Absolutely! If you do not first know yourself, then you cannot expect others to know you. It is tremendously important that you have a relationship with yourself first. So an analogy would be, would you date yourself? Ha! Focus on your best elements to help you thrive in life.

In business, it's your brand - knowing who you are, your strengths, your weaknesses, and how you can take all that knowledge and harness on the best qualities and features to build self-confidence. It becomes more important in business because that is your power card. That is what makes you different from others and what separates you from "nay-sayers."

SONDRA: Why are our relationships with family and friends important? How can they affect our ROI in our business?

KENYA: The health of your business is the direct result of the health of your relationships at home. One way your relationships impact your business is in your ability to make good decisions. If you can't make good decisions about your life or business, then your success will be limited.

ZEF: We know that it is important to connect with our audience in a way that is genuine yet still able to create an opportunity for a sale. Many people have anxiety about building relationships through networking. Lirone, you are the queen of networking to build relationships, share with us one of your favorite ways to connect with new people in a way that is genuine yet also works to build our business?

LIRONE: I think networking has a bad name. People tend to relate it with being fake, sale-y, wanting something out of me. The best way is to create a connection, a genuine one. It's about being authentic when we meet with people and create a know, like, and trust connection. Authenticity is a big word and each person should find out how to convey his or her personality in a genuine way. When you establish a friendly foundation, you can sell from knowing what the person needs and fell comfortable enough to approach that. It can be fast, if you have an immediate bond, or a little longer, after a few times of communicating. The bottom line - make them know, like and trust you first, then sell.

KENYA: There's a statistic somewhere that says that it costs as much as five times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing one. You help your clients manage their busy lives. I imagine your clients would never want to leave simply because they'd be lost without you.  But, how important is it to go that extra mile to make them feel special? What do you think and what are some ways we can use to keep our customers happy?

SONDRA:  I believe that satistic. It takes a lot of work to find someone who is ready for what you offer and then get them on board. I love to do what I can to make my clients feel special. The first thing, I always respond right away, with a well-written, thoughtful response. If they need help with something, I push it right to the top f the priority list. I also reach out to them on special occasions, such as birthdays and anniversaries. I think people are pretty simple creatures. We just want to know that we are on someone else's min and others are willing to spnd time on us. The amount of effort it tajes to maintain touches and to act available for clients is minimal compared to trying to seek out nre clients. It also gives me pleasure to make someone feel special in such a simple way. It's also a way to maintain my own peace of mind, knowing that I'm doing ehat I can to make them happy, and, ultimately keep them as a client.

Your Hosts:

Meet Zef Here!

KENYA HALLIBURTON
www.KenyaHalliburton.com

"Kenya Halliburton is an online business manager, specializing in digital content creation, content marketing, and social media marketing. She is a creative, innovative, outside the box, forward-thinking web choreographer always looking for new opportunities to position her clients for success"

LIRONE GLIKMAN
www.LironeGlikman.com

"Lirone Glikman is an energetic business networking coach, blogger and international speaker. She shares her networking knowledge and philosophy in order to help others take control of their lives, reach their goals, succeed, and most importantly, enjoy doing it! She is based in Tel Aviv, Israel and works with audience worldwide."

SONDRA FIRESTEIN
www.PursuitOfSeattle.com

"Sondra is the founder of PursuitofSeattle.com, which offers concierge, lifestyle management, and personal assistance services. 'I work hard so I can play harder. When I'm not helping others find balance in their lives, you can find me eating delicious food, paddleboarding, or dancing like nobody is watching.'"

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Results:

How can collaborative relationships benefit our business and are there any legal things we need to keep in mind in order to protect ourselves and the relationship from crashing and burning?

ZEF: Collaborative partnerships are successful when there is chemistry, respect and understanding, and clear communications. It's like falling in love, you have got to have chemistry. Otherwise, it can be a rocky road. Respect and understanding helps us set boundaries and limitations, we don't and won't take things for granted. 

Clear communications are needed, and often! Even when the communications get difficult, you face it straight on. If you don't take care of the most difficult conversations first, especially when it comes to asking what each other need, you will crash and burn later. Listening is a huge part of communications and many people don't do this very well.

KENYA: Look for ways to collaborate and not compete. Collaborations create a win, win, win. I like using collaborations for networking/marketing. Find ways to use your marketing to network and collaborate.

LIRONE: Collaborations can help in so many ways, as mentioned. Basically everyone shares their resource knowledge abilities. 1+1=3. Legally speaking, there are two parts. One is there is trust in the other personal already, so we feel good collaborating. Second, this friendship is also the trigger to feel comfortable to say what we think and how to overcome them. I believe that openness and clarity are important within this equation.

SONDRA: You cannot do everything yourself, no matter how hard you try. It's important to find good people, who you vibe with and trust, who can fill your gaps and you fill theirs. I like to keep things as natural and informal as possible, but with some determined ground rules. Check in often to make sure it works for everyone involved and give people a comfortable way to back out when necessary. No reason to burn bridges, you may need each other in the future.