How to transform into a more confident woman in the new year…

I have been reading a little bit on the feminist movement lately. Just to look back on where we have come from as a women and the trials and tribulations that various other prominent women fort so hard for the rights we have today!

As always all images are taken from google.com — These are not my images.

Dating back to the 1900’s women have been constantly disadvantaged by our male counterparts. It still makes me sick to think not so long in 1947 women were just given access to a  university level education therefore allowing them to access higher paid professional positions. We should of been given the same chance to start with. I have read that it was even to the point whereby a man and a women would be in the same position and the man would come back with a greater income, even if the women worked twice as hard.

During the WW2 many bread-winning men went off to fight, leaving their families to try and support themselves. Many women were forced into lower income earning positions that saw them struggle because they were not given the same rights as a man would. However, it makes me wonder why did so many women give up working for themselves when there husbands came back? I understand that this is when the whole baby boomer generation began, however, it makes you wonder why did so many women want to give up their independence?

(Image of Germaine Greer) 

We have come so far to back then. Just think in Australia we have our first female Prime minister, Miss Julia Gillard. The election of Gillard honestly makes me proud to be a women. There are also many examples of women in more professional roles, making ridiculous amounts of money, whom are breaking the stereotype for our future generations of women to come.

I encourage any women who is looking to start there own business to read up on the feminist movement. It is nothing but inspiring to see where we where and the progression we have made. 

How does this relate to a confident women in the year 2013? Well with the trials and tribulations of our fellow women who are long gone, i believe it is about time that we as a young generation make these women proud, as they fort long and hard for the rights we have today!!

I constantly as a 21 year old female find that i get pressured about when are the babies coming, or people get taken back when i say to them that i want to achieve a great deal in my professional career before i settle down to become a mother.  People need to re-think about the way that females are progressing in society. Not every women wants to stay at home with the kids and not achieve what they want to in life so they feel fulfilled.

Having the power to break from the stereotype is quite a big deal for any female. As i have progressed through my life i have seen people like my mother who just down right do not look fulfilled with their lives because they have done what society has told them to do. I have also had the privilege to meet many females who progress professionally though life and who get to opportunities to do what they love. And that is the kind of women that i want to be.

Please check out this youtube channel for more information on feminism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Xk-u8uii0&playnext=1&list=PL081CAC1C178F216D&feature=results_main

To get there though is the hard part — How does one break free from everything that society has set out for them? I believe that confidence is the answer. Confidence to be able to go the other direction and to not care what other people have to say about it. Below i have formulated a few ways that you can be more confident in the new year. Enjoy my friends! 

• Set your goals and stick to them — I always talk about goal setting simply because it starts you off with a vision of where you want to go in your life. It gives it direction and will lead you to finding your purpose and meaning for this life. We only have one go at it, so why can’t we feel inspired to achieve everything we need to. When your goals are strategically organised into short term, medium term and long term goals you are more likely to feel fulfilled as a women and not have the feeling of emptiness.  The most important thing is to not let anyone influence these goals, 
• Work out a balance between both worlds— Developing a balance between your professional life and your home life is essential for anyone. If you decide to progress with your professional career first before settling down, do it and work out a time that suits you to settle down and become a mother.
• Do not discriminate — By no means is it acceptable for you to go and parade you life choices to those who have chosen a different path. Everyone is fulfilled in their own separate ways. Be the women who is humbled to have worked out there own life and support others who have chosen different to you. Be that person who is not self centred, rather is aware of other people around them. It gives off a snobby impression that is just down right rude.
• Go out of your comfort zone — Go out and explore different things. Go out and really experience the world. Go talk to someone new. Go network with exciting people that could provide you with opportunities that you never dreamed off. You never know who lies behind that door.
• Dress for success — Taking care of yourself internally is the key to being able to be more confident on the outside. I mean plain and simple — it is like a business. If your internal operations are running efficiently, it is more likely that your external image is improved by a massive percent.

Customer Service: A must for any business.

Article image from: http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/182on79qw0s1ujpg/original.jpg

Customer service these days is the make or break of any company.

To put it plain and simply if a customer is getting treated better by someone else, and you are not doing the job for them – pft.. forget them, they will be gone in a heart beat.

In my day job i have had the opportunity to realise how important a little bit of love and attention dedicated to your customers can make. There is a lot of other competition for this business that i work for as well. Therefore, being at the bottom of the food chain, i see myself as being the face of the business. My face is the one the customer see’s and has to interact with, so why not make it a good one?

I try to think of it this way, the customer is buying things from me personally right? Well why would i try to convince them not to purchase something from me. I want their money so that i can have a pay check at the end of the week.

Here i have analysed everything that i do to look after my customers and make sure they enjoy there experience. With this list, it is developed on a hospitality background — however, you can take it and make it more relevant to you.

• Smile – To put it plain and simple.. Smiling when you are talking to someone means that you are interested in what they have to say. You want to be on the same journey they are going. Smiling opens up means for conversation between you and your customer etc. You never know you might of just made someone’s day 
• Talk politely- No no no no no no no.. do not say “what do you want??” no.. just fucking no. Rather say, “Hi, what can i help you with today sir/ madame?”. It kills me when you see someone is clearly in a bad mood but doesn’t realise that you must talk to others politely in order to get your point across and get the job done a whole lot easier
• Always be willing to help – If someone needs your help.. well bygolly my friends go help them. Do everything in your power to be able to find your customer the answer to their problem. This might take time and effort but with that time and effort you put into looking after that customer, they are going to look after you by coming back to you and giving you their money.
• Put your own trouble aside for the day – Don’t get me wrong, i have a tone of bad days but i forget about it as soon as i put on my uniform. I try to talk to as many people as i can in order to place myself in a positive environment that will in turn make my mood go from zero to hero!!  Try to keep those two worlds separate from each other.
• Never look to start a fight. Only be interested in looking for a solution. 
• Remember: Piss them off and they could get nasty. 
• Act approachable 
• Enjoy what you are doing 
• Be honest with them 
• Try to talk to each customer like you are making a new friend 
• Treat your customers like how you would want to be treated 
• Develop relationships with your customers 
• Dress to impress, physically 
• Listen to them when they want to talk to you 
• Go that extra mile for them
• Body language, body language, body language!!

One thing i have had to overcome when developing my own way of delivering effective customer service is dealing with other nationalities. Now, do not take it in a racist way, but i am one of the most down right aussie bogan’s you will ever meet. Yes, i talk like “How the fuck are yah mate?? Shrimp on tha barbie” ETC. So when i was thrown into a situation whereby i have to learn to adjust the way i communicate to people there are various ways i got into the habit of doing to make my life easier. Some of these i have included below:

• If i well and truly cannot understand them, get someone to help me ASAP 
• Point to things and use thumbs up
• Get them to write something down for you so you understand.
• Understand their culture better and the way they practice things
• Do not pre-judge their culture or heritage, as in stereotype them

When i see the basic rules of customer service broken, it just hurts me inside. It ruins my day because i try so hard to look after other people and feel like i never get that in return. Especially at a local coffee shop that i religiously go to every day. I order the same thing at the same time, with the same quirks, pay the same way ETC. However, i always get attitude, never get a smile and never get exactly what i want. I have to stair at the girls working there so they even come to take my order.

I believe that it is a good idea for all businesses to realise that customer service is a pretty big thing. Training staff in providing such a service is not a luxury any more it is one of the only ways to keep up with such a competitive business market these days. For stickertyclick, customer service will  be our number one priority. I will be focusing on retaining loyal customers as well as doing all we can to find more and more followers. There are many strategies that i have been working hard on to develop correctly. Please refer to the stickertyclick page on this site to view these strategies.

The secrets to effective time management.

Time management this year has defiantly not been one of my strong points.

Mix that with forgetfulness, the tenancy to loose everything topped with a scoop of pure laziness comes a pretty poor performer.

But my friends the year 2013 is a new year, yes, a new year for self discovery and getting down to business.

So in order to fix all of my other flaws, i suppose developing effective time management strategies is the way to go.

As an entrepreneur i am starting to realise that i am gaining a lot of different things on my plate that i have to juggle and find a distinct balance for. Some of these things that i do include the following:

• Toastmasters 
• Cert IV in Hospitality (thought work)
• Time to go to the gym
• Time to have with my partner
• NEA award with my University
• Safety committee at my Workplace
• Having a shift worker job
• University in general
• Managing this blog and in a few months a full business
• Somewhat of a social life?
• plus, i am sure there is a lot more there i just have forgotten to mention

If you are in my situation too i have developed a few different way that you can get your shit under control, by using my own life as an example! Enjoy! 

1. Prioritise! Prioritise! Prioritise! This is the main key to achieving anything in life. In order to get what you want and achieve your goals you need to get rid of all the shit in between that is holding you back!  So for example, both my number one priorities would be my partner and my day job. Can’t judge me, girl’s gotta have the moolah. My number 2 priority would be University. Then the blog and then my diet/ excersie plan
2. Organise your year, then month, then day, then hours, then minutes. I have started early this year! I have two different diary planners, one bright pink the other a professional black leather one. My pink one is for all of my notes and other things that come up during the day that i need to remember or taking down important notes from uni. The black one for planning out my day, what i need to do, where i need to be etc. Not much difference but i think it will work for me. Another thing that i have started to do as well is on my whiteboard in my room, i have a week planned out on it. On this week, you can see the basic things that i need to do.
3. Tend to your priorities each specifically, like they are your boyfriends and you need to treat them all differently to keep them happy! For work, i make sure i have my roster on hand at all times, when planning out my week ahead, i always work my university time table around it. (I totally forgot to mention i do uni by correspondence aye?) With accordance to concentrating on uni commitments what i personally do is at the start of each trimester i go through all of my course work and figure out when all of my assignments are due and write that information down on big colourful cardboard. I then stick it up on my door so i can always be reminded that my assignment is late yet again -.-  I also have been provided by my university with a weekly wall planner. This planner has all 7 days of the week and all 12 hours of the way put into a giant table print out. THIS THING SAVES MY FUCKING LIFE! I encourage you to draw one up yourselves.
4. Think of the reason why you are working so hard. I often get down because i forget why i am trying to work so hard. Practically all the time i think to myself, how come everyone i know is having fun, travelling, finishing uni off so easily etc. The reason i do work so hard is because of my situation at home. I hope that i can be the mother that i never had, that means being a hard working woman that is respectable in her carrer and established in life.  So in order to remember that, i am going to write it down on a large yellow piece of cardboard and stick it in front of my study desk, just to remind me what i am working for and to find the motivation to keep going.
5. Don’t forget your loved ones. Often i am guilty of forgoing my partners needs for my own, because i am plain and simply too busy because i can’t manage my shit properly. It sucks for him and it sucks for me because our relationship is not up to scratch. At the moment it has gotten to the point where we have no time to even have sexy time because it is just too hard to schedule it in. So i am going to make a promise now —  I will get giggy with it at least 4 times a week. Yes all you other women out there — pick up your bloody game. So pretty much, 2 times on Saturday and 2 times on Sunday. LOL. Your welcome for knowing that. Also, i want to make the promise that i will take him out for a nice dinner at lease once a week – just so he knows he is special 🙂
6. Figure out what you need and what you don’t need. Okay, so there is a lot of things that i don’t need cluttering up my life. So let’s reduce them together, shall we? Toastmasters. Let’s say that i do my 6 more speeches, obtain my certificate then put it on hold for a while. Check. NEA. Okay that  can also wait till the last year of my degree, there is no need to worry about it now, however if a opportunity arises, opportunity will be perused. Check.  Gym and Diet. Planning effectively and ahead of time to fit these things in with all of my other commitments will help.
7. Never be afraid of asking for help. I have always hated showing people that i am struggling to do well. I have always been afraid of telling people that i am not coping right now. I guess the year 2013 will hopefully mean that i can realise that my partner is just that, my partner and is there to help me cope with everything that i need help with. So there is no need to be afraid.

Time is precious and it is escaping us every second. We need to be able to control it and make those evaporating seconds turn into effective opportunities to achieve everything that we need to do. As an entrepreneur developing these strategies early will allow for you to develop your own personal balance between everything on your plate and keeping yourself sane.

Wish me good luck…