If your brain was a country what would be the capital city?

Wow, my blog has been quiet lately. So quiet, in fact, it’s been rendered mute! Why? Well, to celebrate the winter solstice I left the sunny climes of East Gippsland and headed to Thailand for a well-earned break with my gorgeous family.

Holidays are a wonderful thing. Time to relax and rejuvenate, reflect and re-energise. That’s exactly what our break did for me and I’m back, raring to go, bursting with ideas.

If you’ve never been lucky enough to go to beautiful Thailand, it is an awe-inspiring place. I have been known to say that if my brain were a country, Bangkok would be its capital city. Full of colour, sights, smiles and smells that hit the senses in a full-on assault of heaving humanity. Always surprising, Bangkok moves at a frenetic pace and can be quite overwhelming, just like my mind.

This trip we stayed near Krabi, a stunning locale on the coast. Far away from the madness of Bangkok but still with the ordered chaos I associate with beautiful Thailand. You know the movie The Beach? Well, that’s where we were: heaven on earth.

Don’t think just because I was on holiday I didn’t have my marketing hat on.

I saw some wonderful marketing executions while staying in Thailand; one in particular near Tup Kaek Beach (highly recommended!), a local Italian restaurant marketed itself on a huge billboard at a major intersection as “Probably the best Italian food in Krabi”.

Oh my how I laughed, I wish I’d taken a picture! The most perfectly non-committal copy ever executed.

The thing about Thai business people is they’re not backward in coming forward.

Walking down the street you will be approached many, many times by business owners beseeching you to view their wares, visit their shop, dine on their food and ride in their Tuk Tuk. I could not believe how forthright some people were! I can be reserved even telling people what I do. Let alone grabbing their hand and leading them to my place of work!

And it got me thinking… As a quite unnatural salesperson I’m rather remiss at chasing leads and being forward at promoting my business in conversation. This might surprise you that as a marketing person I’m not a salesperson but sales and marketing are not necessarily homogeneous.

I used to have a job that gave me a rather severe phobia of the phone: if the phone rang it was bad news. Always. And it was always my problem.

Hence I’ve become quite the passive marketer. I put in place my strategies and wait for the clients to come to me. Not very proactive but then I’m quite busy, you see, and haven’t really had space in my life for more clients… Or so I keep telling myself.

Now the universe has given me a precious gift, the gift every businessperson yearns for: more time.

So look out world! I’ve resolved to be active, proactive and reactive. Quite frankly I’ll be downright forthright.

I might even make a phone call! What’s the worse they can say?

“No.”

I read a beautiful quote today (thank you to the team at the Female Entrepreneur Association)

“The only thing standing in between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.”

Remember that next time you’re delaying executing your marketing plan. I know I will.