Catriona Pollard

PR and Social Media Expert

Day 13 of #Vidtember: How to come up with amazing ideas…and it involves Lady Gaga!

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Do you have days when you wake up with a million and one ideas?

In my latest #Vidtember video I share with you my tips for how to come up with ideas and what to do with them when you get them.

My tips include:

  • Talk to someone about your ideas: When you talk to a friend or colleague, talk through your ideas to help clarify them
  • Write down your ideas: Keep a notepad to write down all your ideas and collect them in one place
  • Crank up your favourite music: Use music for inspiration and dance around to get out of your head, clear your mind and let your best ideas rise to the top. My personal favourite for this is Lady Gaga!

Watch the video below to hear me talk on this topic:

Day 12 of #Vidtember: Why you should offer training to boost your personal brand

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Recording your expertise is an amazing way of building your profile. In my latest #Vidtember video I tell you about my personal set up for creating an online training that can help you boost your personal brand. To record my online trainings I use Camtasia  and until recently I used a shoe box for my microphone stand. My setup is nothing fancy!

Camtasia records your voice as well as what you are showing on your computer. So I have my PowerPoint presentation and a script and then speak and record as I move through my PowerPoint slides. I hope that by seeing how simple this can be it will inspire you to offer training to boost your personal brand!

Day 10 of #Vidtember: Top tips for organising your media information

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I believe it is so important to be organised as it impacts productivity and creativity. There’s no point in spending ages looking for documents, which will hurt your bottom line.

My three tips for staying organised are:

  1. Start a media list of names and publications of all the journalists that may be interested in your stories
  2. When you start pitching stories to journalists, place the email you sent the journalist into a Word document and keep every pitch for future reference
  3. Document every piece of media coverage that you receive so you can use that coverage in your marketing and pitching for new business

Day 9 of #Vidtember: My secret networking tip

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One tip that has helped me sustain and build my business is to organise a lunch once a month with people I want to network with.

It’s an opportunity for them to network with each other as well as me. The benefit of this is you bring like-minded people together and help them forge multiple relationships at once! Plus they remember you for organising a lovely get-together, so it’s a win-win.

Networking doesn’t have to be going into a room full of people and handing out business cards. Relationships can be developed in social ways and you can have fun at the same time!

Day 8 of #Vidtember: It’s brand new day

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Here is a glimpse into my ritual of watching the sunrise and breathing in the beauty of nature. Share in the wonder of this beautiful dawn moment. How do you start your day? It’s so easy to wake up and start the day without setting an intention for the day – or simply to be grateful for having another day on this planet. Stop and look at the wonder around you. It’s amazing what you see when you do.

And check out my #Vidtember blooper!

In my attempt to share my morning ritual, my iPhone video fell from my second story balcony. Thankfully it landed on grass and all was well!

Day 7 of #Vidtember: 3 lessons from Arianna Huffington

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One of the women I really admire is Arianna Huffington, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post. I had the opportunity to meet her and hear her speak. I loved what she had to say.

She believes that we need to redefine what success looks like. Moving away from power and money and also include wellbeing, wisdom, wonder and giving.

She urged people to tell their stories (sound familiar!) because people learn from other’s stories. So your experience, failures and successes can all help people so they don’t have to go through the failures and draw on the what works.

Arianna said that the best networkers are those that walk into a room and think “how can I serve these people” rather than what can I sell them. It about creating relationships and have conversations. So true!

She talked about taking time away from out devices and “turn off all devises and gently escort them from our bedrooms”. Something I really need to do is, rather than check devices in the morning, get up and spend one minute setting your intentions for the day. That is what the most creative people do. The best ideas come after silence and stillness and you can hear the whisperings.

Day 6 of #Vidtember: How the full moon can help your personal brand

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I think we get so caught up in the minutia of our lives that we forget to just breath and be! I love the full moon, because for me it’s a time to pause and reflect on my business and myself. Watch my latest video to hear the three things you can reflect on at this time of the full moon and then prepare yourself for success!

Day 5 of #Vidtember: Top 5 networking tips to build your personal brand video

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This week I looked at my diary and realised I’m going to four networking functions. When I first started my business, networking was a core strategy for building my business in the long term. I’ve done so many networking events I’ve lost count! But the upside of that is I’ve learned the best strategies for networking to build your personal brand.

Watch my latest #Vidtember video to learn my five top networking tips.

Day 4 of #Vidtember: Standing in the spotlight with Australian Indigenous musician Gurrumul

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I went to amazing concert last night with Australian Indigenous musician Gurrumul. This inspirational concert got me thinking about how beautifully he demonstrated some of the ideas I write about in my book From Unknown To Expert. In particular, working out your ‘why’ and just being yourself is critical to building your personal brand.

Watch my video below to hear more about what I took from this incredible experience.