Читать книгу The Net Result - Book 2 - Lucille Jr. Orr - Страница 7

Book Publisher, Founder & President

Australian Executive Women’s Network

Last year when Nancy Flannery, Sandra Caretti, Roz Lawson and I were under pressure to complete the first Net Result book, the national Telecom Award and the second national Conference, I remember Nancy saying, “Lucille if you could bottle your energy you’d make a fortune.”

After successfully completing those tasks all in a matter of eight weeks I decided this year it would be a good idea to share with you how I manage to keep my energy and enthusiasm at a high level all the time, even when I’m physically exhausted. I promise you I’m like every other human being I know: I have my good days and the times when nothing seems to go right. I’m convinced after living and working for so long that the secret of my success is my total belief in myself.

Most of us have great ideas, but few do anything about them. Those who are adventurous enough to decide to put them into practice have to contend with friends and family telling them why their plans won’t work and this discourages most before they’re established and they give up too early.

Use other people as sounding-boards, and weigh their suggestions. If, however, you still believe your initial concept is right, forget any criticisms, and go ahead.

My philosophy in life is, if you’re capable of thinking of an idea you’re also quite capable of seeing it through to fruition.

I wouldn’t say this if I hadn’t proved it to be correct in my own life. Some of the things I’ve wanted to achieve have seemed impossible at the time I dreamt of them, but within days I’d realised the thought had merit and could be achieved.

20 EASY STEPS TO SUCCESS

To help you succeed, here are some easy steps to follow;

1.Record all your thoughts, dreams and aspirations in a log book or on a computer database. No matter how ridiculous they seem to be at the time you think of them, just write them down and go back over them from time to time.

2.When you decide to proceed with an idea, don’t share it with anyone who can’t be of real assistance to you.

3.Act on your idea as soon as possible while it’s exciting you, because your enthusiasm is your greatest asset.

4.Write a plan immediately, listing everything your idea can generate.

Will it create jobs for others?

Do you see yourself starting a business? Or a chain of shops?

How much money do you need to start your venture?

What will you be doing in two years from now when your idea is a success?

5.Take your plan (your document of dreams and aspirations) to a creative accountant or, better still, a general business consultant: someone who has a good knowledge of how to guide you to start your own business.

This person is a positive influence in your life and will be able to help you prepare a business plan and a cash-flow projection as well as assisting you by introducing you to a bank manager or finance consultant who can support your goal.

6.Once you have the advice, and understand the financial commitment and the responsibility you’re undertaking, the next step is to register your business name and start your business.

7.When your family don’t support you (and at times you’ll think they’re right and you’re wrong, because you’re tired and at first it’s all a little overwhelming), remember to hang on tightly to your vision and never, ever give up. Keep believing in yourself.

8.It’s important to remember to set small, achievable goals at first and to reward yourself constantly each time you reach a target. Some of the ways I’ve thanked myself are a trip to the hairdresser, a coffee with a friend, a motivational book, or a night at the movies. However, once I earned more money, I bought jewellery, furs, cars and overseas trips to spoil myself and enjoy my success.

9.If you’re married, share your success with your partner and take him to dinner when you want to tell him your exciting news. Have someone mind the children so you can become a pair of business entrepreneurs for the night, talking and dreaming about the future and the wonderful things you’ll be able to do together as a family once you’re wealthy and influential.

10.Visualise your goals and exaggerate your future wealth. This can be fun, and an important ingredient in your success formula.

11.If you’re determined to climb to the top rung of the corporate ladder, take advantage of ‘perks’ offered to you. These are your rewards for a job well done. When I was Sales Manager at Ansett Airfreight I enjoyed inexpensive national and international holidays several times each year.

12.Join a network of like-minded people. This will give you positive reinforcement and the support framework you need to share your success and to ask for guidance when you need it from time to time.

13.Ask for what you want. No-one can read your mind. If you want to be successful, ask for the additional responsibility if you feel you’re capable of doing a more demanding job.

14.Dare to be a tall poppy. I’ve had my head above the crowd most of my life and believe me the view is much nicer from where I stand.

15.Befriend your mentors in life, don’t forget they’re human too and most will enjoy sharing their secrets with you.

16.When you have to make a decision, listen to your own intuition and follow your instincts, because it’s usually right for you.

17.Admire your competitors for recognising that your talents were worth imitating. Remember any fool can copy. I’ve found over the past 30 years it was best not to waste time or energy on my competitors: concentrate instead on developing more new ideas. I always had a lot of fun watching others trying to keep up.

18.Promote and publicise yourself and your business. If you gain a promotion, tell the press. When nominated for an award, enter it. Too many people think because they didn’t win first prize they lost. Wrong! Because you entered, you were promoted and respected by your peers and the community for your achievements.

19.All publicity is good publicity. So many times jealous people tied to put me down, but instead did me a favour. A supervisor I employed in 1979, for instance, tried to force me to pay her a huge salary increase. When I refused she called the newspapers and told them my new word-processing school was taking jobs away from typists. Her story appeared on the front page of the Saturday Advertiser. I was thrilled when my office phones rang non-stop, the following week. Typists were worried about losing their jobs and wanted to be trained in this new technology.

20.Learn to say ‘no’. Like most people, I’ve tried to please everyone all my life and by doing this I’m sure I upset my friends and family instead. There are only 24 hours in a day and you must choose to use them wisely. I like to help people, especially the young and elderly, but as I get older myself I realise I’ve lost a lot of my own rest periods, running around after others.

21.Take time out for yourself. Read, learn a new skill, try a new hairstyle, to pamper yourself, or to just simply take a walk on the beach. I’ve been very demanding on myself and during the many years in business my staff, have been the ones to remind me to; “take time off, remember you’re the boss”.

What is success anyway? It’s a different thing to different people. To me, success has meant being able to work in the job or business I choose; having an idea and seeing it become a reality; establishing a national business that was so successful by the time I was 28 I could travel the world for four months without having to worry about what I spent; finding Mr Right, having a son, being a family and doing all the things that normal people do.”

After having it all I admit: good health and common-sense are the two most important ingredients. Happiness is not letting anyone hurt you, and they can’t if you refuse to listen.

In her preface, Nancy Flannery has presented a theme of Celebration. Just let me add that, as we go to press, we’re also celebrating the 7^th birthday of the Network, and receiving entries for the 7^th Executive Woman of the Year Award. The offices of our headquarters at 107 Carrington Street, Adelaide, are be-decked with balloons in as rich a kaleidoscope as are the stories in this book.

The Net Result 2 has been dedicated to men, for without their support the AEWN Awards would not have been possible. After successfully organising five consecutive awards for South Australian women, we wrote personal letters to the Managing Directors of Australia’s top 100 companies offering naming rights in return for financial support of a national award in 1992.

Within eight weeks we received 26 letters congratulating AEWN for its initiative in creating the award and one genuine letter of interest from the Commonwealth Bank. Ann Sydenham from Telecom Australia rang me saying she had received a telephone call from Don Wood in Melbourne wanting to know more about the Network and its award as he had evidently seen our letter after it had circulated several departments. Ann alerted Don to the success of Telecom’s own Regional Manager, Gillian Leach, who had been Runner-up in the 1991 AEWN award and whose story appeared in The Net Result I book. She was a regional manager with Telecom controlling some 1,200 staff in three states when she won a place in the award.

We have featured Don Wood in this book to thank him and Telecom Australia for the foresight demonstrated in assisting Australian women through the national award to gain recognition and new opportunities. Celebrate with us!

(Lucille Orr’s story is under Genesis in “The Net Result I” and repeated for you, in this book).