What can happen when you just take action!

Back in 2007 I went travelling on my own to Africa. It had been a place I had wanted to go to as a kid and finally, after the break up of a long term relationship I had the opportunity to go.  Whilst I thought I had prepared well for my trip, in fact arriving at my hostel in Kenya late at night was actually a bit terrifying! I was in my dormitory and I just couldn’t sleep so I went out to the chairs in the garden and got chatting to this guy who had been in Kenya for a few days and was feeling really unsettled. We got chatting and got on really well and he said do you fancy a drink, I’ve got some vodka in my room, so he went and got it! We ended up chatting all night and finished the bottle off.

What then transpired for my first whole day in Africa was that I lived in the hostel toilets for the entire day sweating out one of the worst hangovers of my life and kicking myself for being such an idiot and drinking so much!

Anyway, after the self inflicted pain that had overshadowed the start to my trip, things got a lot better, and 3 months later I had had the most amazing time in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia plus a rather scary trip to Zimbabwe, (which is a whole other story!) and my love for the continent was sealed.

Uganda was the place where I truly felt at home and I realised that there was SO MUCH I could contribute to this beautiful country and to the wonderful people there that I knew it would not be my last trip there. I knew this trip was just the beginning…..

Fast forward to 2021 and I have been working in Uganda ever since, running my projects. I also lived in Uganda for 5 years and ran a multidisciplinary clinic in Kampala as well as working from a large GP surgery and being mobile as a veterinary chiropractor.

My projects in Uganda are very dear to my heart and I am so happy that through The VIP Couch Business Club, I am also able to support one of my projects Chrysalis Uganda (which empowers women living in the slums through business) as £1 from every member goes to this project every single month.

Why am I telling you this?

Well this week something really cool happened and I wanted to share it with you in case it could be of use to you too, or perhaps a timely reminder!

I talk often about the need for you to get visible and I know for many of you this can be a challenge, but for your business growth it is a necessity and something I would love for you to embrace.

Getting visible means YOU get in front of more people, which means more people can FIND you and this means that you can HELP more people! And helping people is our jam right??

So in order for you to help more people you need to look for opportunities to get more visible! One of those opportunities is to explore PR opportunities which can be amazing and often completely FREE!

I was having a bit of a chat with myself on Wednesday this week and realised that I really hadn’t been making an effort when it came to my own PR and I thought to myself, you really should make more of an effort!

There is a place on Twitter that is great for seeking PR opportunities, it is called #journorequests and journalists post all sorts of requests for PR opportunities!

So I made the decision at 2.20pm that I would spend 10 mins looking at #journorequests just to see what was on there for that day.  I emailed a couple of things that looked interesting and then I saw the request ‘ looking for a woman who can talk about the differences between being a woman in the western world and a woman in a developing country for an International Womans Day piece’

I was like THIS IS ME!

So I messaged the lady on twitter and before I knew it by 4.30pm I was being interviewed for a radio show and podcast all about my work in Uganda and the amazing women I get to work with! I was also able to mention what my business is!  Visibility for my projects AND my business!

FLIPPING HECK THAT WAS FAST NIK!

In just taking a few mins I had secured some fabulous PR that was totally relevant to me!

Any one of you can do exactly what I did on Weds and get you and your business some visibility, it really can happen but you need to making an effort to look for it and seek it out, not wait for a lucky break!

I learnt my own lesson that I NEED to schedule that 10 mins in EVERYDAY to just see if there is an opportunity that could work for me!  I mean it’s just 10 mins, perhaps I could do it every time I nip to the loo (sorry is that tmi??) or when I’m waiting for the kettle to boil?

I know myself I have made excuses that I was too busy to look for PR opportunities at the moment and that it was something I would get round to at some point! I realise now that that was complete BS!

I will be prioritising just 10 mins to see what’s out there and I would love it if you would consider doing the same!

Check out #journorequests on twitter, also episode #7 of The Profitable Couch Podcast is all on PR too with my friend Jo Swann from Chocolate PR, plus a reminder that if you are a member of The VIP Couch you have PR training in Module 1

If you do secure some great PR wins please do come and shout about it in The Profitable Couch group as your wins will really help your fellow Couchers too and also it’s great to share some fab wins too!