By Gloria Rand
U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad made history on Monday afternoon, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. Appropriately enough, Nyad completed the task – her fifth attempt since 1978 – on Labor Day.
After the swim, the 64-year-old swimmer said she had three messages, “One is we should never ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.”
When I read those comments, I immediately thought how appropriate they were to any small business owner engaging in social media marketing.
What’s the rush?
Too often, business owners, and especially solopreneurs, tend to give up on social media, because they don’t see any immediate return on investment. The important thing to remember is that social media marketing takes time. You’ve got to build a following and establish trust with your audience before you can make the sale.
If you have a Facebook page, make sure you’re posting at least once a day. If you’re blogging, publish at least one article per week. Just don’t quit. You’ve got to be persistent and patient, in order to achieve the results you want.
Don’t let age stop you
Diana’s second comment, that you are never too old to chase your dreams, is an important point to remember. If you look at history, some of the greatest entrepreneurs, men like Edison, Rockefeller and Ford, didn’t achieve success until they were in middle age. Don’t let age stand in your way of achieving your dreams. Researchers have found that twice as many successful entrepreneurs are over 50 as under 25. And data from the Kauffman Foundation indicates the highest rate of entrepreneurship in America has shifted to the 55-64 age group, with people over 55 almost twice as likely to found successful companies than those between 20 and 34.
As Diana Nyad proved, age is only a number. If you’ve got the drive, the passion and the persistence, you can succeed whether you’re 30, 50, 60 or 80!
Going solo is a no-go
Ms. Nyad’s third comment about her achievement requiring a team effort also applies to social media marketing. Managing a social media presence, while managing your business at the same time, is not easy. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you have to go it alone. Get help. If you have employees, get them to post to Facebook or write blog articles. If you’re a solopreneur, hire someone to take the burden off you, so you can concentrate on managing your customers and fulfilling orders.
If you need help writing or editing articles for your blog, give me a call. I’m happy to lighten your load!
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Gloria Rand is an entrepreneur, speaker, copywriter and marketing consultant. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small business owners implement search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, email marketing and social media marketing for online visibility, profits and success.
