I believe I lost my way for a while. I had been promoting myself and my business for many years and it was doing very well. I was creating websites, installing and configuring Customer Relationship Management systems, teaching, public speaking, blogging, and tweeting. I was flying up and down the country speaking and training while building my business and my reputation.
Then a business opportunity came along which was all consuming. It had so much potential and it was so much work that I had to let the business I had been developing for years just go away.
I didn’t have time to consider the implications of what I was doing. It was 7 days a week and I lost myself in it… but all good things come to an end and sure enough, several years went by and my name had disappeared, my business was gone. When the project ended abruptly, all my clients had gone away and the reputation I had developed over the years and the client loyalty I had earned, had evaporated.
A little over a year ago, I started a new company with a colleague and began promoting the services of that company, but it never got the traction I was hoping for. The services were the same as they used to be and if anything, the products were even better that before, but I wasn’t getting the business.
A couple of weeks ago I sent out an email to a lot of my old friends and clients asking what they thought of a new business idea of mine. The response was a wake-up call for me and it has totally changed my outlook and direction.
The main thrust of my email was, ‘how do you hire people to work with you in your business?’ The answer that came back from many was, we don’t hire companies, we hire people based on their skills and their reputation.
I had been hired by many of my clients because they searched the web, or LinkedIn, or Facebook for someone that matched the skills they needed to fulfill a requirement they had. They didn’t care what the company was called, they cared about the person they wanted to hire.
For the past 5 years, I’ve disappeared as a person into a company and everything that made me unique was gone. I began promoting my company rather than myself, but from the outside my company was no different from any other company. My company was maybe 12 months old but my reputation as a professional with over 25 years of experience, was lost.
When I thought about it, it was so obvious… so I got busy.
I stopped working on the new business idea and went back to basics. I created a website about me and what I could do for my clients. That site is https://chrisely.com.
I spoke to my brother earlier today. He has been in business for over 40 years. His business has always been called ‘Barry Ely Sports Cars’. He has a great website; which I built. https://barryelysportscars.co.uk
Barry told me that he gets people calling him all the time (from all over Europe), who want to entrust him with selling, repairing or storing exotic cars. He says that people call him because of his name recognition and his reputation. Barry has built his reputation over 40 years and he has never taken a break from it. In doing so he has built a thriving business that has lasted for decades.
In retrospect, I made a big mistake in letting my business go. I saw a shiny object and lost sight of what I should have been doing.
All of those years I spent on building my reputation, my name recognition and the loyalty of my clients was gone. 5 years is a long time in business and now I must start over. But I’m back and I won’t get distracted again.
Nothing in business is more important than your reputation. It is something to be nurtured and promoted and NEVER neglected. I am working on that!