I had the great pleasure of going along to a Business Chicks lunch last week, where the special guest speaker was Bobbi Brown, and I came away with one gigantic key lesson I’d like to share with you.
For the sake of clarity, this wasn’t Bobby Brown, of course, because that would be weird (although I did hum Every Little Step pretty much that entire week).
(Can we just pause for half a second to remember a time that a man could wear bike pants and braces and not be laughed out of town?)
We’re of course talking about pioneering makeup artist and successful cosmetics producer from New York, Bobbi Brown. How successful? Her cosmetics business is expected to make more than a billion dollars US this year. That is not a typo.
There was so much that Bobbi talked about that was fascinating and inspiring for women in business who are rearing to go and eager to make a big splash. You can read 10 things that Nikki took away from that day over at Styling You.
But I wanted to talk about was this one big thing that made me go, “AHA!”
The funny thing was, I don’t think it was even part of Bobbi’s presentation. She perched her tiny self (she’s 5 foot nothing and, by the by, looks incredible for her 57 years) on a stool on the stage and proceeded to share her journey from high school all the way through to where she is today. Lots of interesting hair choices, lots of interesting fashion choices and, you know, the Rolling Stones. And so many of her stories – in fact every one that led to a significant career leap – started with, “I happened to meet…” or “I was talking to X and they knew someone who was looking for…” or “I was having lunch with X and she mentioned…”
I sat listening to these stories and a giant penny began to drop in my brain. Afterwards, a group of women from my table were talking, and there was a consensus amongst them that clearly Bobbi Brown just got lucky. “Talk about being in the right place at the right time!” said one.
“What can we possibly learn from that?” chimed in another. “Be lucky – that’s it?”
But these women entirely missed the point, I think. Here’s what I learned from Bobbi Brown that day about how to get “lucky”:
PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE.
And that can be broken down into three parts, if you like:
- Hone your elevator pitch – be prepared at a moment’s notice to talk about your ideas and why they are exciting.
- Leave the house – go to events, meet new people, and be nice.
- Make sure everyone knows what you do and what you want to do.
This works, whether you’re trying to promote your own business, trying to get ahead at work, or marketing your blog or other creative project. It works for everything.
Seems simple, right? But tell me, could you be doing it better than you’re doing it right now? I know I could.
So let’s agree to make more of an effort to put ourselves out there. You with me?
I thought you meant the other guy. He’s actually touring and I know this because I walk past a giant poster of him everyday and ‘every little step I take’ inevitably creeps in to my head followed by Whitney being pushed down some stairs. Happy then sad all at once 🙂
That’s exactly what you want from music – the gamut of emotions. 😉
Thanks for the ear-worm lol. But also for sharing what I think is THE most important lesson I’ve also learned recently. Yeah it’s scary and there’s a chance you might look stupid – but if you don’t put yourself out there how will opportunity even know where to find you? 😉
Exactly! Let’s make arses of ourselves together. 😉
So dang true! I used to think that opportunity would find me – how wrong I was. I finally started putting myself out there, working hard towards my goals behind the scenes and then opportunities started to appear… and I grabbed them with both hands. *dance break*
I’m shufflin’ right there with you, sister! xx