What is the story behind your business name?
I really wanted a one-word business name that was unique. The aim was to blend together words that were relevant to my business to create a word that I could apply my own definition to. After several brainstorming sessions, I checked that the .com and .com.au domain names, Facebook URL and Twitter handle were all available for each of the words I had short listed That ruled out quite a few options, with Impactiv8 being my preferred of the remaining options.
There are three key words within Impactiv8, “Impact”, “Active” and “Activate”. These words are key to my philosophy regarding social media – you need to make an impact and be constantly active to be successful. My vision was for Impactiv8 to become the business that would activate companies to achieve this. I also really liked incorporating a number within the name as it made it a bit like “text talk”, which is relevant to what I do. It also gave me a theme that to incorporate into blog posts (e.g. “8 top tips to…”).
In coming up with the name, I also created a definition for Impactiv8, which is to “make a significant improvement through engaging people and making communities more active”. The aim was to use the catch phrase “let me Impactiv8 your business”. I didn’t end up going with the catch phrase, but still may do.
When deciding on the name I had a concern that the spelling is not obvious when you say it, as this could create an issue when people are searching for the business. I knew this would be an issue at least in the short-term, but at the same time had a vision that one day in the future Impactiv8 would become a household brand name, with my definition included in the Oxford Dictionary and if I did my job well enough everyone would soon know how to spell it. 🙂
How long have you been in business?
I launched Impactiv8 on 28 October 2011 – my birthday. It was my birthday present to myself and the best birthday present I have ever had!
How many kids do you have?
Three. Two boys (nine and seven) and a Princess (five). All at school this year, which has made things a lot easier for my business.
High and Lows of running your own business?
Highs – Knowing that you are ultimately responsible for all of your businesses successes. I love helping other businesses to achieve success using the power of social media. When I help people, they are incredibly thankful for what I have done and I get a major kick out of that.
Lows – There haven’t really been any major lows for me. However, I really struggle with the work/life balance. I do spend long hours both working in and working on my business, but at the same time I love doing that, so it doesn’t seem like a low. However, I do miss out on other aspects of “life” as a result.
Future goals for your business?
I have just launched “Facebook Business Success”, which is an online training program, which is a scalable product that extends my capacity to earn beyond the number of hours in the day. I plan to develop more products like this and build up the passive income streams of my business through a combination of additional products and affiliate partnerships.
What are some highlights (successes) in your business so far?
Launching Facebook Business Success has been a major highlight for me because of how much work was involved in putting it all together. I am sooooo incredibly proud of the program. Every time I get an email notification that someone has signed up (which is several times a day at the moment) I do a little happy dance. I get especially excited when someone buys one whilst I am asleep. J
I also get a major buzz whenever I conduct a workshop or a mentoring session for my clients. Such an adrenaline rush!
One piece of advice to other mum’s who run a business and struggling with motivation and confidence?
That’s a real tough question as I have never really struggled with either of these, but that is probably because I have always been driven to be successful in everything that I do and you need both of those traits in order to achieve this. I suppose you need to work on something that you are good at and passionate about and then have an end goal that you really, really, really want. If you do that, then your passion and end goal should provide you with all the motivation you need.
As for confidence, if ever you don’t feel confident doing something, tell yourself that you are “just practicing” and allow yourself to make mistakes. Learn from those mistakes and then do it better next time. The more you do it, the better you will get and then the more confident you will become doing it over time.
And any other information you would like to share
I think I have gone on long enough. 🙂
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