PowToon: business storytelling

Have you ever struggled trying to convey the real meaning and value of your professional services?
It happens to me all the time.

Experts in public communication argue that a story is worth a thousands facts and explanations.
And that's exactly what you can do through PowToon.

Here I give you a couple of very easy examples I've made myself regarding the industry I've been involved so far. -It's worth mentioning that I don't have a clue about video making or anything like that-.

From my humble point of view: nothing can better help you etch on your client's hearts the idea of your business, than a nice and simple story.

Why don't you give it a try?

Warm regards!

Getting a leg up through body language

The way we stand in a room, our countenance, the position of our arms while listening or talking, discloses how we feel internally: whether we see ourselves as mighty and full of potential, or, on the contrary, as miniscule, hollow and shallow beings.

The subsequent step in social relations is that people interacting with us may wind up treating us in a coherent manner.

There are two main attributes that are easy to discern from a person’s body language: the sway they could exert on the one hand, and how stress reactive they are on the other. Leaders throughout history have portrayed themselves as very powerful and not very stress reactive. So, from an idealistic point of view, we all should pursue such qualities to some extent.

But, the interesting point comes when thinking about it the other way around. If our body language depicts how powerful and stress reactive we are, could we model our mind by shifting the way we portray ourselves through our body expressions, and as a consequence, change the way we interact with other people? After deep study on the matter, and with scientific proof to back up the results, the answer is yes; it’s possible to set up our brain, spark a role change, and get a social positive upshot from it.

The pith lies on small behavioral body language adjustments, nuances that we can steadily introduce into our daily routines. The concept behind it is this: fake it till you get it right. After training, we all can cast a sanguine view of ourselves full of cogent reasons to be taken in consideration. The first step is to muster all our strength, and stick at practicing open gestures in private. At the outset it’s common to fidget. The trick is to dissemble and pretend that we feel comfortable with those expressions.

Let’s not worry thinking it’s a meretricious outcome. After muddling along for a few days, we might be able to muddle through and, eventually, start felling good with our newly attained body language.

The next step requires interaction. Let’s outstare someone, for instance, in a waiting room. Let’s also try, very politely, to heckle someone giving a speech at work or university, by raising our hand with assurance.

After heeding these pieces of advice, mulling them over, and resolute rehearsal, we all must find ourselves unyielding and blasé about public interactions, getting a leg up on social competition.

Real happiness?

Is freedom of choice the source of natural happiness? Should we really commiserate for people living prosaic lives? Is there any virtue in the fact of being constantly apprised of the latest options available? Would it be nonsense to forgo our right to choose?

The latest studies on the significance of happiness have revealed that there is not only one kind of happiness, but actually two of them- a natural one, and a synthetic one. While many people would tend toward choosing the first one, scientists have shown that synthetic happiness lasts longer and stands as more persistent and conducive to human nature.

Real happiness is the result of achieving what one wants, while synthetic happiness is the feeling of accepting, and even growing to love the alternative that remains, after having not reached what one desired. The internal process of getting used to the object (or person, or feeling, etc.) that has been left to you, works as an innate healing process that doesn't take as long as one might have imagined at the beginning. However, once we have fallen in love with the alternative, we wind up declaring that we prefer that one much more, and even that we feel very grateful for having failed at our first shot. It’s not settling for; it’s loving truly.

It's a peremptory order, the opposite to a gust of options. It remains in your face with a staid mien, instead of a prate of opportunities wafting adrift. It represents a decisive state, being antithetical to the instability experienced when one is faced with seemingly endless options. It is to remain resolute and steadfast, rather than flit from pillar to post in the hope of finding that the grass is greener elsewhere.

One may be inclined to think that after having chosen among a wide variety, a degree of satiety would arrive; but it works only when there is no way to change one’s mind. The fact of knowing that one’s decision is not set in stone, always leaves a kind of discomfort and regret with the option chosen.

Who is more courageous? The one bandying against life trying to get everything they long for? Or the one who prefers to forfeit a sea of choices in exchange for pondering and reflecting on the real beauty of the thing that was timidly awaiting discovery?

Settling for something is craven. Splurging one’s life searching for natural happiness could turn out to be otiose.

Mental disposition in the face of unemployment

It's time for companies to tighten their belts, or as some establishment detractors would say, to become skinflints. Businessmen must not enjoy inviting their employees to alight from the corporation, nor juggle and practice sleight of hand when it comes to keeping the business afloat, but rather, lest they should run aground, accept that a bit of sacrifice may be in order.

Traditionally, losing ones job has not only rubbed the employee up the wrong way, but the whole family involved in the paucity of incomes as well. Especially these days, the fact of being jobless may break the unemployed under the weight of misery without any discernible way out.

Coaches and psychologies have knuckled down to shedding a bit of light and hope on the tenuous lives of people out of work. The severe blow to their self-esteem stands as the first barrier to overcome. More than a few admit to finding themselves so down in the dumps that they develop a steadfast belief they are not going to be productive and useful anymore.

Such a trait is easily found, no matter which layer of society one may be looking at: from educated, hoary-bearded professionals; to young people that used to work behind a counter. All of them feel that their lives have been usurped by someone else. Some refer to “the crisis”, while others point in the direction of puissant politics or company owners.

After helping them to retrieve a bit of their beaten up self-esteem back, coaches try to egg them on to imagine a new future they would like to see come to fruition, and set about the kind of actions that will hopefully get them there. While doing so, compunction is a feeling that should be kept under control: there’s no room for plaintiveness.

The role the family is expected to play, stands as the last step worth fleshing-out. Each family member should stick to these two simple rules: to avoid spats, no matter whether gripes be justified or petty; to praise every step made in the right direction.

Recovering one’s lost livelihood may sound tricky; getting one’s self-esteem back may result a daunting quest.

Getting focused

There was a time when encompassing diverse activities was rewarded in the market, both, from a company perspective, and from a professional point of view. Regarding companies, we could pose the old fashioned phenomenon of conglomerates; and pondering professionals, the traditional need of mastering a wide range of skills would stand out.

Traditional conglomerates ended up spinning off each of their businesses, giving them a twist and letting them remain focused on a very specific target. They thrashed out every single activity to conclude which ones they should jettison, and which they should carefully analyze and furnish with much more than a mere makeover.

Today's professionals are also slanted towards narrowly defining their particular area of expertise. They tend to only specialize in specific tasks, instead of lending a huge package of services.

Giving a few examples would help us understand the new vision prevailing in the market. Let's suppose a company selling food on the internet, declined to offer anything but breakfasts. They may also forsake the idea of creating open menus, but design set menus to choose from. Furthermore, the company may forgo letting the customer conceive of the occasions for such menus, but, rather, the kind of events for which they make their service available: birthdays, St. Valentine's Day, and a few other relevant dates.

On the side of professionals, let's bring to the table the case of a lawyer specialized in fiscal matters for companies operating in Brazil’s energy sector. Or, from a technological point of view, let's think of a possible consultant specialized in using the credit risk SAP’s module for banks.

Nowadays, companies struggle to roll out products able to quench consumers' detailed cravings, while professionals brood about what skills should be chosen to be polished in order to make them look more alluring.

The cause for this sharp segmentation is not clear enough; it could be the growth of the population, and the subsequent need to find a way to stand out; or simply a new era of lack of cooperation, in which everybody is looking out for their own interests whilst shunning their neighbours, with the exception, of course, of trying to sell them a breakfast tray.

Consulting firms

Times of uncertainty usually entail bright prospects for an increase in the demand of consultancy services. Whether it is a change in regulation, an unexpected and sharp swerve in the market, the arrival of a new competitor or the like, specialized consulting firms willing to lend a hand and unravel the mess, are not hard to find.

There are two main kinds of consulting services: On the one hand, technology consultancies, and on the other hand, strategy consultancies. While the former´s main goal is to develop and implement software solutions to their clients, the latter gives advice on how to streamline and iron out a business model, so as to make it run more smoothly and efficiently.

Large accounting companies are also enhancing the services they provide, and making the most of their client base, trying to get hired not only for the accounting service, but for the consulting one too.

Nowadays, making a living from the previous ones' leftovers, there would also be a third group. Portrayed as a bunch of small and very specialized firms, they are usually founded by former managers of bigger companies.

Consultants, specifically the strategy kind, have been traditionally depicted as flashy bright sparks that swing by the company's headquarters to tell the general board what they could have known, had they listened to their own employees' suggestions.

Nonetheless, consulting firms are witnessing an unprecedented growth in their profits. Years of experience under a consultant's belt, will undoubtedly empower them with valuable knowledge which is liable to be in high demand by companies that struggle to prosper in the same industry.

It's worth noting that companies planning to ask for consulting advice, should make sure they have an accurate conception of what their goal is, and how much they would be happy to cough up in exchange for getting there, before signing the contract.

Binding the payment of the service to the final outcome, could also help clients subtly indicate to the consultancy, that they had better forgo charging too much for an impracticable pipe dream embedded into a slide presentation.