One of the real benefits of networking for me, apart from the opportunity to meet a wonderful array of successful business women, is to hear all about their stories. The stories of their business and life journey, what obstacles they had to over come, and what advice they can give to those of us who aspire to be successful.
The very first to inspire, engage, educate and connect with us is one such successful business woman and I hope you will enjoy reading her story, as much as I have finding more about this lovely lady.
Introducing Donna Hamer, Creative Director of Fanpage Competitions – a Social Media/Facebook Contest business.
What is your purpose in business? This is a very diverse role which allows me to work with business owners to show them how to use Social Media and more particularly, Facebook Contests as a way to grow their business and get a return on their social media efforts.
Where are you based? On the beautiful Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Is your focus Local, National or Global? Global – the internet has no boundaries!
Tell us a bit about you and your background? After leaving school I started with a local law firm as a legal secretary and quickly moved into a role as a conveyance clerk. 14 years later, it was time for a career change and I decided to pursue a career in recruiting & workplace training. I believe one of my unique talents is the ability to understand the diversity of small & medium businesses and their individual needs. I don’t try and be everything to everyone!
In late 2010, I discovered the benefits of Social Media and naturally fell into a role of helping others use this medium in their businesses.
On a personal note – I am a single mum with a beautiful 14 year old son who keeps me on my toes. He’s a geek, so I need to always be one step ahead of him when it comes to technology. His school teachers tell me that in Business he is unstoppable! He loves to sit and listen to me on the phone or during webinars. When the call is over, if he thinks I haven’t given the right advice – he is not backwards in coming forward to share his thoughts. Both my mother and my sister are extremely successful business woman and I believe this has played a huge part in my business development and the advice my son gives.
How do you celebrate ‘Me’ time? Spending time with my Golden Retriever walking him on the beach. I love to watch him just run and be free and have no cares. Let’s me forget life and just smile at the simple things in life!
What is your No1 time management tip? Create a list and do the hard things first. Reward your steps along the way.
What book changed your life? Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway! – Susan Jeffers. I also just love this quote and every time I stumble or get fearful of doing something new – I remind myself to “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway!”
What inspired you to start your own business? It was a natural progression as I changed career paths. I decided I wanted to be more involved with training and helping others in business. Whilst still working full time, I studied at night and completed both an Associate Diploma in Business Management, and a Certificate in Workplace Training & Assessment. I used these qualifications to work at the local TAFE and take on more management and training roles within the organisations I worked for.
The biggest challenge working for yourself is thinking you can do it all yourself!
What difference has being in business for yourself made in your life? This business has given me the opportunity to work my career around my parenting role. I have been very fortunate in never having to miss a school play or sports day. I wanted to be a successful business woman and a mum who was there before and after school. I love working from my home office or taking my laptop to the local coffee shop (across the road from the beach). With the use of a mobile phone, I can do all of my business from these two pieces of equipment.
What have been your biggest turning points in life and how did you manage these moments so that they shaped you rather than broke you? One of my biggest turning points was being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. The entire year was just a write off, I was left with no income and I had to decide where I was going and what the hell was I doing! There was a lot of soul searching and discussion with friends and family. I felt broken and my business wasn’t making a turnover due to my lack of focus. Luckily I had my sister to turn too, who had absolutely no sympathy and told me to get back on the horse (so to speak) and do what I do best!
This is when I turned to Facebook as a marketing tool for my business. I spent time learning about social media, and invested in my education. I knew if I wanted to make Facebook work that I would need to know how to use it effectively. I didn’t focus on any other social media sites, my thoughts are ‘if you want to do something, do it very well and master it’. Within 3 months of using Facebook, if I didn’t get a lead a day from my Facebook Page, I would go and look at it to see if it was still working.
In the end of 2011 – I then discovered Facebook Contests and went on a new path to create my own Contest app and to help train other businesses about using social media in their business.
What is your greatest piece of advice that you would give others in business? Find good mentors and spend money in educating yourself.
What have you found to be the most effective way to promote your business? Now that’s an easy question! Facebook and the use of Facebook Contests.
What one piece of advice would you share with the readers? Think outside of the square, try something if it doesn’t work, try it a different way. But NEVER GIVE UP on your dreams!
Lastly, what’s next for you and your business? Fanpage Competitions will always be a business that grows and develops as social media changes. Only last week we launched a new app called “Vote & Win” which grew from the requests of our clients. Personally for me, I am spending more time learning about Raw Foods and just loving what I am learning and where this journey will take me personally.
If you would like to learn to promote a successful Facebook Competition for your business, contact Donna now.
I would love to know if you found value getting an insight and understanding into what drives the successful people behind their Brands? Please leave a comment below:
About the interviewer: Teresa Bassham is the founder of Zenworkz Authentic Marketing and educates businesses to think, create, engage and optimise their marketing effort. She coaches customers in strategies for traditional and online marketing; and implementation. If you would like free how-to-do-it-yourself marketing resources or to subscribe to free e-news about all things marketing, please visit the website:
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