ThinkViral founder: Reflection a key to achieve success

Welcome to the ‘Think’ column, a series aimed at helping entrepreneurs stop and think about the various aspects of starting and running a business. This week, ThinkViral President Anne Cull introduces the column and emphasizes why pointed reflection on lessons learned is central to a successful business strategy. ThinkViral is a full service social media sales and marketing company that offers training and outsourced social media services for commercial industries.

Anne Cull

I started ThinkViral by running around town providing face-to-face social media training to anyone who would pay me.

After the first year, I was chronically frustrated (and tired!) that companies were not doing what I had taught them in those trainings. If I never stopped to think about WHY companies were not doing what I had taught them, I would still be running around trying to force them to pay attention and execute on their own.

Fortunately, I proactively sought out people and resources that have saved my sanity and have helped me figure out how to grow a successful company. Those people helped me pivot my approach and lead ThinkViral down the path to success that we’re on today.

Today, I continue to access resources and mentors to help me grow my business. The more I read, learn and reflect on what I’ve learned, the clearer my vision becomes. If we become too heads down inside our companies, we don’t have time to think big picture. Losing sight of the big picture means the death of big goals.

My main role as founder and president is to be the keeper of the vision. I must steer this ship I created.

If we entrepreneurs really want to make our businesses work, we have to force ourselves to stop and think about what we’re really trying to accomplish or we will easily be led down another shiny brick road that takes us to no-profit land where no one wants to visit.

This column is called the “Think” column for a reason. Each week, this series will highlight something important to think about when growing a business. I hope it helps you learn to sift through some of the entrepreneurial fluff that’s out there, distracting you from what really matters.

The “Think” column will feature entrepreneurs at different backgrounds, industries and stages of growth in order to provide you with diverse perspectives and advice. They each bring expertise to the table that will help you “think.”

We all have to make time to set a vision and think through the important aspects of our business. This column will help us do that, so that one day we can finally say, “YES! It worked! It sold! It made it!”

So, cheers to you, your business and your learning curve. Thank you for all the effort you put in every single day to build a company that ultimately may help grow our economy. I believe we have a better shot at making it if we are willing to humble ourselves to receive the advice of those who have prospered before us.

Best of luck in your prosperous thinking!

Anne Cull

President, ThinkViral

Founder, SocialMediaBusinessSchool.com