SANDRA GARCIA HELPS YOU BRUSH UP ON YOUR BUSINESS SKILLS

By Maureen Martin | May 14, 2020 | Food Fashion Style, Gals On The Town

Google Digital Coach Sandra Garcia-Lowery is a Harlem-based professional marketing and branding strategist. She is the founder of Encounter Your Potential which develops and executes business strategies for small-to-medium-sized businesses.
We asked Sandra for some advice on improving your professional skills and staying on top of your game.
Never stop being a student
I love learning so I surround myself with brilliant minds that come in the form of business owners, successful entrepreneurs, leaders at organizations, and really just people who have lived some life!
Lately I have been consuming a lot of YouTube. YouTube is so awesome for learning a little bit of everything and deepening knowledge on topics that you are interested in but maybe don’t want to pick up a 300 page book about but much rather listen and watch a 15min to 30min video about. I also use YouTube as background noise when working instead of music.
Revisit and Revise Goals
I am a huge goal setter and keeper of a to-do list. I also understand that it is easy to continue to create and build a to-do list without having it tie back to the goals that we set for ourselves at the beginning of each year. I encourage everyone to create a strategic roadmap which looks like 12 months mapped out with goals broken down by quarter, and then further down by month so that you can revisit and revise weekly and daily based on how you are tracking against big goals. This tactic also helps to make you your own accountability partner because you are able to see your big picture goals and the actions you are taking to get closer to achieving them.
I have created a template which you can access HERE. If you need help laying out goals, creating goals, or mapping out your next 6 months, I am available for coaching hours or to serve as your “think partner”.
Embrace Technology
Staying up to speed on digital trends and tools that can make our lives easier and smoother is so important for navigating the world today. A few tools and resources I can’t do business without are as follows:
Calendly – I depend on calendly for scheduling of meetings, especially when I am on the go and moving around from meeting to meeting. It has freed up both my time and my assistant’s time while enabling people to schedule time with me based on when they are available as well.
Rent The Runway – aka my fashion technology resource. RTR has saved the day on numerous occasions. On a weekly basis, I have a number of events, presenting or speaking engagements to attend. My NYC closet definitely doesn’t have the space to house the number of outfits I need to wear weekly, monthly and quarterly. I also quite frankly do not have the time to shop instore or the time to shop online for looks and risk items being shipped and not fitting. For all the stylists out there, I also do not currently have the budget for an on call stylist BUTTTI hope to one day! Recently, I traveled to 3 different cities in one week and was not prepared with the number of outfits needed for a trip but was lucky enough to be able to pop into an RTR store in both Chicago and San Francisco in one week to supplement the number of items I had with me.
Cloud Technically! I am totally dependent on cloud technically to help drive efficiency and remote working. Google tools like Docs, Sheets, and Slides allow me to build and create material that is easy to share and co-work in while bypassing downloading and saving work to my own devices. It helps save time and eliminates the fear of losing documents due to device malfunctions or lost electronics. Using Google photos, I am able to access photos from device to device without having to save, send, and use device memory.
Amazon is my technically personal shopper for all aspects of life. I am able to save time by ordering household items in bulk and groceries from WholeFoods for delivery. Almost anything you could possibly need can be found instantly on Amazon and can be delivered to your door in a timely manner saving time spent hunting in-store. Via amazon, I have also been able to schedule cleaning and handyman services. When planning for my wedding, I also hosted my registry via Amazon because I was able to have a universal registry that pulls from various different retailers….Jeff Bezos and team have literally thought of everything!
Create Your Own Board Of Directors
A piece of success advice I like to share with everyone and especially entrepreneurs is to build and have your own personal board of directors. BODs are not just for large companies and nonprofits. In addition to mentors, I advise identifying people who can advise you on different topics like finances, career growth, negotiating, etc. Your personal board of directors do not need to be asked formally but can be friends that you surround yourself with that add value and perspective that are different and that you respect.
Be Flexible and Adaptable
Things can change quickly from one day to the next and in my experience successful people are quick problem solvers and that can pivot quickly. Being adaptable to environments, circumstances and with people allow for the exploration of various ways to arrive at the same destination.