By Martha Kearns

Being inspired isn’t often something you can pinpoint to an exact moment but the very notion of ‘thinking big’ struck me while visiting an art exhibition in an abandoned factory in the middle of a forest.

The distinctive international exhibition was called Magnetism and was held two years ago in the old Saehan factory on the grounds of the historic Hazelwood House in Sligo.

The contemporary exhibition took over seven rooms of the enormous disused factory and the extraordinary scale of the spaces meant that the curator was able to place what were described as ‘extreme objects’ in the exhibition, including a helium inflatable aeroplane balloon.

But it was the piece displaying a relatively small in stature lightening rod, once used on site, which caught my eye. Our tour guide told us that the artist was looking at ways to light the lightening rod and, rather than use a lamp or other conventional pieces of lighting, he used a full-height motorway lamp.

This struck me as impressive that an artist would think so big that he would decide to source, and then transport, a motorway lamp inside a building to light a piece of art. It made me decide that in life and work, we should – to use that awful expression – ‘go big or go home’.

All you have to do is Google the words ‘think big’ or ‘dream big’ you will come up with endless quotes on the subject from famous entrepreneurs, celebrities and motivational speakers, like the one I have used above from Tim Ferriss.

But how many of us apply it to our work and lives?

At StoryLab, we always like to encourage our clients to think big – while, of course, managing their expectations! Do things differently, don’t just stick to the script that is expected from you and you never know where it might lead you.

Take one of our clients, Fergal Quinn, who is one of the owners of henandstagsligo.ie. Always willing to try something new and different, Fergal and his company have received some great national and international PR over the past number of months for all sorts of stories, from top activities to try on a hen to how Brexit might affect their business.

The result has been PR coverage in most of the mainstream online and national media as well as pieces in the likes of Bloomberg and The Independent in London. Not bad for a company with a very specific niche based on the North West coast of Ireland.

It just goes to prove that everyone loves a good story and you never know where it might end up if you tell your story in the right way and get it in front of the right people. Don’t let your location, the size of your business or the type of service you are providing make you think that your story isn’t worth telling on the big stage.

For more on how we can get your story to the right people, call StoryLab on +353 1 6853029.