As I’m running The Business Womans Network while founder Mandie Holgate takes a sabbatical for her health, I found myself saying to someone “I’m being Mandie”

On the way home that day I asked myself what did that mean and realised it had some important lessons for anyone in business. Here’s what I learned.

I can’t be Mandie.

Mandie is Mandie and to try to be Mandie is ridiculous. We share a vision for The BWN but we have different approaches. 

So LESSON ONE is Be Yourself.  

It’s no good going into to a meeting, thinking “So and So would say this and do that”
If you try to do something that isn’t you, then people will spot you as a fake.

Next, I need help to be Mandie. Yes I know I’ve just said I’m not going to be Mandie, what I mean here is to do the things that Mandie does that make The BWN such a success.

One of the things that people tell us that they love about The BWN is that there is always a new blog to read. Now I love writing, but as I have my own business to run as well as being a mum, a school governor, on the PTA and on a charity executive committee there is no way I can write as much as Mandie. So I’ve asked the other co-ordinators to write blogs and have reminded all Business Premier Pack Owners that they can write blogs. (which has the added bonus of raising their profile)
 

So LESSON TWO is delegate

Too many business owners try to do everything and are reluctant to hand over any responsibility to anyone else. But if you have a team then use them. It’s a bit of cliche to say “There is no i in team” but it’s so true. Working together for a common goal makes sense.

If you work by yourself, you may be saying “OK clever clogs, what do I do?” 
Well for my own business I do work by myself, so I have answer for this! Which takes us nicely to Lesson 3

LESSON THREE

Surround yourself with experts and ask for help. Just because you are running a business doesn’t mean you know everything about business. You may be the world’s expert on making purple flowers that sparkle and remind when your next meeting is (patent pending!) but that doesn’t mean you know about marketing, on contracts (what do you do if the sparkles you’ve ordered don’t sparkle like you thought they would), on employment law, on websites, on SEO, on bookkeeping, on tax returns….you get the picture

But there are people out there who love doing those things. So use them. Yes you’ll probably have to spend a bit of money but if you work out how much time you’ll save and what you could be doing in that time, it makes sense.

So as I’m “being Mandie” I’ll be asking people who I know do things that Mandie excels in for hints and tips.  There’s nothing wrong in saying you need help. It’s the smart thing to do.

So there you go, three simple lesson that are true no matter what you want to achieve in business.

Now share some of yours! (see how I’m putting lesson three into practise!)