Blossom!
Our guest blogger is Jenny Eaton who recently spoke to The BWN in Colchester and will be speaking the Chelmsford Business ShowCase on 14 Nov 2012 (we recommended Jenny to the organisers)
The artist Henri Matisse once said that ‘there are always flowers for those who wish to see them.’ I love this quote, it sums up what we do on the Eos Programme. Did you ever wonder why some people ‘see the flowers’ and others don’t? This fascinates me. There’s a sheltered housing complex near me, and an elderly brother and sister regularly potter up and down the street on their mobility scooters. Brother and sister – so the same background, similar upbringing and ages – and yet they are dramatically different people. The man is always smiling, whistling, singing and cracking jokes; he greets me with a hearty ‘how ya doin booty!’ whenever he sees me (we’re in Norfolk). His sister is the polar opposite. A face like a wet weekend, she seems to have a permanent black cloud hanging over her like a cartoon. The best example of this was one beautiful spring morning: the sun was shining, the sky a vivid blue and the trees laden with pink and white blossom – as she trundled past me she barked ‘that b****y blossom, all it do is get stuck in my wheels!’
What makes 2 people from the same environment approach life so differently? And how does attitude shape the life you’re living – after all these 2 are both in need of mobility scooters and sheltered housing, and yet the man sees life as joyous. The result is that I (and others) always take the time to talk with him; he’s fun, upbeat and makes me laugh. The sister I frequently cross the street to avoid.
Can you savour the moment in a perfect spring morning? Or are you fretting about the petals getting stuck in your wheels? Do people duck behind the cornflakes in the supermarket to avoid you, or cross the street to say ‘hi’. Do you think most people realise that they can choose their mood? Or do they look at the weather / news/ gas bill /football scores and let external factors decide for them?
How about spending a day ‘seeing the flowers’? Try it and see what happens – how do others respond to you? How do you feel? Are you more relaxed? Do you get more done? Get out there and enjoy the flowers!
Jenny Eaton is the director of the Eos Programme for women
jenny@eosprogramme.com / www.eosprogramme.com / 0843 5235373
Is your business making you sacks of cash?
It’s a serious questions every business woman reading this should be prepared to ask themselves. Because if your business is not making sacks of cash, it’s not a business it’s a hobby, and let’s be honest most hobbies are rather expensive. And businesses are supposed to generate money not consume it!
So if you feel like your being a consumer rather than a generator here’s a wham bam Thank you Mam, quick tip guide to checking you’re on the right track to sacks of cash;
1. Ask the question “Is My business making sacks of cash?”
To do this you will need to know your accounts inside out, and every accountant on the planet will tell you how important that is. It will highlight good weeks/months, bad ones, opportunities, weaknesses and help you look out for tell tale patterns to be aware of. Assessing where you are allows you to move forward – forget this at your peril! So become best friend with your numbers.
2. Next ask yourself “What am I going to Do about it?”
Note the capital D on Do. You see procrastination is highly likely to attack your business progress if you don’t have an action plan. Remember Procrastination is destroyed by action! So what action do you intend to take? Ask yourself what has worked in the past, what has not worked in the past. And a word of caution here – if it didn’t work in the past, will it miraculously work this time, unless you make changes?
3. Say good bye to Ron
Have you met Ron? He lurks in every business woman’s psyche – “I will do it Lateron” “This is more important, I will have to leave that to lateron” Ron just loves to hear you say this. So take action on Ron. Knowing what action you intend to take is nothing without working out WHEN you are going to do it. You have probably heard the saying “working ON your business and not IN it” Every successful business needs the space to implement the new ways to ensure success.
4. Get out there!
It’s a biggy! And a pet hate of mine to hear that a wonderful business is relying on business cards and a website and maybe a spot of networking to ensure a wonderful stream of new enquiries, leads, contacts and most of all new happy customers. Even if you are mega busy you still need a multi level approach to your marketing. If you can’t list off at least 8 different things you are doing to engage with customers right now – then somewhere down the line you are going to have trouble – and highly likely to not have sacks of cash!
Okay so there are a ton of other things I could be telling you about right now, including your current customers, up-selling, side selling, multi sales, dangers of special offers, underpricing nightmares, confidence issues, your relationship with money, wrong products, wrong customers, Wow! This list truly could be endless, but you see right now nail these 4 and you WILL see results, you WILL see more of what you want in your business and less of what you don’t. So no more reading, chuck Ron out and take action!
Well we didn’t know that
The IT Fairy just told us that people don’t always own the domain name they think they own!
Which means that their websites could just disappear. Pretty scary!
But, as we dusted ourselves down, she said it’s really easy to find out if you do own your domain name and generally not too tricky to fix. Phew!
So read her excellent blog and make sure you own what you think you own.
Project Make A Sack of Cash
The Why?
Julie Sawyer, Marketing Manager & Voice raiser for Essex based Farleigh Hospice cornered BWN Founder Mandie Holgate at a BWN networking event and said the following…..”here’s £50 can you come up with an inventive way to a) raise some much needed funds for our charity, b) spread the word about the hospice and how fabulous Farleigh is c) ensure you get lots of BWN business women involved so that their businesses benefit from lots of lovely free publicity and come back in 3 months time to tell us how much you raise.
The What?
June 8th 2011 at another BWN event, Mandie asked the business women audience what they thought of her ideas a) A Pamper evening, Quiz night/multi event attitude b) Skills swap to raise money and awareness of the business women’s skills and businesses or c) A BWN Business Women Naked Calendar…….they chose the naked calendar……!!!
The How?
Email goes out immediately asking for photographers, MUA’s, Hairdressers, printers, sponsors for each page of the calendar and ….er hem willing volun- teers to get naked to all donate their time, energy, services and products FOC. Instant assistance from across the entire network (a real testimony to the way those business women really give a damn about each others success and go out of their way to connect and create results for each other!) with offers for everything we needed without a single phone call—all done via a couple of emails and social media!
The When?
June 8th — Set the challenge, June 14th – announced the idea at a BWN
networking event, June 21st – Photoshoot with 26 business women, 5 MUA, 3
Hairdressers and 2 Photographers….and a rather busy Mandie Holgate running around in her silk dressing gown! 22nd June – Photographers get photos to graphics team, 30th June – Photos to Printers, 8th July – Launch Night raises over £2300, 8th September – Return to Farleigh’s Award night to tell them how much The BWN raised.
The Result?
26 business women appeared in over 10 different publications, spoke on BBC Suffolk and BBC Essex Radio, Spoke at events to over 100 business owners, gained masses levels of exposure for their businesses which led to numerous opportunities, contacts and new contracts and most importantly to date over £5000 raised for charity, Lots of Free publicity for Farleigh’s Hospice, One Very Happy Julie Sawyer and another opportunity for Mandie Holgate to show why business women are her passion and why as founder of The Business Womans Network and Business Woman’s Coach she can truly make great things happen with fabulous business women……
So……..what could The BWN do for you?
Stop sitting with your ears in the taps!
I’ve got a question for you;
(it’s business related in the weirdness way….honest!)
Ask yourself this did anyone ever say to you “Hey don’t lay with your head that end of the bath, you’ll have taps in your ears”?
Now at first thought you’re going to say this business coach has lost her marbles, but think about it;
When you were little you could play with your rubber ducky in your blue Matey bath anyway round you liked. You could lay on your front upside down pouring water from one receptacle to another for hours while mum shouted “Are you washing your hair?” and you lied “yes”!
But as you grew, you carried on playing in the bath splashing the water over the side and you just naturally found a way to sit that allowed you to get on with what you wanted to. It’s highly unlikely that you held a conscious conversation with yourself (or anyone else for that matter) discussing the merits of laying with your head the tap end, or your legs dangling over the side. You just naturally adapted.
In life we do this all the time, and it’s just as true in business.
But here’s the thing, Sometimes we’re so busy playing we don’t pay attention to the fact that in actual fact we are in real pain, things aren’t working and life is proving tough. In reality you have taps in your ears and you’re doing nothing about it. THAT’S when you have to have a conscious conversation and think;
“Is this the best way forward?”
“Is this working for me?”
“Is this moving me forward?”
“Is this getting me the results I want in my life/my business?”
The fact is the longer you put up with stuff, the quicker you get used to it, and start to ignore it and accept it as the norm. That’s when you stop making progress and getting the results you want!
Imagine you had been in the bath with the taps around your ears. Now get out of the bath stand back and look at the bath and ask yourself am I sitting in the most comfortable way?
Standing back from your business allows you to create the space to make real progress and grow your business. Don’t think because it’s a conversation it’s going to be easy though to create that space in your head and answer those four questions. That’s why mentors, coach’s, consultants…whatever you wish to call them, work.
That’s why good networking works.
That’s why good mentoring groups work.
That’s why good environments that allow you to think about your business – work!
So the next time things don’t seem to be flowing along nicely, ask yourself “Do I have taps in my ears?”
(In case you didn’t get the message – you are not alone in business (however much it can feel like that sometimes!) and that’s why the BWN is such a proven resource for business women looking to connect, learn mindset and skill sets and to feel like they know the best direction and the happiest course to take to their business success.)
Promote Yourself With Free Overlay Ads
This is a guest blog by Elene Marsden from CorazonIT
If you’ve created YouTube videos, take the extra step to add free overlay ads to your videos so that your viewers can link straight back to your website.
Its free to set up but you do need to create a Google AdWords account first.
Watch this video for full instructions.
Stop throwing those Lemons at me (In my best Michael Cain voice)
Those of you that know me life know that has been sending a fairly substantial wicker basket of lemons my way and it’s really got me thinking. Have you heard the saying about “When life throws you lemons make lemonade?” Is that really the best approach? When that happens in business, should you be reaching for the juicer?
I’ve spent far too much time in the doctor’s surgery recently and the amount of conversations I’ve overheard where to put things simply the conversations go something like this;
“How are you then Sue?”
“The cancer has spread and the leg has got to come off above the knee now”
“I’m so sorry to hear that Sue, that’s awful, so how are you and hubby coping?”
“Not really, the house will have to go, and that cruise we were planning won’t happen, but hey you mustn’t complain – worse things happen at sea right?”
Sorry, why shouldn’t we complain?
Why can’t you say “god this is crap, this is getting me down.”
Bear with me here there is a point to my ranting for all you lovely business women out there.
While I genuinely appreciate the benefits of seeing the bright side, sometimes the negatives being thrown at you outweigh the positives by a 10 ton truck load. I had a business friend who lost 3 members of her family in a short period of time, had a serious health scare, her husband lost his job and she was wondering why her business was suffering?
The fact is we have been so bamboozled by the need to be positive and the constant barrage of happy, positive messages with sunsets or moon rises plastered across social media, that we fear we will get hunted down and disowned if we so much as suggest that things are going very much awry.
Ask yourself this – if things are really THAT bad, is it a good idea to get up every day and not acknowledge how tough things have become?
Yes you need to have a positive mind set.
Yes you need to set small achievable goals.
Yes you need to accept that there are things that make your big dream goals unrealistic right now, but hang on to them and be determined that you WILL achieve them.
But ask yourself this, if your best mate told you how tough their life was, would you tell them to bottle it up and keep aiming for the stars? What would you say and do for them?
A good moan with a good friend, or a business colleague that is part of your inner mentoring group of trusted people you know are as intent on success as you, and want to help you achieve it, is a great way of airing what’s going on. And in doing so, it stops everything that is happening to you from overloading your brain and stopping you from progressing. It stops the midnight staring at the ceiling, the inability to see the solutions, and it stops you from feeling alone.
Business woman’s success relies on many things – so the next time Lemons are being thrown at you so damn fast you could make lemonade for MacDonald’s – you are perfectly in your rights to throw a few back – your success will love you for it!
Grow Your Contacts Lists Using Web Forms
This is a guest blog by Elene Marsden from CorazonIT
The easiest way to grow your contact list is to add a web form to your website, blog or Facebook Business Page.
It works best if you can offer an incentive to your readers in return for their name and email.
On my websites I have a number of free gifts including 12 ACT courses guides, links to useful training videos and even a free marketing CD.
Watch this “How To” video for full instructions.
Who’s cheering you on?
I wasn’t going to write an Olympic inspired blog. I really wasn’t.
In the run up the Olympics and since the events began, it seems like everyone has decided that the way to get noticed to include the word Olympic in their marketing spiel. And here at The Business Womans Network, we don’t always like to follow the crowd.
But then I was thinking about how many times the athletes have said that the cheering of the crowd spurred them on to success. I believe that one of the teams from another country complained that the chants of “Team GB” were too loud down at Eton Dorny. The commentators certainly kept on saying that the crowd were the extra person in the GB boats.
And then I was listening on one of the cyclists talking about how they all have different pre-race routines and how in between one of the races he was feeling anxious/unsettled (I forget the exact words, but you get the drift) so he spoke to the team psychologist and after that he felt fine and went on to win.
Finally I was listening to one of the other athletes thanking all the people who had contributed to their success.
And these are the conclusions I came to:
- We all need someone or something to spur us on to greatness. Maybe it’s a piece of music that gets you pumped up, maybe it’s a good friend who just always knows the right thing to say.
- Asking for help is absolutely fine.
- We all need experts. Athletes have lots of experts to help them. I’d bet there’s not one gold medallist out there who is their own dietician or physio or coach.
So be a gold medallist – get the help you need and work out who or what spurs you on.
And let The BWN know what you do and what are your results.
A Message from Mandie
Hi world of wonderful BWN business women,
Thanks to everyone that has kept in touch to send your best wishes and get well messages.
To save poor Clare’s ears at Essex & Suffolk BWN events I just thought I would say a quick hello and give you an update.
Well if progress is what we are looking for unfortanely progress IS being made, but only in so far as the illness is winning and progressing nicely with lots of new symptons that are making lift that much harder. I AM getting complete rest, really truly looking after myself and yet nothing is helping. I spend most of my days in bed with the curtains pulled since now I’m oversensitive to light too, and a trip to the local supermarket is a massive treat since the only places I go is the school run and hospital appointments.
I’m now being tested for Lupus, Lymes disease and Stiff Person Syndrome (seriously you couldn’t make it up!) So I get to speak to lots of nice doctors and nurses when I make it to the top of their long waiting lists.
I won’t lie to you it is not easy being the kind of person that just loves helping people and hearing how your busy lives are going and how I can help, to find yourself alone for 6 hours a day, but you know me I have this uncanny ability to find the positive in all situations. For instance now I can appreciate I’m saving a fortune of fuel, makeup and clothes since I go nowhere and can’t justify buying clothes and getting dressed up for the dog’s entertainment.
It is not easy to feel positive everyday and some days I do feel rather low but I always find a way of creating a little goal that gives me a sense of achievement, be it walk up the stairs without stopping, cook an evening meal, or participate in a game with the children.
I’m writing to you today so that you know, that I often think of you all. How’s your website redesign going? How’s your marketing strategy getting on? How many more useful followers have you gained on social media? What impact is it having on your business? What problems are you facing? How can the BWN be assisting your success? Are you overcoming your business fears? Are you creating a great work life balance so you can enjoy the money you earn?
But right now I know that the BWN is in the best possible hands of the incredibly talented and passionate business woman (and Olympic torch bearer – ask her sometime how she got that gig! Hee hee and do get to Chelmsford to cheer her on – in purple perhaps, as it would make a great bit of press for you and The BWN!) That is Clare Lauwerys, and with her team across East Anglia of Tina Walker, Meg Reid and Bridget Greenwood I know that there are some great business women out there right now dedicated to the success of you and your business.
I hear that we are now into the 23rd month of a new person coming toa BWN event, so its great that the word continues to spread about the power of BWN networking. I see Clare regularly so I know that things are going brilliantly for all heavily involved with The BWN. If you have premier pack, don’t forget about all the fabulous ways the BWN can help you even more. Clare’s as passionate about that as I am!
I find that it times like this, its hard to know what to say. It’s as tough as when I had severe clincial depression many years ago, and I remind myself constantly that out of that hell whole I created a great career and the opportunities to meet you guys, and get on national TV and in front of the home secretary and the Bank of England, so I hold my breath to see what opportunities this level of pain, and exhaustion could possibly create.
Thanks again for being in touch – it means the world to me.
My very best wishes and heres hoping for a good summer (and a word of warning, I remember a few years ago seeing the sun shining and dashing past my loungers to another client, thinking “God I wish I had more time to enjoy sitting in the sun” and now I would give anything to not have the time to be on a lounger ! The moral of the story, be very careful what you wish for!)
Mandie
xx