From Armchair to Action

Bringing your knowledge into the conscious mind

This morning I was preparing for a recording session that I doing very soon on Motivating Yourself as part of a CD series of Business Success Strategies for Notion. It meant that I had to explain concisely the key concepts of how to maintain your motivation.  Easy you might imagine....

However, it was not quite so simple. Sometimes what we do unconsciously and as second nature, is more difficult to bring into the conscious mind.  I found myself reminded of the conscious competence ladder that I use with clients when helping them when they are learning something new. 

So there I was, thinking about the what really keeps you motivated, and having written about it, spoken about it and lectured about it at length - for once I was lost for words.  So I have thought about it more since this morning and listed some of the things that have motivated me this week:

1. The wonderful autumn colours and leaves crunching under my feet, whilst walking the dogs!

2. Getting an email from a US contact of mine who introduced me to one of her colleagues who is doing more and more business in the UK. I decided to invite her colleague to an event I am speaking at, and she is delighted - a great way to motivate me to do a fab speech!

3. Three referrals that are going to attend our Women Presidents Organisation meeting with a view to joining. 

4.  Running a session on dealing with difficult people at a workshop which everyone loved and felt they could apply the techniques immediately

Motivation can be found in the oddest of places!

Getting to grips with social media

Whilst I have been blogging and on LinkedIn for ages, I have never really got into Facebook and Twitter, because I was not sure how it would add value to what we do.  This week I listened to a presentation about social media that changed my thinking and as part of it they showed this video.  If nothing else, it will make you think.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

Enterprising Women acquires Mission Possible

Oxfordshire-based company, Mission Possible, has been sold to YTKO who run the UK’s leading enterprise community for women, Enterprising Women.   Founder Sue Stockdale, who started Mission Possible in 1997 to help women get inspiration and information on how to start up and grow a business, said she was delighted to that the new owners were also fully committed to providing high quality support for women.

Sue commented, “We have been passionate about supporting entrepreneurial women for the last 12 years, and I feel confident that Enterprising Women will not only continue to deliver fantastic events and training, but will expand the range of services available in Oxfordshire & the South West so that even more women can fulfil their potential in business.”

Enterprising Women started in 2006 in response to a recognised need to unlock and stimulate the economic potential of women's entrepreneurship in the East of England. A partnership led by Bev Hurley, Chief Executive of YTKO, a Prowess Flagship Award holder, won a tender from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and the European Social Fund to begin transforming women's enterprise support. She founded Enterprising Women to make this step change, and increase the number, and success, of women-owned businesses.

The strategy involved a unique business model centred on the concept of community, and focused on addressing the needs of women at all stages of the enterprise journey, from pre-start to high growth. Enterprising Women encouraged all organisations and networks in the region that had something to offer to join the community and promote their services and events, so that women need only go to one place to find everything they needed.

Since then, Enterprising Women has grown rapidly, supporting nearly 5500 members, and went national across the UK in the Autumn of 2008. It offers women a full online profile, home page publicity and news opportunities, a wealth of resources and guides, mentors, access to a £10m Loan Fund, partner and networking events, annual Awards and specialist women-only start-up and growth training programmes.

Bev commented, “I’ve admired Sue’s work for many years, and I’m delighted that we can build on what she has achieved in Oxfordshire and the South West.   Enterprising Women is already supporting YTKO’s new Intensive Start-up Support programmes in Cornwall and Plymouth, and we look forward to bringing the benefits of membership to women and support organisations throughout the whole region.  We’re developing new products and services all the time in response to women’s needs, and are looking forward to helping many more women achieve their Mission!”

Enterprising Women   www.enterprising-women.org

Enterprising Women was founded by Bev Hurley in 2006, building on YTKO’s long track record in helping clients start and grow successful businesses.  Now the UK’s most dynamic community for women entrepreneurs, it supports over 5500 members across the UK through offers a comprehensive range of valuable services.

Download our Membership Benefits brochure at www.enterprising-women.org/benefits

The highlights of our last research evaluation at www.enterprising-women.org/highlights

Enterprising Women aids economic development at www.enterprising-women.org/overview

Take our new growth survey at www.enterprising-women.org/growth

Email : Sandy Plange, sandy@enterprising-women.org

Tel: 01223 421475

Keep up to date with Enterprising Women’s blog, tweets, facebook, and on linkedin

Bev Hurley

Bev is a serial entrepreneur who has grown three successful companies prior to joining YTKO as Chief Executive in 1999. YTKO is a business consultancy working with entrepreneurs, multinational companies, universities and Regional Development Agencies to from five offices across Europe.  It holds the Prowess Flagship Award for women’s enterprise support across all its locations and work. 

She is an angel investor and non-executive director, mentor, lecturer, and passionate UK Women’s Enterprise Ambassador.  In addition, Bev is an Enterprise Fellow at the University of East Anglia, Entrepreneur in Residence at Anglia Ruskin University, a board member of EEDA and the East of England Science and Industry Council, Prowess, and a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of the European Centre fore Women in Technology.

Mission Possible Ltd:    www.missionpossible.co.uk

Mission Possible was founded by Sue Stockdale in 1997.  The company has helped hundreds of business-women at all stages of their business and career journey. It provides a variety of services including networking events in Swindon, Oxfordshire and Bath, a comprehensive website, and peer support meetings for growing businesses.

Sue Stockdale:   www.suestockdale.com

Sue is a unique mixture of successful business woman and a record-breaking polar explorer who works with top business leaders and entrepreneurs helping them to achieve challenging goals. She is Chair of the London Chapter of Women Presidents Organisation – for women business owners with annual turnovers in excess of $1million, and author of Secrets of Successful Women Entrepreneurs.

 

 

 

 

Looking back and forwards

I like this time of year to be able to reflect and think about what's to come in 2009.  I am definitely making a few changes and planning in some more learning activities as well as leisure time of course!
Sometimes if you don't plan these things they never happen.....

Favourite place visited this year - Antarctica
Favourite workshop attended - the amazing Orchestra session as part of the Women President's Organisation conference, where we all sat in the orchestra to get a sense of it, it brought tears to my eyes!
Favourite speaker - Craig Goldblatt, who was able to explain the essence of what humans need: certainty, risk, significance and connection  - four simple words and yet extremely powerful drivers of behaviour
Key lesson learned - Acceptance - sometimes letting go and accepting seems hard but is really very easy and brings long-lasting change

I will reflect more and post some more favourites of 2008.

Does perception drive reality?

It's been a funny old time recently, with such turbulence in the financial world rubbing off on us locally.

First we were woken up in the early hours of Monday morning with a call from a friend at Lehman telling us what was going on there....then a few days later another call from a friend at HBOS telling us of the news about the merger...which they learned about from the TV!   Makes you think that corporate communications is vital at times like these....

Then we have been going through our recruitment process for a new Managing Director, with a great many high calibre people expressing an interest.  It's wonderful to see how all the networking we have done over the years yields results when it has been through this source that most of the candidates have found out about us.

What I reflect upon is how important a company's public perception is, because whilst not everyone will know about, or want to know about the detail behind the glitz, we do judge companies often on their website, their staff and their level of service.  So think about what image your business portrays.  If you don't know, then why not ask your customers and find out what people really think about your business.

Do you have to have worked in a corporate to grow a big business?

Management Today recently published its list 35 Women Under 35 which profiles women to watch in the future.  If you look through the list and read the women entrepreneurs, nearly all of them have come from a corporate background.

This made me think - do you have to have worked in a corporate and experienced "big business" in order to  grow a business?  Many women I come across lack the confidence and self-belief that they can make it and maybe its because they don't have that corporate experience. What do you think?

My favourite present - iphone

Happy New Year!  I spent most of yesterday engrossed in my new Christmas present, my iphone.
It's just so good and having upgraded to this from a phone thats almost two years old i felt like I had got a Ferrari after owning a Fiesta.  With so many of us doing business on the move, the ability to have all your information at your fingertips along with the internet makes life much easier. What impressed me so much was the way that all the features have been made so user-friendly. Even before reading the manual (does anyone else do this?) I instinctively knew how to use most of the functions!  The iphone also inspired me to organise all my contacts, photos and music so that was a good start for 2008. 

So, if you were to think about the service or product that you provide to clients, is it user-friendly?  Have you thought about those little extras that give it the wow factor?  We are running a workshop on this topic in February so it will be interesting to hear what others have to say on this subject.

Off now to listen to some more tunes and while away the day.....