Today it’s International Women’s Day! (IWD) It’s not a bank holiday.  We don’t generally swap gifts.  We don’t plan a special meal at home.  There isn’t a religious ceremony to celebrate and we definitely don’t give women across the planet a day off! Normally I host a conference on IWD so I’m usually totally frantic in the run-up to the day and otherwise engaged managing a full house of women on the day itself.  This year I decided not to run the conference.  The nice thing about this is that I actually do have more time to think about what IWD really means to me.  Just because I am not in con ..read more

It’s my sixth business birthday! I started my business by accident six years ago today. In fact, I am not sure I can claim today is my business birthday because today was the day I set up my first Facebook group. It wasn’t a real business until a few years after that.  Since then, running my own business has undoubtedly been one of the best and one of the worst experiences of my life! Today, I feel very grounded and have a very clear path ahead of me. I figured I would write a little list of some of the most important things I’ve learned thus far. You are going to get criticised no matter wha ..read more

You know what it’s like. The doubt creeps in. What if people don’t like me? What if they don’t like what I say? What if I look stupid? Why are people going to buy something from me? Everybody thinks I’m totally at home, standing in front of a bunch of women hosting a networking event. Most of the time I am.  But it hasn’t always been like this.  There are still days when the doubt kicks in and I wish the ground would swallow me up. I second guess myself and feel myself withdrawing into myself. Every bit of experience whispers to me not to be so stupid. I have learnt that you need to be who you ..read more

They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery.  Do you agree? When you run a business and another business is out there imitating you to the extreme, are you actually flattered? Let’s face it……it’s annoying and rather underhand. We all work hard to build and grow our businesses so it feels like a real kick in the stomach when another business copies what you are doing. How far have they gone to copy your business? Do they post similar things to you on their social channels? Do they post similar content on their website? Are they copying your content themes? Are they using the same t ..read more

Today is the day in the calendar known as #BlueMonday.  Blue Monday is supposedly the most depressing day of the year. Its the 3rd Monday in January. It’s another one of those marketing awareness days that are really popular on the digital airwaves. It is well known for being a day that people are most feeling blue due to the weather, debt levels after Christmas, failing new year resolutions and so the list goes on. Apparently, the science behind it has been debunked and in the mental health space, there has always been growing concern over it. Feeling anxious or sad can be a temporary thing ..read more

For introverts, the mere thought of networking is draining.  It’s a hard world out there for introverts, especially in a digital business culture where it seems that everybody is visible. I think there is a perception that being an introvert makes it difficult for you to run a business, if not completely exclude you from running that race. Many of the skills we need to run a successful business like selling, presenting, networking is both natural and comfortable for an extrovert. Attending a networking event requires an immense amount of effort for an introvert and can absolutely exhaust you ..read more

Easy Ways To A Better Life Want a better life? Big changes are difficult and take time.  I know I’ve been there. But there are many easy steps you can take right now. Take many steps, even small ones, and pretty soon you’re getting somewhere. A Better Life Today It’s easy just to look, right? Start looking for specific ways to make your life better, and to improve yourself. Even if you don’t accomplish anything immediately, you are preparing yourself. Thinking about change sets your mind and your motivation in motion. You’re not looking for an excuse to avoid difficult tasks, but you wouldn’t ..read more

Intentional Focus: Your Happiness, Your Success, and the Law of Attraction What have you been focusing on lately? …….on how well life is going for you? Or on how much business you’ve been doing compared to last year, or how well other people have been rating you? Or on how much your partner loves you and how much you revel in the relationship you’re having? On the excellent state of your bank account? On your ever-present good health and slim and trim physique? Or on the joy, you experience each time you sit down to dinner with your teenage children? On the wonderful holiday you came back from ..read more

Giving Always Wins. We all want happiness. We all need appreciation. We all crave for recognition. We all want to be applauded. We all desire to be called good and lovely human beings. We are all looking for this affirmation from our friends, family and our partner. This makes us happy. This makes us feel good about ourselves. This gives us new confidence in ourselves. This all gives us new and positive self-esteem, which is very important. How to get it? Let us do all this for others. If no one is praising us, let us praise others. Let us do all that we want others to do to us. Let us give lo ..read more

What do you want to be when you grow up? I’m sure you were asked this question multiple times when you were a youngster.   How many times have your own children been asked this? When asked the question, did you have an answer at the ready, or did you need a few minutes to think about it? We all had dreams of becoming something great, like a fireman, a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, or a rock star, just to name a few. Well, how did you do? Maybe you never aspired to be what you set out to be or said that you would become. But then again, things do change. The older we get, our tastes change, our ..read more