Lynette Allen(blog)

What would happen if you altered your view of your current situation? by Jackie Clifford

As I watched the house transform last week from old steamed up windows to new, bright, clean ones, it made me reflect upon how easy it is to get stuck with our old view of the world… Simply having a new pane of glass completely changed my view from every room of the house!

This set me thinking about how a great coach can help you to view problems, challenges and situations from a range of different angles. Here are some questions that might help you to think about things just a little differently…

• If this wasn’t a problem, but an opportunity, what sort of opportunity would it be?

• If you did know how to overcome this challenge, what would you try?

• If you were to view this situation as a fly-on-the-wall, what might you observe?

• If you were to think of this problem in the completely opposite way to the way you are thinking about it now, what would you be thinking?

• Imagine hearing yourself describing this challenge - what do you notice about what you were hearing?

• What needs to change to make you feel happy about this situation?

• How would… [Albert Einstein] [Thomas Edison] [Mother Teresa] [Ellen MacArthur]… tackle this problem?

Another useful way to approach a situation is to analyse the questions that you have about it by asking yourself:

“What are the key questions that I have about this situation / problem / challenge?”

And then go on to think about where you might find the answers or even what the answers might be.

Coming at things from a different angle or viewing them through a different pair of eyes can give you a completely different perspective on things which in turn can help you gain valuable insight and clarity.

Try it and you might be surprised at what you find out.  Click for more information about coaching for women and find your different perspective

The Valentine Plan for 365 days a year, by Cathe Gaskell

There's something about this time of year, with Valentine’s Day being such a commercial love fest, with its overpriced red roses, the flurry of heart shaped cards and cute teddies bedecked with appealing messages. We are as a nation focussed on remembering loved ones, new, old and future possibilities...

For many people Valentine’s Day results in sentiments rarely spoken, a chance to reflect on what's going well in the relationship and plan for the following months/year ahead.

Can this level of reflection be directed into customers and used to improve our relationships in business all year round?

Like Valentine’s Day and the special focus on key relationships it promises, 'customer care' can be manifested in any number of ways, but keeping in touch regularly and adding value is one of them....I call it the Valentine’s Plan.

How many of us have thanked customers for referrals and testimonials? In a recent poll I conducted on this, I found that in this technical age, a simple heartfelt handwritten note and vouchers always went down well with its recipient.

Sending on information about a product and or area of interest via a link, a blog or by an introduction, are key aspects of building a relationship too - rather like a jigsaw adding pieces one at a time – it continues to add value to your customer, as well as making you memorable. Are you doing this weekly or at least monthly?

Finding out what your customers want by following up on requests, finding information that's relevant to them, emailing them information on pertinent training courses or seminars, it's all a chance to network with them, it helps your visibility and strengthens your link with them.

Do you send them information on LinkedIn for example? Make introductions or forward invitations to events they have a specialist interest in?

Do you support events that your customers hold and help them to grow their business by passing on appropriate customer leads?

It is true that sometimes customers won't always respond, but there are a wide range of reasons for this gap in communication. Recent feedback has proved that;

• they may have found another supplier

• they simply don’t need your services at this time

• prices or service needs are unmet

• they could even be in trouble themselves
  
  

The most common advice was 'don’t stay too long on one unresponsive deal, be polite, be in touch, clarify outstanding issues, check information has been received and understood then move forwards'. More deals, customers and unmet needs are out there!

This may sound contradictory if you've been attentive, supportive and informative. But attempting to forge effective relationships with the wrong customer stops you finding the right customer. Moving on stops you wasting time on a 'sale' that customer does not have the need or priority for. You have to make this a win:win situation.

If your services are a lower priority to them than you realised, it's painful but move on. You never know if the door is left open, they may return and work with you again.

Where possible, keep discussions with former and current customers open, keep adding value to every relationship you've forged, keep in touch but not obtrusively. Keep moving forward with your Valentines Plan - 365 days a year.   

How you think controls how your business grows by guests bloggers Erica Douglas and Antonia Chitty

Have you been in the situation where you’ve been faced with a difficult task? Whether you’ve been challenged to abseil or to pass an exam, what was your first thought? Did you think, “If I work hard and practice I can do it” or did you think, “I don’t know how to do it now, I’m not a natural at passing exams” or “I can’t abseil and no amount of practice will change that!”

Acknowledging the way your mind works is critical to business success. Read this article to understand more about different mindsets and make changes early on before you fail and give up.

The theorist Carol Dweck believes there are two distinctive mindsets, fixed and growth. If you’re the sort of person who believes that they have an innate ability to do something (or not!) you have a Fixed Mindset. If you believe your ability is based on how hard you work and how much you learn about a skill or topic area you have a Growth Mindset.

Think for a moment about your own mindset in relation to starting and growing your business. Do you believe that you have the skills and knowledge and will succeed? Or do you believe that you have the potential and that you're going to do your best to take the resources study them, learn, grow and eventually succeed? The former is an example of a Fixed Mindset the latter a Growth Mindset.

It may surprise you to find out that the person with a fixed mindset is most likely to fail in the end. Although they may go in to an enterprise feeling well equipped, according to Dweck they do not deal with failure well.  They believe that they have the innate ability and should be able to succeed regardless. This means that when they come across a barrier or business disaster, this failure calls into question their ability to succeed at all.  The doubt that creeps in from failing can result in the person giving up completely, as their whole view of themselves has been called into question.

A person with a Growth Mindset knows that by failing it gives them an opportunity to learn and therefore to eventually succeed.  Each failure is seen as an opportunity and does not call into question their beliefs. After all, they always knew it would be hard work and that failure along the way was inevitable.

Every entrepreneur’s journey requires a Growth Mindset: from here on in will you see failure as an opportunity?  If you have failed then you have taken action, and taking action already puts you ahead of the crowd. So well done to you!

Most people don't succeed in business, either because of their mindset OR because they don't stick at it long enough to fail enough. I'm proud to say that I've stuck at it long enough and I failed a lot.  But it was worth it!

Want to learn more about changing the way you think about business?  We have 2 excellent ways for you to do so!  1) Join 'Mumpreneur in a Month' with Erica and Antonia and 2) book an individual coaching session with TWCC Mum's Coach Helen Hind

What are you waiting for?

Which side do you wear your watch? by TWCC coach Jackie Clifford

Recently I’ve been working with a number of groups who are involved in managing change. One of the exercises that I ask people to do, is to move their watch from the wrist on which they usually wear it to their other wrist. It’s amazing how difficult this can be – try it and you’ll see what I mean Some people can’t bear to even place their watch on the different wrist, whilst others give it a try and then a few minutes later sneak it back.

This got me thinking about change and doing things differently.

At this time of year, many people’s thoughts turn to resolutions, doing something new or doing something differently. For many women it’s also the time of year when we take a deep breath and say 'thank goodness that’s over for another year'. This can create something of a dilemma for us – we want to stop, take stock and have a bit of a break, but we also want to get out there and make some positive changes. How can we deal with this dilemma?

One of the ways is to make a plan that includes some breathing space and also includes small steps towards the changes we want to make. One does not have to cancel out the other. Once we’ve created a step-by-step plan how do we maintain the momentum?

For many of us our plans are accompanied by enthusiasm and motivation in the early days – like moving the watch to the other wrist, it can feel OK to do it for a few minutes, but then it’s nice and comfortable to ‘go back to normal’ – it’s all too easy to slip back into old habits and ways of doing things. We also have to deal with those around us who, with the best will in the world, maybe trying to support us, but may unconsciously want us to stay the same ('I like you just the way you are').

Here’s where a coach can be invaluable. A coach has no vested interest in whether you change or don’t change. A coach is independent of you, your family and your friends. A coach will listen to your plans, use questions to help you refine your plans and challenge you if you say one thing and then completely contradict yourself!

A coach will be there to help you review your progress and, if you want to change direction, they'll help you analyse why and challenge you to consider whether this is what you really want or have you simply got a dose of the ‘colly-wobbles’. A coach will remind you that you've made a contract with yourself and help you test whether you want to stick to the contract and, if you do, decide what needs to happen so that you can. On the other hand, they can also help you to make a new plan if you decide that’s the right thing to do.

You don’t have to be a Chief Executive or high-powered business person to benefit from coaching. Coaching is about helping you to achieve whatever you want to achieve and keeping you on the path that you’ve chosen. So, the next time you’re wavering and thinking about ‘putting the watch back on the other wrist’, consider why this is and think about giving The Women's Coaching Company a call to find out how coaching might benefit you.

Click here to read about our coaching programmes and see which one catches your eye! You can call us for more information on 0845 474 2241

Have you thought of going into business? by TWCCs Antonia Chitty

Have you thought of going into business? If so, you are one of a rising number of mothers who are becoming business owners and entrepreneurs. According to a survey by Phoenix Trading, more than three in four mums who don’t currently have a business would like to start one. But being a mother and a business owner brings its own challenges.

I start my business when, like many women, I found that my old job just didn’t fit after maternity leave. I went back to work for nine months before having my ‘light bulb moment’. A session with a life coach helped me realise that self employment was the perfect way to get back control over my working life. I could set my own hours, choose work that interested me and, most importantly, spend time with my daughter.

From the start, though, it became clear that the best plans don’t always work out. I planned to write freelance features and successfully pitched some features to trade magazines. My ideas of writing parenting features soon came to an end, though, once I discovered that almost every other mum with literary leaning thought that writing for parenting magazines might be a nice way to earn a living. At the same time, though, I linked up with someone on a parenting forum who needed help with PR. I’d worked in promotion for a number of years and wrote this lady a press release in return for some of her products.

Once I’d written one press release it became clear that there was a real need for a friendly and approachable PR agency offering help to women who wouldn’t approach a big London agency. I traded some PR with a web designer who then set up my website for me, and spent the next few years focussing on PR.

For me, my first business idea didn’t quite work out the way I’d expected. However I was determined to contribute to the family income and work in a flexible way so I persisted. If you have a business idea, make sure you do your research in the early days to see if there is a niche for your business or if, like me, you are aiming for a market that is overcrowded already. And if you have a business that has been running for a few weeks or months, or even a couple of years, but has yet to make you much money, remember that many businesses take three years to turn a profit and stick with it. Alongside persistence you also need to keep asking questions, attending courses, joining teleclasses and querying your business model. In this way you will be able to develop and grow your business until it becomes successful and meets your goals.

 

Antonia Chitty is an award winning entrepreneur and author. She offers help and mentoring for mums with businesses through www.themumpreneurguide.co.uk

Girls...spice up your business life and your workout!

Are you fit for business?  Breezing through a workout or fitness class that used to be incredibly difficult gives us such a sense of achievement. The certain knowledge that you've improved and got fitter is a well deserved reward for all the hard work. Then you start to notice that your progress has slowed down, and the gains that you initially made in muscle size, fitness or body shape are no longer taking place. Maybe your weight loss has ground to a halt. It’s easy to get downhearted at this point, and maybe even decide that working out is just not working out for you.

STOP!

Don’t give up now, just as all the hard work when you started training is finally starting to pay off.

Remember that exercise is essentially stress that we load onto the body, forcing it to adapt and become stronger. Our cardio-vascular system becomes more efficient, our muscles become stronger and our overall fitness increases. Our body adapts to these stresses that we put on it, which means that over time as we get fitter and stronger, our workouts become easier and our muscles do not have to adapt in the same way. We end up repeating exercises which once were very difficult and are now easily within your capabilities, no longer "stressing" our bodies. At this stage unless we begin to challenge our bodies once again, results will start to plateau, both in terms of strength gains and weight loss.

It’s also at this stage that the initial novelty and excitement surrounding your fitness programme starts to wear off. It all becomes just that bit more monotonous, and the enthusiasm starts to wane. This is when so many people abandon their training – just as it is starting to pay dividends! One of the main reasons I see people drop out of gyms and training programs is that they get bored - they start to find excuses not to train. Ensuring that your workouts stay fresh and interesting will help you to maintain your enthusiasm.

Now is the time to set new goals and targets, to change your workout to be challenging again. A drastic change is not always needed – maybe sprints rather than steady runs, a different class at the gym, different sets of weight exercises. Your personal trainer or gym instructor should be able to write you an updated programme whenever you need. If your body is challenged in this way, then the results will start again, and you will see increased fitness levels and weight loss (or gain if that is the target).

In our lives and our businesses we set ourselves goals, and once we reach them we then set new, improved targets to reach. Getting and staying fit requires that same goal setting to encourage our bodies to achieve the results we are looking for.

If you'd like to some help setting fitness goals, contact Lisa Kent by clicking here, if it's your business life which needs a change of direction, contact us direct on 0845 474 2241.

You could win at the BusinessMums Conference Awards...last chance to enter

Whether you have yet to win an award for your business, or you have won already and know just how powerful an award win can be, why not enter this year’s BusinessMums Conference Awards?

Entering is simple. Don’t panic about your style or grammar: we’re looking for inspiring businesses run by committed mums who are making a success of their enterprise. The more detail you supply the more able we will be to make a good decision.  Click here to be taken to the website for more information

Please include supporting material as appropriate

• Media coverage
• Customer testimonials
• Images
  

Send in your entry by 17th September. The panel of judges is headed by What’s On 4’s award winning founder Sam Willoughby, Lynette Allen of The Womens Coaching Company together with Nicky Chisholm, Suzanne Borrell, and Antonia Chitty.


CATEGORIES:

Best ‘business start up’ award - for businesses within their first two years. Sponsored by The Womens Coaching Company

Best 'growing business' award - for businesses two years and older.  Sponsored by Create.net

The winner of each award will win;

Media coverage in;

• Sussex Life
• Mums Inc
• ABC Magazine
• Startups.co.uk
• FamilyFriendlyWorking.co.uk

1 years membership of the Mumpreneurs' Networking Club

A coaching session with top coach Lynette Allen of The Womens Coaching Company

6 months supply of Vitabiotics Wellwoman® - the UK’s No1 supplement brand for Women.  

The winner of the Best Start up will win;

A personal style session from Helen Reynold, Style Step Consultant and Sarah Greg Green House Clothes Consultant.

A Make-Over including Make-up, manicure and pedicure by Anita Smith of Brighton Beauty

A Sunday Lunch for 4 at The Thistle.

A website consultation session courtesy of Create.net

The winner of the Best Growing Business will win;

1 night away for two including breakfast at the Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel.

Finalist Prizes;

Each finalist will win a selection of signed business books from Antonia Chitty and Startups.co.uk

Customer Service...'noughties style!' by Lynette Allen

We were asked to coach a team the other day on their customer service skills. The directors spoke to us because they'd had one or two comments from their customers, nothing major, but enough to make them stand back and think about their customer service standards and how coaching instead of training could help.

Do you remember the old fashioned Customer Service courses we all went on? Most of them were full of slide presentations of cartoon characters, John Cleese (or both!) clearly making obvious clangers in front of 70's style customers and let's be honest, none of them were overly convincing! Well...customer service in the noughties has changed, customers have changed and they want more than a smile and efficient service.

To illustrate our point, we thought we'd feature Bridget Bowen at this point, as her team at Amanda Wakeley think she's got customer service 'noughties style' absolutely spot on. This is what they said about Bridget;

'Bridgets talents lie in being incredibly aware of our brand’s customer – who they are, what they need, when they will need things and how they like to be dealt with. She knows the Amanda Wakeley customer inside out and can identify their requirements and can therefore communicate with them highly effectively. Not only that but Bridget knows where they live, where they socialise and with whom, what events they attend and what is appropriate to wear to all these different functions.  But customer service goes much deeper than that. It's also about an ability to make a customer feel incredibly at ease in your company and to trust your advice implicitly without seeming pushy or forceful.'

Can you say the same about your staff? Customer service these days is more than being polite on the telephone or calling someone back when you say you will, people simply want more than that right now. We want a personal relationship with the stores we go in, with the companies we deal with, with the bars we frequent and the restaurants we dine in. We want to walk into somewhere and know that we're not only welcome, but known, that the staff have taken the time and trouble to find out about us, what we need and what we like.

I've spoken to several of our clients about their customer service record and they all agreed that, it's a personal relationship that makes the difference in the 21^st century.

• So how do your staff make that personal connection with your customers?
• Do they take the time to get to know them?
• Are your staff confident enough to get to know your customers?
• What would you love to see your staff doing to strengthen customer relationships?
• How do you communicate that to your staff well?

If you'd like to know more how we coach your staff into customer services rather than train them, we'd love to hear from you, call 0845 474 2241 or e-mail lynette@thewomenscoachingcompany.co.uk

Peaches'n'Cream...Mentoring'n'Networking... by Cathe Gaskell

 

There are great combinations in life of things that just go well together some examples being ...Peaches and Cream, Strawberries and Wimbledon, and for those of us old enough to remember Body and Doyle from The TV series “The Professionals”........another match made in heaven has to be for the professional woman mentorship and networking.

Both these tools in the armoury of professional development will if used properly, help you to develop contacts and links that will enhance and develop your career progression.

There has been a minor furore created in the media recently about women’s networking abilities with a supposition that women just can’t or don’t  network  as well as men, the author claimed that  women are just not able to make the leap in spending time on the circuit and using the “old boy” contacts that are available.

Some of us would question her understanding of networking, as in a feminine sense it’s not about using contacts, it’s about being open to opportunities and passing on information to others whether the benefits are immediately obvious to you or not....as one professional networker put it “are you telling 0r selling?” If you tell your story ...you are more likely to sell your skills.....

Mentoring also often involves networking, as an established mentor can make introductions for you and support you in increasing your circuit of contacts, this can be via face to face as well as virtual contacts.

A mentor has been described as having “your own personal cheer leader” they want you to do well and succeed, they don’t need to inhibit your success, and they support you through the mistakes that everyone makes from time to time in the workplace. Most career mistakes are recoverable it’s the speed of the recovery that keeps you in the game.

Networking effectively and confidently can bring increased contacts, business options and increase profit line improvements. Mentorship can give you the confidence to try new skills, learn from someone who has walked the path ahead of you and help you remember even walking on tough terrain “You are better than you think!”

Cathe Gaskell is The Womens Coaching Company Corporate Mentor, check out her profile here or click here if you're interested in being mentored 

Sharpen up your on-line skills! by Antonia Chitty

 

 

Do you feel that you’re making the most of the internet to promote your business?

Do you see others reaching thousands of contacts and making great sales online, but are unsure how to use online tools to do this yourself?

If you’re not using social media and online promotion you’re missing out on a chance to:

• Find out what your potential customers want
• Build relationships with your customers and potential customers
• Increase awareness of your brand
• Develop trust
• Increase sales
• Increase your profits

Read this clear guide and put the steps into practice to see your business and your profits grow.

My Experience

For me, social media has made an enormous difference to my business. In the last eighteen months I have turned a simple site to promote one of my books into a blog that generates income for me every month. I’ve used Twitter to launch a new book and built up a following of over three thousand people. I spend one evening a month setting up promotional tweets that ensure that my followers are getting positive messages about my business every day. And as a result of raising my profile online, this year I’ve been asked to speak at more events than ever before, with the prospects of sales from each one.

Your Experience

Now, let’s think about your experience so far with social media. Here’s a quick checklist for you to see where you are right now:

Do you have a Blog ?

1.    Yes and it is updated regularly

2.    Yes and it is updated occasionally

3.    Yes and it is I started it but never got very far

4.    No

Do you have a Twitter Account ?

1.    Yes, and I send tweets out several times each day

2.    Yes, I use it occasionally

3.    Yes, I signed up but have never really used it

4.    No

Do you have a Facebook fan page or group for your business

1.    Yes and it is updated regularly

2.    Yes and it is updated occasionally

3.    Yes and it is I started it but never got very far

4.    No

Award yourself 5 points for each time your answer is ‘1’, 3 points for each time you answer ‘2’, 1 points for each answer ‘3’ and zero for each time you answer ‘4’.

Gain an extra point for each of these networks you are on and actively using

• Ecademy
• BTTradespace
• Linked In
• Bebo
• MySpace
• Ning
• Babycentre
• Flickr
• Xing
• Jaiku

Your Score:

21-30 points: You’re a social media queen. Social media is developing fast, so read on for some handy tips and tricks to help you stay in top.

11-20 points: You’re a social media starter. It is easy to sign up for all these sites than it is to know how to make them useful for your business. Read on for practical tips to help you use online promotion successfully every day.

0-10 points: You’re a social media newbie. Don’t worry if you’re really unsure about what to do to promote your business online. Read the article and choose one place to start that will work well for your business.

If you need help or advice with blogs, talk to us, we're here to help and talk you through the whole process - it's really not as scary as it might sound, click here to find out why we offer marketing help!  For more information on Antonia's social media strategy click here