Well I have to say I am not sure where the last 9 weeks have gone and it seems like it was only yesterday when I was wrapping presents and decorating the Christmas tree, now we are gearing up for Easter and looking forward to the seeing lambs skipping around the fields and daffodils emerging from the depths of the cold earth like little teasers of sunshine – something I cannot wait to see more of as we begin to crawl slowly out of the darkness of winter that always seems to go on for longer than I prepare myself for!

Well Shine4Life had a very calm start to 2010 as I was focusing more on getting married and moving house – all within the space of 2 days! If you have been following my previous stories you will know that as an Aries I tend to fly headlong into plans that at the time seem like a fantastic idea but as I start to return to planet earth reality hits and dawn breaks back in the land of the living……Yes yet again I find myself asking ‘why’?????????!!! – However I do believe in walking the walk and talking the talk so when I coach my clients and encourage them to set stretching goals I kind of think I should be doing the same, I must learn the difference between ‘stretching’ and downright ‘madness’ though!

So having agreed in late December to become Mrs Kenworthy plans were soon in place to arrange a January wedding and party, having total faith in my organisation skills I delighted in finding unusual ways to source my wedding dress, plan the party and also the logistics of the day itself. In another moment of madness I decided that it would be great fun to get married in the countryside at 2pm and jump into what can only be described as a go-kart with a jet engine and return back to London for a wedding party in the evening, all sounds fun I hear you say, well it certainly was when the deluge of snow hit and the drifts were higher than the roof of our ‘go-kart’ that also has no proper form of heating!

However despite all the pot holes, road blocks, snow drifts and black ice we succeeded in having the most wonderful day and I am still smiling now! So now it was time for the house move!!!!!………

As I have alluded to before my IT skills are nothing to get excited about, and having finally got my desktop and laptop to cleverly talk to one another from the remote location of my members club that has now become my office the next challenge came when un-plugging and moving my equipment to my new home. In my usual Aries fashion I did not make notes of what cable came from where but unpacking my much loved IT technology suddenly realised the error of my ways! So to cut a long story short 4 weeks later, two trips to a computer restoring centre for my base unit and much cursing, swearing and tears I have regained my IT status in all its former glory!

So both my two large goals of 2010 being successfully completed I have re-focussed my energy on Shine4Life and my business plans this year. I am starting to get used to working for myself and having hated the lack of routine and structure beginning to revel in the joy of avoiding peak hour travel that removes the need to find my face pressed into some smelly business man’s armpit or to experience ground hog day week in week out; in fact I am starting to LOVE my new life, challenge and new routine! It’s funny how thoughts change and the ease at which we would rather return to what we know instead of giving things a chance. I have learnt through my experience that change is a frightening thing but it is also a wonderful thing if we choose to look at it in a positive way. So I guess what I am trying to say to all new business start ups – don’t look back, don’t give up and believe in your ideas, ability and strength. I heard a wonderful quote during a workshop I attended on Life Mapping……

‘As you think, so you become’

The power of thinking positively stimulates the brain to release mood enhancing chemicals into your system that has the effect of creating positive feelings and emotions that in turn promotes great thinking and ultimately business success. So on that note I leave you all with another quote that I often remind myself of when facing challenges and blocks as we all do throughout our lives, so until next time…

You Can If You Think You Can!

If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But soon or late the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.

~ C. W. Longenecker ~

Well what can I say – It is six months since I left full time employment and my life could not have changed much more! Firstly I am writing this article and ‘start up’ blog twice a month which has given me a hunger for writing! I have found myself engrossed in putting words to paper, the images and colours in my head in some way making their presence on paper. Maybe it is because on a daily basis I have found myself experiencing so many different things,a far cry from losing weeks and months in an office, the same desk, same conversations at the coffee machine and the same complaints and whining staff!!!

The change in lifestyle has not come without its problems – I have to say I have found it so hard to work from home, the PC, Cat and the kettle. I have no-one to talk to and no noise around me. This I have found to be the hardest things so I have applied to become a member of The Century Club in Soho – however my application is still pending (while they check if I am respectable enough to deserve a membership!) so I am currently hopping from one Starbucks to another, leaving just as my coffee has been savoured for three hours and just about outstayed my welcome!!!

I have however found a new lease of life, new challenges, new experiences and a wonderful huge world out there just waiting to be investigated. Being an Aries, the fire sign, I have a tendency to ‘go for it’ which has at times got me into serious predicaments – If you have been reading about my IT nightmares this is a great example of my feisty character and the confidence (very often incorrect) that I can do anything if I put my mind to it – however I have learnt in the last six months that outsourcing and delegating to more able people is truly wonderful – outsource, outsource, outsource – its brilliant!!!!!!

As we move into 2010 I have to reflect and thank the great people I have had the privilege of coaching – I have worked with some talented people and can say that there are some exciting things happening in the music world in 2010 when one of my clients is releasing her first album – a dream she has had for 25 years and now finally it is coming true – to be part of this is truly inspirational and I will continue to work with her in 2010.

Shine4Life is growing, is now IT savvy (to an extent!) and looking forward to building many more relationships and products in 2010. Watch this space – we have some great ideas and offers to really help those cloudy post Christmas months sparkle, no New Year’s resolutions please – I want changes for life not just for Christmas!!!!

For 2010 I have decided to set myself some goals – other than building my business and seeking a variety of avenues to allow Shine4Life to grow and develop I have also decided to push myself to places I never dared to go before!!!! – One of my clients (the lady who is releasing her first album) has agreed to swap services in the New Year and she is going to teach me to SING!!! Now usually I would say this is really not a big deal but if you have ever heard me sing you would agree this poor lady has her work cut out!!! Try as I might I have always been tone deaf but this has not stopped me from ‘singing’ to the horror of my partner, cat and anyone who is within ear shot of my horrific screech!!! However I am determined to give it a go and will make sure you know my first album release date!!!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and this month I will have two MAJOR events to report on that is again life changing for me – but I can’t let you in on the secret just yet – you will all have to wait!!

I wish you all the very best for the festive season and I hope 2010 is a great year

If you have been following my last few articles you will have quickly realised that my IT skills are nothing to write home about. Actually a single celled Amoeba would have more success than me at the sensitive interaction with a computer. I still struggle with the fact that for the whole of my working life and relationship with a computer I have had the ‘tech desk’ to hand at every blip or issue – it has to be said they knew me so well that they would see my extension number flash up on their screen and not even bother picking up the call as they knew total computer carnage would be about to take place and it was best to get to the ‘scene of crime’ ASAP before I caused the entire banking system to hit the floor!

Anyway despite my clear lack of flair and passion for IT my need to become ‘mobile’ with my coaching business was beginning to become apparent. The unfortunate PC World Business Manager Melvin, who sorted me out with my home PC and initial business set up, was now tasked with the impossible – finding a Laptop that I could actually use!

With a 9am meeting set up I skipped down to PC World with the images of returning being fully equipped with the most up to date, state of the art Laptop. However as I wandered through the Laptop aisle my attention was immediately on the little cute, PINK, laptop that would go with my shoes for sure!!!

So with a new found inner strength from my recent NLP Practitioner qualification I believed in my ability to choose, set up and work a Laptop as if I had been doing it all my life…. Melvin on the other hand was not so convinced of this, perhaps it was my genuine enquiry into the type of ‘memory twig’ my laptop would require, ops!

So between us we finally found a suitable Laptop – and no it was not the Pink one to match my shoes! – I was truly devastated!

So having recovered from the awful realisation that my Laptop would not be matching my shoes I eagerly awaited the arrival of my access to mobile brilliance and professionalism. In my excitement I tore the Laptop out of its packaging and marvelled at its sleek outer case, the shimmering silver look and the fact that how good would I look when out and about with this ‘beauty’! However ten minutes later and still struggling to find the ‘on’ button resorted to retrieving the manual from the bin!

However – and I am so proud of myself by the way – despite everything I set myself a goal in my head, I wanted to be able to take my Laptop anywhere, but be able to see my home PC and remotely connect to it. By the Grace of God or some other miracle worker I have managed to do just that – my Laptop will connect to my home PC – even from the darkest Members Club or Starbucks Cafe without any help from an IT Tech Desk – Wahooooo!!

What has this experience taught me?

“Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.”

And from what I have learnt in NLP is that there is no such thing as Failure, only Feedback – never be scared of trying something, you learn and experience real  life and live rather than exist, and it is ALL about living!

So Shine4Life is now mobile, IT savvy, feeling pretty good about things and ready to take the world by storm…

Someone else that is experiencing a totally different kind of storm is Kirsty who is as we speak is crossing the Atlantic in a boat called Diamonds are Forever, a crew of 6 girls as part of girlsforsail.com – check out the great adventure

I met Kirsty on the NLP intensive training I went through recently and she has become a firm friend has inspired me in the way that she takes every opportunity in both hands, is not scared of making mistakes – as for Kirsty there is no such thing as a mistake, only a learning opportunity and when you look at it like that the entire world opens up…..

So until next time when I will no doubt report on a Laptop ‘blow up’ or some other IT nightmare enjoy your festive parties.

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About the Author: Juli Dromgoole is going to be keeping us up to date with her new venture and sharing her learning and experience along the way.  Julie’s mantra is self confidence in yourself, who you stand for and your values is the key to making the most success of your life, infecting others with your positive, sunny attitude that makes their day shine too!  You can find out more about Juli and her coaching business at www.shine4life.com

Wow what a change! – from a strict routine of, up at 5, gym by half past and at my desk by 7 , to freedom, time, space and the ability to waste a morning watching Jeremy Kyle and GMTV – taking full advantage of the tips about optimum eye shadow techniques and recipes to confuse even Gordon Ramsey.

After a few days of this ‘freedom’ I found myself craving some sort of structure again! So back to routine it had to be and starting with making packed lunch for my partner before he heads to work at 6am kind of works!!!

So with all these wonderful ideas and visions of me being the next  Dotcom revelation reality began to hit – how was I going to up my skills in coaching, how I was going to market myself, what niche service would I provide and why would someone choose me over someone else. I had to make myself stand out – but how??

A website seemed like a great start so I eagerly visited PC World and bought myself a ‘DIY’ website package and ran home as if my backside was on fire! Filled with the enthusiasm and excitement that in a few hours I could be displayed in all my glory across the web I got to work straight away. Needless to say 6 hours later the computer, cat, postman and IT support man were on the receiving end of my total despair at the realisation of my incapability to ‘build’ my website. So with my volatile and impulsive character contacted my friend whose husband is a web designer – eureka!!!!!! – Outsourcing is a truly great concept!!

So with my confidence knocked slightly at my pre- kindergarten IT skills I dusted myself down to engage in my further learning and dived headlong into my Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner (NLP) qualification. Attending a three day course to set me on the way, followed by a gruelling two weeks of further  DVD, teleclass and research to do during which ‘Gus’ my adorable rag doll cat was subjected to NLP techniques that I am sure will haunt him for the rest of his life!!! Finally after another four day grilling I obtained my NLP Practitioner status. I also had the privilege of meeting many inspiring people, one of whom, Kirsty, has become a great friend and has a Coaching Company called Blutortoise. She also has a Master NLP qualification and a range of other talents that I am slowly finding out about! She is off to embark on a race across the Atlantic Ocean called the ARC.  There are 6 girls in the crew sailing on a boat called Diamonds are Forever – (six wannabe Bond girls on a boat with no 007!!- who needs men anyway!!) Check them out on www.girlsforsail.com.

Only Kirsty would think of doing such an insane race when 12 months ago she had no idea of how to navigate a boat other than an inflatable one in her bath! So what has she taught me?  Well she creates a goal for herself each year, and then considers the ‘mini goals’ that will ultimately achieve her main dream. This adds structure to each day, week and month and motivates her towards that ultimate vision. This year’s vision was to celebrate leaving corporate life and living ‘her dream’.  The smaller mini-goals were qualifying in her sailing exams, earning enough money to pay for her two month adventure and getting fit, to name but a few! Watch this space for some Kirsty updates.

As we enter autumn these last few months have been challenging, life changing, fun, at times frustrating but most of all exciting! So as I look forward to the Christmas period and taking some time out for friends and family my next article is going to focus on the Festive period with hints and tips to manage those ‘family’ get together events, plan your Christmas shopping and share with you a little more of my journey. One thing I will say is that I do not regret my decision to leave corporate life and dive into the unknown!- So until next time wrap up warm, enjoy the falling leaves and the rich colours they bring and remember that “The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.” -Ben Stein

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About the Author: Juli Dromgoole is going to be keeping us up to date with her new venture and sharing her learning and experience along the way.  Julie’s mantra is self confidence in yourself, who you stand for and your values is the key to making the most success of your life, infecting others with your positive, sunny attitude that makes their day shine too!  You can find out more about Juli and her coaching business at www.shine4life.com

Growing up was non-conventional and certainly an experience, moving from 47 degrees to minus 20 was a memorable occasion but a realisation at a tender age of 5 that the world was a huge place! My father was in the Oil Industry and oil rigs combined with many different places in the world became a way of life; we of course followed him, although not onto the rigs!!

Moving from Oman being looked after by my nanny called Goulam and fed curry every night to a remote croft in Scotland was indeed a change! So from an early age I guess you could say that I was used to adapting myself to any situation so it still amazes me that despite my desire for variety I spent the first 9 years of my working life in a bank!

Society and the need to ‘fit in’ dampened the adventurous side of my nature, but I knew one day when the time was right I would take the leap. On the 30th June 2009 this ‘leap’ happened, it had been coming for a long time and I was more than ready. Being part of one of the largest bank mergers the city had ever seen and merely just a number with a name attached I had decided many months before that my life had to change. I felt suffocated and squashed with what little confidence I had dwindling by the day, so despite not knowing exactly what I was going to do when I left, leaving was a dead cert!

So having made my decision on that warm, sunny morning (rare I know for England!) and with a feeling of freedom and lightness in my heart I proceeded to put my trainers on (removing those hideously uncomfortable office shoes) and turning my back on the huge glass office entrance for the last time skipped home with Lily Allen “@#@k you” ringing in my ears!

Opening the flat door to an eerie silence reality suddenly hit me… What in the world was I going to do now?!

Looking back through my career I knew for sure that the work I had done within the Coaching and Training arena had been an enjoyable and thought provoking experience so I proceeded to look into Life Coaching as a possible avenue to explore. My passion for people and the uncanny way friends always gravitated towards me to help them sort out life ‘issues’ made me aware that I did have a certain skill or gift, if you could call it that.

Having established my current coaching knowledge and qualifications I quickly looked into improving and building on these foundations and came across the Coaching Academy, Europe’s largest coach training organisation, it’s courses including NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) would provide me

Coaching is all about making positive changes and finding a way to improve and enhance people’s lives through practical and realistic goal setting. So what was it that my company would help people achieve, what did they want from a coaching experience? For this answer I looked to myself – what did I want for the rest of my life, how did I want to be and feel? I wanted to Shine4Life…. and so that’s what I intend to do!

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About the Author:  Juli Dromgoole is going to be keeping us up to date with her new venture and sharing her learning and experience along the way.  Julie’s mantra is self confidence in yourself, who you stand for and your values is the key to making the most success of your life, infecting others with your positive, sunny attitude that makes their day shine too!  You can find out more about Juli and her coaching business at www.shine4life.com

This was going to be an article about how there had been a slight slow start for the New Year for some of us – especially those boringly like me that were struggling to overcome flu – but then how things but how things had thawed and with renewed cooler focus the business ball really got rolling despite the credit crunch. And then we were completely taken over by the snow and its aftermath and that’s much more fun!

Yes, it is ridiculous that snow brings the UK to a halt. To quote Boris Johnson, in London and South East England – which unusually bore the initial brunt – we had the “the right kind of snow – just too much of it!”, but as he indicated it was an unusually large amount, statistically a once in every two decades phenomenon – as the awe on even my four teenage children’s faces was testament to, they having never seen snow like it! As soon as they realised school was no-go – they quickly changed out of their uniforms and were up and away playing in.

Anyway, I’ve been struck by the impact of the snow on our business life – particularly its psychology!
Yes, it’s cost a lot of money. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) estimated 20% of the UK’s working population, or 6.4 million people, did not make it to work and that it cost the economy at least £1.2bn and that’s a conservative estimate. Yes, there probably could have been more joined up planning by the various national authorities. Blah, blah, blah! But, we always grumble about this kind of stuff don’t we?

Personally, as a working parent, I must admit, it was nice to take some time out on Monday to enjoy the snow with my family. Come yesterday though, the novelty of my children’s company and their continued avalanche of snowy footwear in our wet hallway had definitely melted off and I found myself in ready agreement with the schools minister, Ed Balls, that with hindsight the 6000 closed schools had been unnecessary cautious at remaining shut for a second day, leaving 500,000 children in the Capital alone not at school. Today, however, I sit here in quiet bliss, the sunshine pouring through my garden office window enjoying my usual working peace and my undisturbed morning latte!

Mind you, it was surreal. The quiet white blanket of the snow created peace, an utterly different and unfamiliar landscape, plus opportunities for sheer “back to basic” enjoyment as we discovered our inner child. The global warming doomsters remained silent and joined in the fun, though the conditions were a stark reminder of the awesome power of extreme climatic conditions. Simon Jenkin writing in yesterday’s Standard summed it up succinctly: “In other words the city did something it rarely does. Forced by circumstance to stop working properly it could only look itself in the face and see that face in a new light. With mobility reduced almost to zero – how blessedly empty the streets looked – London had to go local, retreating to its component streets and neighbourhoods. It might have been celebrating a jubilee of nature, with every park given over to some midwinter ritual.”

There was a harsh lesson in disaster recover and capacity planning and the financial fall-out for individuals. 10 out of 10 to the BBC for publishing its Q&A Snow chaos and your rights on the website to help business owners and employees alike navigate their way through the inevitable issues thrown up. I’ve been struck by the emotional tone of the media coverage, particularly the charges of absenteeism levied at parents – weren’t we only simultaneously being accused of being selfish and neglecting our children!? Am I the only one to spot this irony? Also, do we really think that this will make our gleeful children who were simply enjoying their unexpected extended weekend the work slackers of the future at the first sniff of adversity!?
Top marks too for schools websites which kept parents up to date on school closures and reopening plans.

Of course, technology potentially had much of the answers for maintaining business continuity in a sensible and safe manner – by enabling more people to work at home. I guess, for a lot of us that was business as usual anyway but not for everyone. Some people showed tremendous – but often dangerous – resourcefulness in using unusual means of transportation to get to their place of work.

It is quite common for me to charge around like a mad thing on my business, meeting clients, networking etc. Too much in fact. But this week I’ve stayed put at home as did many of us. How good did that feel and actually how good to reflect properly on my business and focus on the “important”. Business priorities were quickly re-evaluated in terms of “urgency”, however we define that; with face-to-face meetings and networking opportunities rescheduled to a warmer day. I don’t think I was alone in actually reflecting for once on life and my business. We shouldn’t abandon these skills, or that sense of reality and forward foresight as the snow thaws.

Lessons from a military fitness boot camp survivor!

Hi readers, some light relief for you all amid the credit crunch on these darkening nights. I took some time out recently from my normal business routine and here’s my story about the week-long, life-changing, female military boot camp I attended.

Why did I sign up? Health is everything!

My 46th birthday – such a depressingly “non”- older age – was looming with the big 50 in close pursuit. I’d done a double-take at my repeated reflections and excellent impersonation of a fat Russian peasant woman in shop windows and life reality – against the expectations of where I expected to be at the age of fifty in terms of business prowess, financial solvency and still looking fab and fit.

Of course, there is a huge connection between all of these aspirations, especially in achieving long-term business success and staying power. Female entrepreneurs must look after themselves to develop the right image and stamina to stay in the end-game and at the front and at the moment just simply to survive.

Often, we also have to care for a lot of people around us, but all too often neglect ourselves in that equation, not spotting the first signs of stress, often brought on by not taking enough exercise, time out, or just cutting ourselves some slack. Recently, this was brought home to me in a very real way. A few close female friends, all very successful in their professional fields, suffered sudden physical ill-health, one a near fatal brain haemorrhage, the next chronic diabetes, the last chronic fatigue syndrome. None have been able to work properly since or not at anything like their former capacities. For all, it really was a bolt from the blue, no prior history of ill-health but all had worked themselves into the ground for decades. This kind of behaviour clearly had come back to bite them by “mid”-career. The positives – all are greatly recovered now and their enforced life re-evaluations have led to them making significant changes. They are leading much more balanced and happier lives. But this bumpy landing could have been avoided. It was a wake-up call for me!

Anticipation! Camp initiation!

So my solution? – Military fitness – an extreme kick-start before the onslaught of Christmas and my winter excuses. One Saturday, I found myself setting off at dawn with a mixture of trepidation and sheer naivety, at an unearthly hour – which soon became routine over the ensuing week! – on the Kings Cross train to Dumfries, to a remote 3,000 acre private estate in South West Scotland. I immediately spotted a fellow cheerful traveller heading for the same destination – and we met others along the way. By the time we had arrived at the beautiful Country house, our “home” base for the coming week, we had already bonded as women do so successfully.

Upon arrival, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the estate and its ideal backdrop for a luxury leisure break, given the luscious comfortable accommodation, set in breathtakingly beautiful countryside, with wonderful open-hearth fires, Gourmet cooking – yes we had a Gourmet chef – big friendly Alan – but he was only allowed to give us mouth-watering starvation portions! I was often to return to this fantasy over the coming week. But, for now we were military boot campers and I was quickly disabused of any illusions as we received our first military “detail”, which thereafter we received on a drip basis, hour by hour – in our trainers words “on a need to know basis, Girls” setting the pattern, tone and rules for the week ahead….

What tough feels like!

We had a small team of military trainers, Carl, Matt and Ewan, who had all trained and served extensively around the world with her Majesty’s special forces. They had seen some serious and sobering action. For them, taking on a crazy, if zany, group of mainly middle-aged women, all there for different reasons (most at some kind of crossroads or re-evaluation in their lives and not wanting to get past their “sell-by date”, was a walk in the park. But they took it very seriously…and so did we. We were the client, we’d paid a lot of money to be there aka “punished”, and they were going to ensure that we met our objectives, however uncomfortable and challenging that might be. We’d “thank them for it” as our former svelte selves re-emerged. For us it sooo was NOT a walk in the park.

It was just about everything else though…

It was all about completing the course and taking part to the best of our abilities and achieving meaningful individual targets. I only remember one exercise – dragging my feet around the estate exhausted, searching for tiny flags with the aid of compasses during which I seriously considered requesting a short temporary exit “pass”. But I didn’t and neither did anyone else. We were stoically kept moving the whole day, the whole time. Not at the same sustained pace of course – that would have been impossible and I wouldn’t be here to regale the tale – but at a level which kept our metabolism and blood sugar levels boosted. Similarly with the diet and snacks allegedly keeping us on an even keel – a mid a lot of moaning and initial disbelief – bringing the jokey image to mind of two disgruntled Jewish friends berating their culinary experience at a restaurant – including “and such small portions!”

Highlights

It was wonderful to do so much physically challenging, outdoor activity in the most beautiful and remote of surroundings. Scotland is just fabulous. The mountain walking, mountain-biking, river-crossing and abseiling were all great highlights.

For me, the greatest challenge was abseiling, down a jagged cliff-face of over 80 feet. I really am terrified of heights. Until then, I’d regularly dreamt of falling from great heights – so I was facing my worst fear full-on. What got me through it? Preparation. We’d been trained with the equipment down the shallowest of grass verges by the tennis courts and I knew how to use it (well in theory!) and some of what to expect. Absolute trust. These boys knew what they were doing. I trusted them with my life! Finally, not wanting to let myself down, or anyone else. I knew I could do it. I was most relieved to be allowed to go second so I got it over with quickly and wasn’t kept waiting long fearfully at the top. As it was, I did succumb to a brief episode of salty tears, naked primal fear. It’s not natural to step off a mountain! But the instantly calming, endorphins immediately released and I promptly descended to ground level with ease and some skill. What was all the fuss about?
River-crossing – swimming across an extremely cold river with a fierce current – oh yes I did need the rope – was also excellent – my nightly sojourn in the dustbin of freezing cold water, to treat my muscle soreness, standing me in good stead here! The best bit was seeing the sheer delight on all the trainers faces, like little boys, huge smiles etched across their earnest faces. They seemed to enjoy all our achievements – which constantly surprised me! It wasn’t just mirth, except my bright pink bikini. I was just being practical, never have been particularly attracted by wet clothes!

Team dynamics were fun – especially team-building exercises such as building a forest shelter for survival. It actually stood up and inter-team irritations quickly forgotten!

Mountain biking. Personal highlight again, when my entire front wheel came off on a steep incline – “never happened before Mel,…” said Ewan quickly grinding to a halt to help me find – by some miracle – the offending nut on the stony path. Soon, I was fixed. Unabashed, I whizzed off to complete my 28k ride. Just in time for dinner!

The military frisson gave the camp an added dimension. I now really do feel I am also equipped with survival and self-defence skills in the unexpected – but not impossible – event that they might ever need to be deployed. I also have the upmost respect for what our boys do for our country. Seriously.

Reflections

Have to keep this brief now as I’ve been carried away by my recollections. But this boot camp – really is for the spirit – and of course it hones the body too – How could that combination not!? But it also built mental steel, stretching targets and self-belief, teaches self-knowledge, listening and focusing skills and great tolerance. Re-energised, we have all returned with sharpened skills in our tool box, re-newed vigour and tenacity to take on the challenges back home with our families and businesses – it’s a great lesson in survival strategy for toughened times!

You can achieve the incredible – for me it was abseiling and losing half a stone in one week plus 3% body fat. That was a result after years of stability on the scales! The friendships and added business zest were a great added bonus.

I have so many good – and what will be long-lasting – memories – the mud, great banter and heartfelt laughs, the appreciation of every mouthful of food, getting through the pain barrier, my lovely Scottish trainer with the soft but deep resonant, masculine lilt of his Edinburgh accent. No monopoly there girls, we were all in love with him spurring us on to perform at our peak! Whatever motivates!

Next up? A girlie reunion and spa weekend (gym optional) – but lots of food and wine mandatory- in Manchester early in the New Year. We’ve earned it and there will be lots of exercise in between, British military fitness – see your nearest Common! – etc and online community support. “No excuses girls!” Are you fit for your lives? Visit www.thecamp.co.uk

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About the Author:  Melanie Worthy has a long and interesting background in PR and communications, working with financial services and government agencies for many years. This year she took the leap and decided to join the ranks of small business owners and has also taken on the not insubstantial task of Co-Editor! We hope you enjoy her take on starting your own business and we would love it if you shared your thoughts and experiences.

www.worthycommunications.co.uk

Well continuing the pruning theme, I’ve finally shifted and streamlined my paper mountain! – the skip has now been removed – and re-emerged blinking into a brave new and leaner world – slightly scary actually. Now it’s time to sit down and see with new clarity if my business is still on track after its first half year. Am I staying true to my core proposition and does anything need pruning here?

I have struggled, as so many new business start-ups do, with keeping the focus on my core business proposition. You do start with a clear business plan – or at least in your head – but, if you are not ruthless in terms of time management of differently prioritised activities – and as I have said before there are better experts on this site on time management so I won’t dwell unduly here – and your key areas of focus and target client market, and confident to stick to your guns, you can find it all slipping away… As famously coined, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there…”

One key problem is planning for the appropriate mix of client work – and bringing this – and believing that it will come – on stream quickly enough to pay the bills and the mortgage etc and undertaking the right kind of networking and business development, coaching so that we build the future business I’m am actually striving for….

It’s also a good time to reflect on how long things actually take to do – something I’m hopeless at or unrealistically optimistic about, as I look misty eyed at my business rainbow and what I want to achieve – and the balance to be struck – what balance I hear you say!? – between your working life and home life and outside interests.

Indeed, at times this Summer, I have felt I was working in a sweat shop – where I was employer and slave alike – neither state brought any consolation. It was laughable actually – my corporate friends were emailing me bemoaning my ability to sunbathe on the odd hot day we did get (I think!) – that is, those that remembered me as I found my social networking had necessarily been curtailed and subjugated to a poor second in favour of business networking at both ends of the day. Even with these sacrifices, my corporate candle really was burning out! The reality was I was typing away furiously on multiple client assignments too busy to reply or read their stupid joke emails. It amazes me how much time some people have on their hands! I guess it’s the difference between when it’s someone else’s money you are spending or wasting, and when you are a small cog in a big impersonal corporate wheel to when you are striving to create your own livelihood which can sustain you and your family.

I guess I realised at this point too that it was very important to be sensitised to money – and certainly as a way of a reality check or wakeup call. I stuck up Show me the money signs NOW £££££!!!! If I had been misty eyed at the outset, this wasn’t a time to look back through rose tinted glasses. Straight, simple questions and a brutal assessment. Was I doing the right kind of activities – how-ever well-meaning, ethically based or interesting those might be, as well as the “right kind of activities” that would still pay a living!

At the beginning…part of the problem was the temptation to seize immediate opportunities which I thought complimented my business – pr – and which I thought would spur growth or rightly much needed local visibility. However, on reflection, some of these developmental (and yes typically unpaid) activities aside from the basic and expected marketing efforts, turned out to be quite costly in terms of time expended – which, let’s face it, for the majority of us is our primary and sole human resource and much corer to other business people’s their proposition than mine!

I guess it’s a sign of business maturity that I have now started to appraise propositions much more carefully and manage the expectation of others appropriately from the start, retain a clear, confident focus about the target market you are after and stick to client and marketing activities and that will reach this goal soonest whilst literally keeping the roof over your head. Your business colleagues and networking associates will respect you far more for it. The credit crunch has made us all tighten our belts and that necessarily means we must re-visit the basic business premise of our business and not stretch ourselves outside this remit.

On a more positive note though, if anyone has the business proposition, drive and verve to buck the credit crunch and wholesale doom and gloom of corporate Britain today – as on a near daily basis large safe as and untouchable “household” names fall by the wayside – we are in extraordinary times after all – note it’s female entrepreneurs that are bucking the trend as this week’s exciting inaugural event for Women Unlimited “Realising your potential as a woman entrepreneur” testified. Never before have the soft and all rounded skills of women, who have been straight jacketed and sometimes barred entry in the corporate world been more needed or already yielding a positive and much needed fill up to Recovery Britain as well as paving all our business paths in gold!

Whether or not you have been lucky to escape on holiday and leave this dismal UK Summer behind you, as we settle back into an early Autumn – and for me with that lingering post-holiday minimalist clarity of mindset and aspiration – never is there a better time to do a bit of Autumn pruning for your business and clear the slate for a renewed business season.

Mine is long overdue. After a tumultuous period of client work the debris left from this whirlwind of activity is all too evident both to me and others. So, on yet another wet Sunday, I finally trundle down the path in my wellingtons to my garden office – but trust me that’s really where my ‘sustainability’ ends! – to embrace my paper mountain. “What better day” I tell myself to do this ‘rainy day’ activity. There are two types of pruning I’m intent on. Tidying but also pruning back the business proposition to its core objectives. This week I focus on the physical act of tidying up.

I’m not naturally tidy and certainly not when I’ve busy! For some reason, for most of my life I’ve been in denial about this. It’s true there was a spell in childhood when I was tidy. I was also a hoarder of pocket money and nerdy children’s club treasurer instead of the profligate spender I am now. Where is this getting me?….Well self awareness I’m sure. But back to the present day…

There must of course be a character (defect) link here, the desire to print and hoard documents – when in this electronic information age retrieval – if that’s even necessary – is a mere keystroke away and time management challenges. I’ll explore the separate issue of knowledge management in a future column.
I’m sure there is a whole body of psychological literature on why some people are tidy and others are ordered or require orderliness. I like to think it’s because I’m “creative”. But, being creative is not enough anymore – and seems strangely childish, despite the fact that I have a frightening ability to produce my very best work against this rugged background – and against the odds I can still pluck documents magically like needles from haystacks and retain critical information in my head.

Yet, I increasingly feel I can’t rely on it – the ability to work against disorder – and significantly I don’t want to anymore either. It must be an age thing – maturity brings a desire for orderliness and serenity of environment. It’s second best and I care about it now. Plus how much better would I be – and my business prosper – if I was able to combine my business intellect with some better processes? I’ve often had that conversation with myself.

I share the garden office with my long-suffering husband, Jon. I sat at his desk the other day, my fingers and gaze traversed, admiringly, his neat tidy “to do” lists, and labelled, spirit-levelled straightened papers and folders. Next, I opened his stationary cupboard and gasped at the beauty of its order. I can’t shut mine! It was a cathartic moment. I finally realised I must tidy up as it isn’t fair to those I would previously – but no longer – have dubbed as “neat freaks”. Anyway they say opposites attract and our marriage still works but there’s no room for complacency!

Speaking of rainy day activities, the act of tidying up, for those of us that are creative and whimsical creatures, brings its own dangers of “dwelling” on old – or possibly historic! – documents as if they were rare treasures and friends. It’s akin to looking at old family photos instead of filing them. No stop this now, the ruthless purging must go on as I progress with my structured filing retrieved from the precarious piles of paper.

Of course, there is a burgeoning army of admin assistants ready to sort out local businesses and untidy entrepreneurs. They will regale you with stories of dead mice and “final demands” that they find in the course of their work – I’m not that bad, but it’s testimony to the fact that I am not alone in my untidiness – perhaps I should form Untidy Anonymous! I suppose it is a kind of addiction. Why don’t I use an admin buster? Well, it’s partly embarrassment – shades of my mother (more evidence of ageing) who would always tidy and clean the house from top to bottom before the cleaner turned up! – I too don’t feel I’m tidy enough to be helped yet!

Anyway I have well and truly aired my dirty laundry in public, or at least online. It’s shamed me – hopefully – into action and I hope to report on my new state of pristine tidiness next week. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your comments or reflections. But go gently on me!

Have a structured, tidy and prosperous week.

Melanie

I lie here on my sun bed in Spain soaking up the sun while relaxing by the pool and reading those women’s magazines – as we all do – profiling all those inspirational career change stories of brave and creative business women who have pursued their “eureka” moment.

As I read the stories of these female role model entrepreneurs – this year is different. I too have left the security of my permanent job – mine with a City and Westminster based pr agency – to strike out with my own business as a pr consultant. So let this be a salutary reminder about everything that has been and remains positive about having taken the plunge. Let’s pause and reflect for a few moments on my journey so far.

It hasn’t been easy…I don’t think anyone really appreciates the sheer hard work – exhaustion at times! – of working for yourself. Now I really understanding the humour and meaning behind the jocular definition of an entrepreneur as being “someone that would rather work 16 hours a day for herself/himself than 8 hours a day for someone else!”

There has been frustration, the inevitable setbacks, the need to hold one’s nerve, the struggle to retain focus and stick to priority areas of business development , learning to say “no” sometimes as a secure client base is established with your target market, managing multiple projects for different clients simultaneously, never being able to stop, the one the buck stops with – being the primary circus juggler really of all the spinning plates …and for women – often domestic and family commitments on top – the ultimate time management challenge.

But what of the pleasures! the sheer exuberance and energy and excitement – albeit tinged with risk – of pursuing your dreams and ambitions, without encumbrance from former employers, escaping office politics, sweaty rush-hour trains, the excitement of working within local business communities, for local businesses and charities, forming new partnerships, building new initiatives together, supporting business associates through a myriad of networks, inspiring each other, learning new skills, trying new things, succeeding at them – the diversity – the friendships. Gaining confidence…and wisdom.

And actually doing it as opposed to just daydreaming and reading about others doing it while being too scared to jump or perhaps the timing not yet being quite right. Make the timing right and take the plunge too. Congratulations to all those that have. All are welcome to our Women Unlimited community which is here to support your dream.

Now back into the pool before cocktails!

Melanie