Be My Guest Archives - Ruby McGuire

Interview Series – Be My Guest

July 10, 2014 by Ruby Leave a Comment

Hi everyone

For those that have been following my blog for a while you may recall my Be My Guest post Interview Series that I ran last year. I’ve decided to resurrect it again. I love learning how others are running their businesses, don’t you? We can spend so much time trying to learn things ourselves, but what better way to learn things than from other people. People who have tried and tested things already and from whom we can benefit from their wisdom?

So today’s lovely guest is Fiona Brown..

Fiona Brown is an accredited fitness education specialist and technical expert who has worked actively in the health and fitness industry for more than 28 years. She holds numerous industry recognised qualifications including AFAA Personal Training, Mat Pilates,Ante/Post Natal Exercise & Exercise to Music plus specialist training in Post Mastectomy Pilates and Pilates for sufferers of Osteoporosis. Her main interest and area of expertise is with females aged 50+

In 1998 she established her Personal Training business from scratch and quickly built this to 35 appointments per week in a matter of months. She sold this as a going concern in 2006
to allow her to concentrate on training the trainers and has grown her company The EnergyWise Academy, into one of the UK’s foremost training providers with students now scattered around the globe.

Fiona has trained and mentored 100’s of health & fitness professionals including Osteopaths, Physiotherapists, Personal Trainers, Pilates and Fitness Instructors. She is renowned for her passion for excellence and enthusiasm which is definitely catching. She is also the owner of Realistic Pilates, Realistic Fitness and Realistic Ballet Fit and continues to actively teach.

1. Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I have been told that I am scary …because of my passionate conviction for what I believe in… by the same token my middle name should have been Pollyanna (She was sickeningly positive) and that I am inspirational. I can add that I love to help people and that because I’ve reached the age I have… I no longer feel the need to impress. Is that three sentences? I am also rubbish with keeping things concise J

2. What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?

I think I would make the world’s worst employee. I like to get involved with all aspects of my business and have occasionally had nightmares that I have a job. Quite literally waking up one morning from a vivid dream where I started work at 9 and finished at 5. I can’t describe the sense of relief I felt when I realized it was only a dream. I remember attending fitness classes after our second son was born and thinking “ I could do that ..and I could do it much better than her” The ‘her ‘ in question was a good teacher but I could just see where I could do things differently.

Over the last 28 years of being self employed I have met and dealt with many challenges. Most recently I had an accident which almost put me out of business. This was when I was forced to find a different way of earning my living …not just as an instructor but also as a teacher trainer.

Four years later my Pilates business is thriving. I no longer teach any of the classes and I have taken on a second studio right next door where I have a team who teach Fitness classes. I plan to franchise both studios …sell my training academy and focus on my online mentoring business! If this is not classic entrepreneur behaviour then I don’t know what is?

3. Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

My Dad. He would have seriously benefitted from Business Advisers and Business Incubators to advise him on how to run a business? Back in the 70’s you were pretty much left to your own devices and there was no such thing as a Business Plan or help regarding VAT. He knew things were not going his way when he asked the VAT Inspector if he took milk in his tea. Only to be asked “Have you got a VAT Receipt for that fridge.”

Next inspiration was a guy called Raymond McLlellan who I used to listen to every week at BNI meetings talking about working ON your business rather than IN your business. He encouraged us to read The E Myth by Michael Gerber where I learned that I was indeed an entrepreneur rather than a technician or a manager.

Most recently though I respect Alisoun Mackenzie who promotes Heart Centered business and who has selflessly taken time to work with Rwandan orphans helping to develop their Entrepreneurial skills. These kids have no fathers, mothers or grandparents. The teenagers are the next generation and despite literally being left for dead in the most atrocious circumstances are now beginning to thrive and rebuild their lives.

4. What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Hope is not a strategy …you need to make things happen. I took part in the Business Investment for Growth Programme run by Scottish Enterprise, and was owner of the smallest business amongst a number of well known large businesses. I was really proud to be told I had the most customer focused business in the group despite me feeling like an imposter who had no right to be there. That was a turning point in my career.

5. What three tips would you give to people when they are considering running their own business?

Trust your instincts. Your gut is probably telling you what you need to know.
Never give up. You will frequently feel you are sailing really close to the wind. You need nerves of steel
Learn to say a slow no rather than an immediate yes and are already formulating a way out in your head! If when you decide that yes might have been the right answer…if the opportunity is still there ..then it was the right decision. If it has gone ..it was not meant to be. There is an old Scottish saying “ What’s for you will no go by you” which means the same.

6. What are the three biggest mistakes that people make when trying to run their own business?

1) Feeling too grateful that anybody wants what they are selling.

Particularly in the early days. I can remember when I had started my Personal Training business …it was as if somebody else was answering for me.

“You’d like an 8am appointment? Why Certainly.

“8.30pm? Of course I can “

“Sunday morning? I don’t see why not!”

I had to really discipline myself to set the hours I was going to work and just brass it out. If they really wanted to work with me they had to re-organise their diary.

2) Not knowing when to say No or when to quit!

I have gradually learned the art of getting clients to fire themselves if I don’t think they are a good fit! So that I can say with a huge smile…Isn’t that a shame that we can’t agree a time that suits ….PAUSE… I can recommend a colleague who will put up with your nonsense. That last bit is a lie. But it is what the comic speech bubble above my head contains as I smile sweetly.

Knowing when to quit is one of the hardest things you need to learn. Maybe the bright idea you had won’t make you money after all. Maybe you need to re-evaluate what it is you actually do?

3) Burying your head in the sand when it comes to numbers

You need to know your numbers. You need to know exactly how much each session actually costs to deliver, bearing in mind that while you are with one client you can’t be earning elsewhere. (Unless you have an online passive income or a team of staff working with you)

7. What advice would you give people that are considering working in the health and wellbeing industry?

It’s the cheesiest saying ever but it works for me : People don’t care how much you know ..until they know how much you care” Theodore Roosevelt

In other words your clients may think, “It’s all very well you having a Sports Science Degree (I don’t) but do you know how to help me with my dodgy pelvic floor and saggy abs?”

I would be very wary of a Personal trainer with a perfect body …male or female. Having a honed and toned physique takes a spectacular amount of time and discipline. My take on the subject is if they are so obsessed with their own looks …are they ever going to understand your chocolate or gin/wine addiction? Will they ever understand that there are days when you have no desire to exercise?

Eating clean and training mean is all very well when you are an ex-military bloke. Come back and see me when you have had three children in three and a half years (I did) and your pelvic floor is shot to pieces along with your seriously over stretched abdominal muscles. Then we can talk!

You also need to steer clear of fads whatever industry you are in. If you cannot justify or do not believe in what you are promoting your clients will see through you. Integrity counts for more in the end. Write down your policies in advance so you are ready for the salesperson you don’t want to work with.

8. What are the benefits of seeking a mentor whilst you are advising your own clients?

I feel it is always wise to have somebody to look up to and be guided by. You can become too wrapped up in your own importance if you are constantly coaching or mentoring your clients. I can’t emphasise strongly enough how much I benefit from having a mentor and coach…although I knew I had to call it quits with one coach when I brought HIM a book I thought he would find interesting! He laughed and said “I think we probably have reached the end of our road together” It hadn’t even crossed my mind that we had begun to reverse roles. I genuinely wanted to give something back because he had been great but he could see I had out grown him. This made me respect him even more. This also led to me referring a number of people to him over the years.

Having a mentor or coach gives you focus and also lets your clients know that you are investing money in bettering yourself and that you don’t believe you know it all. It gives you more credibility but much more than that it helps to keep you from stagnating and helps you to grow.

9. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

“Is this the best use of my time?”

I can’t remember where I first heard the phrase.

In the early days I used to pride myself in having written every letter, licked every stamp and cleaned the toilets!

Luckily I soon found out that if I wanted to grow a business …I needed to delegate and find people who were better at doing things than I was. That was a massive learning curve and a great lesson to have learned. Whilst I was so busy working in the business…training 35 clients a week…I had no time to work ON my business to make sure it grew.

Another nugget of advice came from one of my business advisors. It was quite bluntly put but made a big impression on me.

If you are growing a business that you have plans to sell…but get to the point that if you were removed from it and it ceased to be a business….then you don’t have a business. You have a job and you can’t sell your job!

I now know that my time is best spent writing and delivering teacher training courses to small groups who pay reasonably large sums of money. In the next year my time will be leveraged to sell online Masterclasses based on content I have already written plus running an online mentoring programme for female fitness instructors and personal trainers. That will be the best use of my time.

10. If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you.

My Website or Facebook

Fiona has kindly shared a great resource – click the link to sign up for your copy - 7 Top Tips for Exercise Newbies. It has also been added to the Resources page where you can find lots of other free resources.

Thanks Fiona, you’ve shared some great pearls of wisdom. Like reading about how others do things? Check out my archives entitled ‘Be My Guests’ for some more great info from people in business (click on the search box in the sidebar to the right)

Please share this post so that other entrepreneurs can benefit. Want to be a guest yourself or know someone that would make a great guest? Send them over my way. I’m always on the look out for new guests.

I only have a couple of spaces left for my 121 packages this month. If you feel like you want to get started but find it all overwhelming as to know what to do first and you want to get some clarity and direction for your business then book your place here.

ps - if you haven’t signed up to my newsletter yet then you can do so below. Each week I share bitesize coaching hints and tips for boosting your coaching confidence, skills and business. Know other Coaches? Send them my way

Filed Under: Be My Guest, Business, Entrepreneur, Fiona Brown, Small Business

Be My Guest … Ros Kitson (Interview Series)

February 11, 2014 by Ruby Leave a Comment

Today’s Be My Guest interview is with a lovely lady called Ros Kitson who is a Kinesiologist. Knowing nothing whatsoever about Kinesiology I had a treatment with Ros a while back to find out what it was all about and it was absolutely fascinating what she was able to tell me about myself. I felt so much better after working with her.

Ros is passionate about personal development. After suffering from depression in the late nineties, she discovered various holistic therapies and found that she could get better without taking medication. She has continued to get better ever since and now is living a happy and healthy life, helping others do the same.

She discovered kinesiology during her recovery and immediately knew it was the one for her. Having received kinesiology treatments for many years, and now has been offering them for many years, she is still in awe of how insightful and effective it is.

Ros has been qualified since 2006 and works from the Wellbeing Centre in Newbury, Berkshire and Herongate Leisure in Hungerford, Berkshire.

1. Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I’m passionate about wellbeing and personal development. Having greatly improved my own life over the years, I’m now committed to helping other people transform theirs. I’m a light hearted and fun person who can often be seen treading the amateur boards or local shows.

2. What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?

A desire to be my own boss; to be able to choose exactly how I live my life each day. Also, I wanted to do this job and it’s very difficult to be a holistic therapist any other way. I’ve loved it, but it has definitely been challenging. There have been times when I’ve wished someone else made some of the decisions, but those times haven’t lasted long.

3. Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

I’m inspired by people who are running a successful business while being 100% in their truth. You can tell instinctly from someone’s energy if they are doing this. I’m never been someone who could compromise my values for the sake of making money so it’s always brilliant to see that others can make authenticity work in self-employment.

4. What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

To be completely authentic. If people are going to buy from me, then they need to trust me. If I’m not being completely authentic in myself, then people will pick up on that and something won’t feel right to them. I would definitely pass this advice on, particularly to anyone following a life-purpose career.

5. What three tips would you give when trying to manage emotional issues?

Wow! Just three? I have a whole blog on this subject.

Firstly, be honest with yourself that you’re not managing as well as you’d like. If we try to pretend we’re OK when we’re not, then we’re heading for trouble.

Secondly, identify what you need, both practically and emotionally, and take steps to get these things. It might be you need some time out before you tackle the practical details. You might need a friend to turn to when you’re feeling low. It might be that you need professional help to sort out the problem. It might be that you need to make some changes in your life to be free of things that no longer serve you.

And thirdly, be gentle with yourself. Sometimes, we just don’t manage. We’re all on a journey; maybe you needed to learn something from the experience. Maybe that opportunity wasn’t right for you at that time.

6. What are the three biggest mistakes that people make when they’re stressed?

The first one is reaching for chemical “crutches”. Things like cigarettes, coffee or chocolate. Or even alcohol or processed food. All these unhealthy substances put more stress on our bodies. The reason we like using them is that they distract us from the problems we’re facing. However the problems will still be there afterwards and we’ll be in a worse place from which to deal with them.

Secondly, projecting our stress on to others. What I mean when I say this is that sometimes we see a situation as being someone else’s fault rather than owning our own feelings. If we own that we feel angry, jealous or out of control, then we are in a place to make a change. We can look at changes we can make in order to feel happier and calmer. If we focus on someone else being at fault, we are powerless as we can’t change another person.

And finally, constantly moaning about our situation. Please don’t confuse this with sharing how you feel with a friend. It is important to be able to be open. What I’m referring to, is those people who constantly have an air of negativity about them; those who never seem to have anything happy to say. What you put out, you attract, so these people will generally attract more negativity and things will spiral downwards. It is always possible to break out of the cycle, but it starts with you.

7. What is your favourite strategy for feeling happy and healthy?

Only put good things in and get rid of everything that doesn’t serve us.

This includes the food we put in our bodies; the more natural and organic, the better and also our environments, which can be full of toxins. Think about the ingredients in your skin care products, chemicals in cleaning products and air pollutants.

However this doesn’t stop there. Our physical clutter affects us. Are you hoarding negative or sad memories from your past? Who are the people you interact with? Do they make you feel good about yourself or do they drag you down? Think about the activities we spend our time on and whether they are things we look forward to or things we dread.

This covers a huge topic, but if you make just one change in one area, you will start to see improvements in your life.

8. There are so many different therapies, how do I know which one to choose?

We are all different and as such, we like to work differently on our health. Some people like to work emotionally, some prefer physical therapies. And there will always be therapists we connect with and those who we don’t, even if we can’t really put a finger on why.

The Wellbeing Centre, where I work has a large selection of therapists and has a growing website and blog with useful information on how to choose. Our receptionists are available to talk things over with you as well.

If you are still confused, I suggest you follow your instincts. If we put out to the universe that we want someone to help us with a particular problem, we usually find someone appropriate to our needs appears.

9. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I used to be one of those people who walked around under a personal rain cloud. If I can transform my life into the joyous and fulfilled experience it is today, then anyone can. I’m not different from anyone else in this, but I am able to help and support people who wish to make changes and absolutely love doing so.

10. If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

I work at The Wellbeing Centre in Pound Street, Newbury and at Herongate Leisure in Charnham Park, Hungerford. I can be contacted on 01635 581682 or [email protected]. I write a blog on emotional health at www.roskitson.co.uk.

Ros has kindly shared a fab eBook called ‘A Guide To Our Emotions’, it makes fascinating reading. To grab your copy just pop on over to the Freebies page where you will also find other freebies to download.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this interview. Thanks Ros for spending some time with us and for sharing some insights.

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Filed Under: Be My Guest, Interview Series, Ros Kitson Tagged With: Be My Guest, Interview Series, Ros Kitson

Be My Guest .. Aloted Omoba

December 17, 2013 by Ruby Leave a Comment

Today is the last Be My Guest (Interview Series) of the year.

I’d like to introduce you to one of the ladies from a business networking group I’m part of, Aloted Omoba. Running a business with a family can sometimes feel like a pull in all directions where you want your business to be a success but also want to spend time with your family and it’s often a juggling act. Aloted works with working mums and has some hints and tips to share with you for how she makes it work for her.

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I am married with two children a 4 year old daughter and a 5 month old son. I am jovial, a doer and always willing to help others around me. I am passionate about the empowerment of women especially mothers.

What motivated you to set up in business to help working Mums?

I was motivated to start Super Working Mum because I am passionate about mums and I noticed that a lot of working mums are overwhelmed with so much to do at home and at work.

I wanted to share my knowledge, journey and practical tips, which I have found useful to help working mums, particularly Christian mums, all over the world achieve balance and fulfillment in their lives.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

First of all, my Mother. She was a working mum (she is retired now) and was able to raise 4 children with the help of my Dad of course and was still able to work. It still amazes me till today that she bagged her master’s degree with three toddlers under 5 with not much help. How she did it, only God knows.

Mothers out there who are still fulfilling their dreams whilst managing a family also inspire me. Yes motherhood is a great calling but we are still individuals before we are mothers.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

The best business advice I have been given is that I am a scientist so I cannot fail. Scientists experiment till they get it right. Every seemingly failure is just a closer step to finding out what works.

In business I have to keep experimenting, tweaking and trying out different ways of doing things till it works. There is no room for giving up. If I am persistent and hardworking I will succeed by God’s grace.

What three tips would you give to people when trying to juggling work and family life?

Take care of you first – your spiritual, physical and mental health. If you do not take care of you, you won’t have the ability and energy to juggle family and work properly. If you keep running on low one day you will crash.
When you are at work focus on work, when it is family time focus on that. Try not to mix them up. Set clear demarcation. This will help you stayed focus and be the best in both worlds.
Get support, you cannot do it alone. Build relationships with other working mums, join a support or mastermind group and share your victories and trials together. No (wo)man knows it all. The Faith Family and Financial Inner Circle that I run for working mums provides this kind of support for the working mum who needs spiritual, physical, mental and financial development.

What are your top three tips for creating calm for a working mum?

Sometimes things will happen and not go according to your plan for the day. Stay flexible; adjust your expectations accordingly so you don’t get worked up.
Learn to laugh- things are not always as bad as they look. Having a good sense of humour does wonders for keeping calm
From the start of your day, choose how you will respond to every challenge that comes your way. Affirm to yourself that you will be calm no matter what. You may not always get it right but the key thing is you are now aware that you can choose how to respond to circumstances on a daily basis. I have to add one more tip please ..
Learn how to say no. You don’t have to say yes to every request thrown at you. You are not doing yourself any good by taking more than you can actually do. Also learn how to delegate. You will feel less overwhelmed and be calmer when you do.

Confidence levels can change for Mums returning to work. What strategies do you know help when it comes to feeling confident?

This happened to me when I went back to work after my daughter was born. I lost my confidence. One main strategy I will say that works is to write out the different things you have accomplished over the years before you had a baby. Write out your strengths. That person is still there somewhere inside you and just needs to be brought out. Surround yourself with positive people and take each day as it comes.

I share a whole lot more tips in my ebook – Boosting Your Confidence, 15 steps to success in the workplace. You can get a copy here.

You run a series where you feature Super Working Mums, what would I need to do to be considered?

The main thing to do to be considered as a featured Super Working Mum is be a member of the Super Working Mum group on facebook and be interactive on the group. That simple!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I would love to share with your readers a free webinar I did for working mums called 7 Secrets to Faith, Family and Work Balance when they sign up to my special updates newsletter. I share some secrets on how to achieve balance in life as a working mum. Some of the secrets I share are based on biblical principles but any working mum from any background or faith can apply the practical secrets I share.

For those who prefer reading instead they can also download the report instead. Get access to the free webinar and/or report here.

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

Sure, I love connecting with other working mums

I can be found on:
facebook, twitter or my website or via email [email protected]

Aloted has kindly shared a great freebie for us today, Boosting Energy At Work. You can download your copy here. Thanks Aloted for sharing with us today.

Need a last minute gift? Want something a bit different?

I have set up two Cappuccino Coaching Sessions for the New Year. These would make a great Christmas pressie for someone, or a fab treat for you to get a great kick start to 2014. To find out more and book your place click here. Gift vouchers are available.

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Filed Under: Aloted Omoba, Be My Guest, Uncategorized, Work-Life Balance Tagged With: Aloted Omoba, Be My Guest, Work-Life Balance

Be My Guest .. Chichi Eruchalu

December 3, 2013 by Ruby 1 Comment

Hi there. It’s time for another Be My Guest (Interview Series) where I introduce you to someone in business and they share some practical hints and tips with you. Today I would like to introduce you to the lovely Chichi Eruchalu of Kanso Creative.

Chichi is the Creative Director of Kanso Creative and has a passion for helping female entrepreneurs elevate their business through gorgeous graphic design, clear communication tools and one to one business coaching and support. For those of you who recognise it is time to move your business forward professionally, but are not sure how – she can help you get started on the journey!

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

Hi I am Chichi Eruchalu and I own Kanso Creative. I have a passion for helping entrepreneurs elevate their business through gorgeous graphics and clear, well designed communication tools such as websites, newsletters and social media. It pains me when I see poor design, especially when I know that the image being portrayed is not reflective of the business. I am married with one daughter and live in Essex.

What motivated you to pursue the field of Graphic Design?

I love to be creative whether it is drawing, sewing or baking. My dad was a printer and I used to spend endless summer holidays helping him with jobs. I learnt so much and it spurred my passion. I found it fascinating how you could go from a concept in your head to a full fledged design and would spend hours on my computer playing about with my own designs.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

No one person, but anyone who has taken life’s challenges and turned them into opportunities, inspires me.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Know who your ideal client is and then focus your time and energy meeting their needs. Knowing your ideal client is foundational to all that we do in business. Get this right and everything else flows.

What three tips would you give to people when choosing a Graphic Designer?

Be clear in your own head who you are targeting and what you want to achieve with the project. That way you will be able to effectively communicate this to your designer. Also what are your long term design goals? Right now you might be looking for logo design, but later down the line web design and print design. If you have a design journey in your head, look to choose someone who will be able to travel alongside you, rather than using different people for different things which could lead to inconsistent items. Give your designer the opportunity to get to know your business inside out.
Is the designer personable and professional? Are they able to communicate effectively? Do they ask the right questions? Do they listen to you? Can you work alongside this person, bouncing ideas back and forth? What is their design style? Design is very much a collaborative and communication process, so look to choose someone who has a style of design that matches your brand and what you need, not the style you prefer personally. This way you will have a better chance of getting the design you require.
Listen to word of mouth and ask to see their work. Referrals from people you know is a great start. Also make sure you see examples of previous work and are confident that they can deliver what you have asked for. A good graphic designer will be able to tell up front whether or not they can undertake your project.

What are the three biggest mistakes that people make when designing their own materials?

Using the wrong tools for the job. Often I see people trying to design images or logos in something like Microsoft Word which in reality is NOT suitable at all. I get that not everyone can afford the top design software, but there are plenty of good free alternatives e.g. Picmonkey which will allow you to do the basics.
Colour and font clash. I see this all the time. My advice: choose a palette (Color Hex [link www.colorhexa.com] and Design Seeds [ http://design-seeds.com/] are great for choosing colours schemes) and work within it! Also aim not to use more than 2/3 fonts on any given project.
Lack of consistency across print and web. You can overcome this by having your designer create branded templates for you which can be used across Word/Powerpoint, Social media etc. I have done this for several clients creating newsletter templates, Facebook meme templates and Powerpoint templates thus ensuring consistency across different platforms.

What strategies do you know work when it comes to clients providing you with a brief for a project?

Being clear on the outcome of what you want to achieve. What is the end goal?
Mood boards and other sources of inspiration – Pinterest is great for this. Create a mood board and share with your designer.
Sketch it out, give examples. Even a basic outline of what you are after will go a long way in helping your designer understand what you want to achieve.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Graphic design done properly will elevate your business and set you apart. It is worth the investment.

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

Website or facebook

Thanks Chichi, it has been great to have you as my guest and really good to hear how we can all drive our businesses forward through fabulous design. Chichi has kindly offered us 15% off her Social Media packages and templates, just use this discount code: RM2013.

Be sure to pick up her ebook ‘6 Ways to take your business from Rookie to Respected’ (here) which tackles some of this stuff.

Like this guest post interview? Feel free to share using the share buttons below. Check out others in my sidebar or by using the search box.

Want to be featured as a guest? Drop me an email telling me what you’d like to share and we can talk some more.

On a final note my new Cappuccino Coaching Sessions are now up on my Events page. Why not book a session for someone for Christmas? It would make a lovely unusual gift and be a great start to their new year (a personalised gift voucher can be provided). For more details click here.

Filed Under: Be My Guest, Chichi Eruchalu, Graphic Design Tagged With: Be My Guest, Business, Chichi Eruchalu, Graphic Design

Be My Guest … Amanda Johnson (Interview Series)

November 5, 2013 by Ruby Leave a Comment

Today I’d like to introduce you to Amanda Johnson as part of my Be My Guest (Interview Series). Amanda owns and runs a business called YES, Your Executive Secretary, that provides first class virtual PA, business administration, event planning and management and administration consultancy services.

Amanda is one busy lady, she has just given birth to a gorgeous little bubba! Congratulations Amanda!

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I like to think of myself as self motivated, personable and highly organised – a bit of a list girl, but my husband would probably describe me as a control-freak!
I was recently described by one client as a “Goddess” and another as “so much more than a VA” – both lovely compliments, but in reality, I am passionate about making a difference to the Business Owners I work with – that sounds a bit cliche but it really is true, if you care about what you do and in particular your clients – I care!
In the past 18 months, I have moved house 5 times, moved to and from Belgium, been made redundant, my husband and I have both left the military – he has retrained and started a new job, I have launched a business, we have done a major house renovation and had a baby! How many stressful things do they do say do in any one year? But there is a little devil in my head saying “What’s next then Amanda?”

What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?

In 2008, my husband and I had a life-changing event, our children (twins) were born extremely prematurely and subsequently died. As a consequence we re-evaluated life, and realised life was too short! Up until that point we were both serving in the military and had been since we were teenagers, although we both loved being in the military, our jobs and the quality of life we had, we realised there were more important things. During my compassionate leave from the military, we decided to spend money doing up our house but we could never get hold of the tradesmen we needed, as they were out doing what they did best – being a tradesmen, and I realised that what these people needed was admin support as and when they needed it. I thought I had developed a new industry! It was only when I started to research it, I learnt that there was such a thing as a “Virtual Assistant”! We have subsequently gone on to have a family, and I tell people that I want a better work life balance, by this I am not talking about working 0900-1700 but instead no longer having the fear of having to go away for extended periods of time, hence the decision to launch Your Executive Secretary one day after leaving the military!

Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

I don’t have just one person that I think of as inspirational in business – I do what I do, because I love making a difference to Small Business Owners and want them to feel as special as the Chief Executive of a major corporation. I read a lot of business books and am constantly learning from others – they all have something inspirational in their past or to say and I hope that when I work with others these attributes come into fruition.

What has been the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I have ever been given is to “Listen – don’t just hear” – so its not just a piece of business advice but advice relative to life in general.

What 3 tips would you give when working with a VA?

A tricky question as for me a lot depends on what someone wanted a VA to do – fill a current gap, complete a task that they didn’t have the skills or the time to do or provide a completely different service, maybe even be a confidente. What I would recommend is that someone looks for a VA who demonstrates:

honesty, integrity and loyalty to you and your business
offers a confidential service
but more importantly is someone you like and respect professionally!

What are the 3 biggest mistakes that people make when running their own business?

Trying to sell when networking. Networking is not about selling (sometimes when a sale comes along as a result of networking in a room of people thats a bonus) but ultimately networking should be about getting to know / grow your network of connections.
Spending all day every day working “in” their businesses and no time working “on” their business.
Believing they can do everything for themselves – or that only they can do a particular task!

What if I’m uncomfortable about delegating work, what do you suggest?

When working with a new client, I always recommend (especially when they are uncomfortable with the art of delegation) that we try a couple of small projects first, so that they can get to know me, my core values and standards and to ensure that actually they like working with me….. If you want someone to share the in’s and out’s of their business, they have to know, like and trust you – once you have built those things, the act of delegating work to them becomes so much easier.

How much time do I really need to spend getting work ready for a VA?

Probably not as long as you think BUT ……. It depends on the type of VA you are working with – are they a general VA or someone who specialises in a particular skill? As an example, some VA’s are very technical and work predominantly with clients who require a technical skill set (perhaps doing webinars or shopping carts) and they would run a mile if you ask them to do diary management type stuff; other VA’s are more generalist and will turn their hands to most projects. I work with variety of clients and I don’t think I do 2 tasks the same for any of my clients – for me its all about making a difference to that particular Business Owner. What I do recommend though is ensuring that any parameters or styles have been agreed in advance so that both parties know what they will be sending / receiving etc.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

When choosing a VA to work with, it really is important in my opinion to “know, like and trust them” – therefore I would suggest taking your time to choose the right person and this may mean interviewing more than one person or trying someone before you commit yourself fully to them working in your business. As Business Owners themselves, a VA should understand this as ultimately they should be dedicated to working with you to help you succeed in business.

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

If you would like to know more about me and the services of Your Executive Secretary, my website is www.y-e-s.co.uk but I can also be found on social media in the following places: My Blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. On social media, I try and be social so please expect to find not only informative and helpful business administration insights or hints and tips but also the lessons I learn as a Small Business Owner and some personal information (the fact that I share some person information on my social media is controversial in the eyes of some people, but I think it helps others understand me and shows that I am human!)

Amanda is kindly sharing her top 5 tips for avoiding email overwhelm. You can download it here.

Feel free to share this post using the share buttons below.

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Filed Under: Amanda Johnson, Be My Guest, Uncategorized Tagged With: Amanda Johnson, Be My Guest

Be My Guest … Emma-Louise Elsey (Interview Series)

October 8, 2013 by Ruby 3 Comments

Today I have a very special guest for my Be My Guest … Emma-Louise Elsey.

Emma-Louise is a very successful Life Coach and she always makes me feel more positive whenever I am on her website/facebook pages, she oozes happiness and fun! If you’re a Coach then she is going to share some thoughts around that, but don’t worry if you’re not she is also sharing some other pearls of wisdom too. (You need to read about the Trolls!) So without further ado I hand you over to the lovely Emma-Louise…

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I love to help and connect people.
My 5 favourite qualities about myself (from a fabulous coaching exercise called “Troll Travels – Who am I?” I love that I am curious, passionate, courageous, creative and cheeky!
I am always having ideas, getting excited about stuff – I have ADD and Anxiety – but I don’t let it define me, even if it sometimes takes over.

What motivated you to pursue the field of Coaching?

It started with approaching 30 years old, being a successful project manager in the IT world. I spent Sunday nights wallowing in “There must be more to life than this!” I had success and everything I wanted – a great house, boyfriend, 2 cats, a classic car I loved (a 1973 Ford Capri!) and the separates stereo system I had always dreamt of. But I wasn’t happy. I started looking for alternative careers and after about 18 months discovered coaching through a work colleague. Once I started the journey into coaching – a whole new world opened up for me. It was irresistible – literally. I LOVED that I could change the way I looked at things – I had no idea!!! You mean I don’t HAVE to think like that? I was hooked and have not looked back since.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

Do I have to pick one? My hubbie, my therapist, my business coach. I could list tens of authors whose books I love, but for real-life inspiration, this is it!

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

On feeling stressed and anxious at 3.30pm on a Thursday afternoon, my business coach asks, “Is anything you’re going to do in the next hour and a half going to materially change your business?” Me, “No” “Then go and enjoy yourself!” I have a habit of keeping on keeping on. But really, pushing ourselves when we’re stressed, tired, anxious – achieves nothing other than making us feel worse. So, I phoned up a friend, went round and hung out. Came back feeling fab. Next day I was raring to go again.

What three tips would you give to new Coaches?

(This one is controversial) Charge what you consider to be a BARGAIN for your coaching. I’m not saying charge a pittance – but charge a rate that YOU think is a bargain for whoever is interested in signing up with you. Have a good reason up your sleeve – it’s a new program and I’d like feedback for example. This way, you feel TOTALLY confident selling. If they’re not interested, it really is their loss. Then put your rates up as you feel more confident.
If you can, keep your old job until you feel confident you have a solid basis for a coaching practice! This takes the stress off you financially – AND – you can use the network where you currently work to actively find clients and spread the word about your coaching business. Bulletin boards at work, brown bag lunches or seminars.
LEARN EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT MARKETING and SELLING! And then keep learning. You cannot run a coaching business successfully without understanding – and CRITICALLY EMBRACING the marketing and sales. Learn to LOVE it, or your coaching business is going to feel like awfully hard work…

What are the three biggest mistakes that new Coaches make?

Charging too much when starting out (again – controversial). You can always charge more later…
Not having a way to introduce themselves that is clear and engaging (ie. being embarrassed or unclear when the meet people and are asked to say what they do).
Not spending enough time marketing. That includes reading, learning about the marketing and sales process AND learning about yourself. Who are you? What do you offer? Why should anyone want to work with you? Get really clear on who you are and what you offer. And learn HOW to offer that effectively!
Oh – and makes sure the kind of clients you are targeting can afford to pay you. Think about whether the people you want to coach can afford your rates. If not, you may not have the best target market…

What strategies do you know work when it comes to finding new clients?

Run seminars – basically when you run a workshop or seminar you put yourself in a position as the expert. Run the seminars where your target market hangs out – free if necessary – and then MAKE SURE to ask for their email address for your newsletter. AND their phone number for a free or consultation session with you. Do this with a feedback form – that you tell them about at the beginning – and hand out at the end. This is how I built my contact list – AND got clients!
Team up with people who have a similar target market. I networked and teamed up with massage therapists, hairdressers and personal trainers for example! Sometimes we did events togethers, sometimes it was just a referral network.
Create a program with steps and a fixed cost/time period for people to sign up for.

What’s your favourite Coaching tool/strategy?!

OK, so I run The Coaching Tools Company.com! I’m not sure I can PICK a favourite!!! I would say The Wheel of Life is endlessly useful in so many ways – the most versatile. I love “Troll Travels – Who Am I?” – which is where I discovered what MY favourite 5 qualities were. So great for confidence and really knowing myself! I also adore “What Makes My Heart Sing?” – I love seeing the light go on for people when they realise that what gives them joy is so easy to do…

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Coaching is so NEEDED in the world right now. You are awesome. Go for it! Believe in yourself – because no-one can do this FOR you. And once you believe in yourself, no-one can take that away from you either! Own your power!
AND Learn to LOVE and ACCEPT yourself the way you are right NOW. Practice it. Love and accept your dark side – and the things you feel ashamed about. Because once you OWN that, no-one can make you feel bad about yourself, ever again.
The reason the world needs coaching is because we’re not taught in schools to look to ourselves for answers. Instead we’re taught that the answers are outside of ourselves (books, knowledge, the adults around us). And we’re taught that to succeed we must learn stuff and be able to regurgitate it. But to be HAPPY in life, we need to know ourselves – and how to look inside and find our own answers. And THAT’s where coaching comes into its own: We help people get to know themselves, look inside and learn to trust that THEY have the answers! Awesome!

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you..

Check out The Coaching Tools Company.com if you’re a coach. There are tons of articles and tools – and free tools too, to help you on your coaching journey. Sign up for the newsletter for tips, tools and our 549 Powerful Coaching Questions Ebook!
And if you’re interested in personal growth, please visit Life Coach on the Go! We have a great weekly bite-sized article – wisdom that takes around 1 minute to read!

Thank you Emma-Louise, I love your Coaching Tools and your blog posts, they are fab! As you all know I also love quotes so the little freebie that Emma-Louise is giving away to readers is perfect for me – Click here to download your free copy of 107 Quintessential Quotes for Coaches. Not a Coach, don’t worry, you’ll still love them too!

Filed Under: Be My Guest, Emma-Louise Elsey, Interview Series Tagged With: Be My Guest, Emma-Louise Elsey, Interview Series, life coaching

Be My Guest – Andrew Horder

August 27, 2013 by Ruby 1 Comment

Welcome to the latest in the interview series – Be My Guest – Andrew Horder is our guest for today.

Andrew Horder is an author, coach and NLP Master Practitioner helping entrepreneurs and executives discover their focus, those activities and opportunities that they really love, and that will produce their lasting success. Founder of TheBusyFool.com and creator of the innovative Opportunity Matrix prioritisation tool, Andrew brings to his work an unusual combination of deep logical analysis and an abiding interest in people and their human motivations. His first book, “The Busy Fool’s A to Z of Loving Work” is available from Amazon.

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I’m a bit of a crusader about happiness at work. I have this belief, that I can’t get away from, that we all have a right – a duty even – to find joy in our work, to love what you do for a living and to make a living doing what you love. Because I believe that, because I have literally thousands of hours experience of business in corporates and in small businesses, and because I have dozens of raving fans, that means that the people I work with not only get the results they truly deserve, they also love the process of getting there.

What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?

It started with a truly horrible last job in corporate – the job was killing me, I was really quite ill, and I was ready to ‘deck’ the boss most of the time. I honestly don’t know whether he was a particularly terrible boss (although his previous team did commiserate with us when they found out we’d got him), or maybe I was just at the end of my tether. Anyway, I left, and started working as general manager for a small importer – the pay was better, the boss was a bit less of a bully, the car was definitely better. And I was still deeply dissatisfied. I just knew I was done with working for anyone else, I had to be my own boss.

Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

That’s a hard one – I have lots of inspirations, depending on the context. In terms of how I’ve ended up doing what I’m doing now, I’d say it’s Nick Williams, the founder of the Inspired Entrepreneurs community in London. In terms of believing that anything’s possible if you add enough value, and allowing other people to do what they do best while you do what you are best at, then I’d have to say Richard Branson. I think all renegade entrepreneurs wish they had a bit more Branson in them!

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

When I first started out, I had some convoluted plan to educate the market about a new approach to Stakeholder Relationship Management. I was explaining it one evening to genial raconteur and veteran entrepreneur Dr Alan Rae (www.howtodobusiness.com), and he chuckled: “Well, of course old boy, we’ve been fortunate, we’ve always tried to sell people things they actually want!”

What three tips would you give when working on your business?

Firstly, make sure you love the work you are doing – you will never be great at something you don’t adore doing.
Second, make sure your team are happy – there is nothing so good at losing customers as a grumpy atmosphere in the office.
Finally, and probably most important: focus on the things that are going to make you money now, this week, this month, this year. It’s when I’ve ignored that advice that things have gone wrong. Yes, you have to take a long-term view, but not at the expense of it always being ‘jam tomorrow’, today’s bills need paying today. As in everything, it’s a balance.

What are the three biggest mistakes that people make in life with regard to their business/work?

The biggest is to assume that getting clients is easy and not something you will need to put serious effort into – so many new entrepreneurs don’t realise that their number one task in their new business is (sorry, swear-word coming up) … selling.
The next big mistake is almost the opposite of that: working just for pay, instead of allowing yourself to be paid for doing the work you love. Funnily enough, it’s when you’re working for pay that the selling becomes hard; when you’re allowing yourself to be paid, you’re adding much more value, and people know that. You do have to remember to ask for the money though!
And the third is recruiting for aptitude not attitude – you can teach skills, you can’t teach the attitudes that mean a new recruit will fit in with your team, and bringing in a misfit is the quickest way I know to destroy your happy culture.

What if I’m completely unfocused what do you suggest?

Being unfocused is the best way I know to be a Busy Fool – but you’re probably not as unfocused as you think. FOCUS = “follow one course until successful”. That doesn’t mean one single track, it means one general direction. For me, that’s my Core Process, “Encouraging Potential” – everything I do has to do that, in some way or other. So work out what your one *course* is, the single thread that runs through it all.

What if I have a million and one ideas so don’t know where to start?

There are only 2 ‘Big Business Questions’: “How much do I want to do this?”, and “Will I make any money at it?” – everything else is just detail. I use a powerful tool I developed – Opportunity Matrix™ – to answer those questions, and you can do a decent job of it manually. If you don’t have one that scores high on both questions, work at the one that brings the money – but only so you can use that money to develop the one that brings you most joy!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Great set of questions (you can tell Ruby’s a fabulous coach, folks!), so I don’t have much to add. Just remember, we all have what I call your Joyful Genius – that work that you are brilliant at, and you love to do. Don’t settle for second best, find your brilliance and go deliver it to the world. It’s not self-indulgent to want to adore your work, in fact it’s downright selfish to hide your light and deny the world your Joyful Genius.

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

All over the web, I’m a bit of a social media tart, but the best places are TheBusyFool.com blog (www.thebusyfool.com) and my new ‘Juice Up Your Joyful Genius’ blog (www.empowernetwork.com/andrewhorder).

Or you can email me direct: [email protected].

I have worked with Andrew to find out what my Core Process is and the two words that came out of it for me were.. ‘Inspiring Fabulousness’ which I just love! Working with Andrew is so much fun but aside from that it it is amazing how much it helps to know what your common thread is, you can use it as a guide, much in the same way as you would use your values.

Thanks Andrew for spending some time with us today and sharing your The Busy Fool’s A-Z of Loving Work eBook to give us a taster of the real thing.

So go out there, share your Joyful Genius and don’t forget to be fabulous while you’re at it!!

Liked this post? Check out other interviews by clicking on the links in the sidebar. Want to be featured as a guest? Get in touch and tell me all about the gems you would like to share with my readers.

Filed Under: Andrew Horder, Be My Guest, Coaching, NLP Tagged With: Be My Guest, Business, coaching, Interview Series

Be My Guest..Rob Donnelly

August 14, 2013 by Ruby 1 Comment

Welcome to another Be My Guest Interview Series post…

As a Coach I love to learn all about different ways in which people help others, it’s all about exploring. So today’s guest is someone that specialises in Cognitive Hypnotherapy and NLP, Rob Donnelly who shares some business hints and tips. I thought for my clients that are Coaches it would be interesting to hear from someone that has specialised in a different arena. Over to Rob…

Cognitive Hypnotherapy looks for a cause and effect; what are the symptoms that cause your problem and then how does this affect you. Problems can sometimes be associated to a particular event “significant event” (Cause) That causes you to act in a particular way (effect) Cognitive Hypnotherapy does not follow a one size fits all model. I work with clients to help them reframe the cause and help them to help themselves react differently to that event. It’s very powerful and usually only requires 3-4 sessions to see real change.

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I am a cognitive Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner. I love helping people to help themselves and enjoy nothing more than seeing a massive transformation in a client using the cognitive Hypnotherapy model.
I am also a fully qualified Fitness instructor and enjoy teaching all forms of fitness from aerobic based classes to Boot camps and pilates to all levels of fitness.
My background is from an IT professional perspective and I do believe the skills need to fix highly complex IT problems helps me in my therapy work.

Why did you choose to become an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneur, OMG, that’s a big word, I don’t really see myself as an entrepreneur, but more of a small business owner just plying my skills building a business and loving the challenges it brings. I enjoy a challenge and working towards any goal. I love working with and helping people, and my skills as a fitness trainer and Cognitive Hypnotherapist help me to apply my business and people skills to both.

I have run a fitness Business Reshapeofthatcham for approx. 12 years in the community and I very quickly discovered that the skills needed to develop the therapy business are exactly the same, so slowly building that up I have been practicing as a cognitive Hypnotherapist for approx. 3.5 years.

I am both a general Hypnotherapist (which means I work on all the normal issues a hypnotherapist has to deal with) but also specialize in working with sport related issues such as golf, athletics, gymnastics.

Can you share an example of a case study that has had amazing results?

I have had numerous clients that have had fantastic success but one that springs to mind was a young UK Gymnast.(13 years) We shall call her T..

T was a very promising Junior Gymnast and was in the UK Junior team. Unfortunately she had a serious accident whilst tumbling and damaged her neck. She was unable to train for quite a while but eventually she got back to full physical fitness. However when she went back to tumbling even though she physically had all the right skills to perform, something was holding her back. Her mum approached me and asked if I could help.

I worked with T using Cognitive Hypnotherapy and the results were amazing. After only 4 sessions she was much more confident, had her old swagger back and was able to train to the standard that she had been able to in the past. The feedback from her coach was positive and he even recommended that she was put forward for a trial to regain her place in the UK squad. Fantastic result.

Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

Rachel Holmes she is a fitness Presenter and Business owner and entrepreneur from Nottingham. She taught me all the basics of starting your own business; marketing, basic business skills and how to get things up and running. I have completed many training courses with her and she is very inspirational, self-driven and giving.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Identify your target market
Identify what it is they need that you can provide
Promote your product/service to them

What three tips would you give when starting out?

Be yourself and don’t try to be something you are not (people will see through you)
Know your customer and give them lots of TLC (people will, and always will, buy from people) not websites, not fliers but from you. Yes the marketing provides the hook into you but it’s you that sells your product
Make sure you have a website, even a basic one it’s just so important!

What are the three biggest mistakes that people make when promoting their business?

Not identifying who they are targeting, and just blasting their marketing out to all and sundry. (Shot gun marketing is costly and very rarely works)
Not being clear enough on what they are promoting, selling and more importantly what’s in it for their customer!
Not identifying a differential, i.e. why buy from ME!!

What if I know nothing about building my business, where do I start?

Network, either online/offline, join forums, local networking groups and get talking to people who have done it
The message is surround yourself with people who have already been successful and you will, and can, learn from them. Remember everyone had to start somewhere. Just go with the basics as identified above; know your customer base, identify what you want to sell and what’s in it for them, target your marketing to the right market and send them a good reason why they want to work with you!
Be yourself, be honest, reliable and consistent. Customers will come back time and time again!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Start small, think big; from little acorns large Oak trees do grow.

When I completed my fitness instructor qualifications almost 13 years ago I had no self-belief that I could teach classes. Thirteen years on I find myself teaching classes of 5o-60 people, sometimes more. When I completed my therapist training I had no real intention of becoming a therapist or the self-belief that I could do it. Three years on I find myself with a successful client base, and having had success with professional golfers and UK gymnasts, I think the success speaks for itself.

Why do I share this? If I can do it you can do it so believe in yourself, learn from any setbacks and just get on with it !

So what If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

My websites are

www.robdonnellytherapy.com

www.reshapeofthatcham.com

Thank you Rob for sharing your knowledge and experience. Rob has also kindly shared a ‘Headache Cure’ with us. You can download it here. He says, ‘Try it ..You may well be surprised . Try it with your friends, your loved ones, yourself. It’s amazing and can be very powerful!’

If you enjoyed this interview check out some of my other guest blog posts, see links in side bar.

Filed Under: Be My Guest, Business, Hypnotherapy, NLP Tagged With: Be My Guest, Business, Hypnotherapy, NLP

Be My Guest … Mary Keeley

August 2, 2013 by Ruby 1 Comment

I thought we would mix things up a bit this week and have a Be My Guest interview today instead of my usual blog post.

Today I would like to welcome Mary Keeley, my lovely friend, who also happens to be a Coach. I asked Mary to tell us a little about herself and this is what she said..

‘Corporate women are right up my street as I specialise in helping women who want to take it to the top and the women I’m working with are achieving great things: being promoted, dealing with big business challenges, conquering feelings of fraud, developing leadership-type behaviour AND managing to have a life outside work!

I’m an ex-corporate communications head who is as at home in the boardrooms of my corporate clients as I am working 121 with women in big business. I don’t promise my clients they’ll be CEO by Christmas, but I do promise them they’ll get results and above all they’ll enjoy.

I’ve got an embarrassing number of years under my belt working for some of the world’s leading companies in the construction and property sectors. I’m still at it! Young enough to enjoy the buzz of corporate life and old enough to understand what makes big business tick – I understand what professional women are facing at work, because I’ve been there.’

Now in our usual interview format Mary has shared some great insights with us below..

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I’m a straight-talking Amazon with a wicked sense of humour
I love my job! Helping other professional women steer their way through the highs and lows of working in big business and the corporate world is just brilliant
Yes, I’m a dynamic businesswoman – well most of the time – but at the heart of it, I’m a totally besotted wife, mother and cat-mum

What motivated you to pursue the field of Coaching?

I did a coaching diploma because I thought it would help me in my career. As I progressed up through the ranks, my job became less about doing the craft I was trained for: corporate communications – and more about managing people. Two years into the diploma and I realised I loved working with dynamic people who wanted to take control of their lives.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

I was definitely born with my cup half full and am inspired by so many people and things. Of course I get down sometimes, particularly if I’m going through a trough at work. It’s then that I get inspiration from my Mum. She designed a life she loved. She was married to the man of her dreams for almost 60 years, living in the home of her dreams, surrounded by her ‘chicks’ (six Amazonian children, 14 grandchildren and four great grandchildren). She forged out a remarkable business for herself, finally retiring at the age of 80. She was a glamorous, hard-working and immensely intelligent businesswoman who was ahead of her time and probably the biggest inspiration any girl could have.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Keep on top of the money – don’t bury your head. Why? Because when starting out in business most go through a rite of passage whereby we have moments of sheer terror worrying about money. Particularly those who have recently waved goodbye to a thumping great salary!

What three tips would you give to new Coaches?

If you’ve done the training and you love coaching then you ARE good enough. Believe it, get on with it and your confidence – and experience – will grow.
Don’t be afraid to refer if a client is out of your area of expertise. Create a bank of people you can refer to – they’ll be glad of the business and may return the favour.
Network, network, network. And don’t be put off when half the room seems to be other coaches. We all have our niche and particular area of expertise. Don’t panic if you haven’t found yours yet. Mine emerged over time. Look at what sort of clients you’re attracting – where do you do your best work. You’ll probably find this is the area you’ll end up specialising in.

What are the three biggest mistakes that new Coaches make?

Freebies. We’re so excited to get work in the early days that we end up volunteering for a living. How can you help other people realise their self-worth if you’re still working on yours? Settle on a rate that is competitive and will help you meet your financial goals. Anything else and you’re playing at shopkeepers.
Networking, networking, networking! We’re all told as soon as we start up in business that we have to be networking as much as possible. It’s not cheap and it’s time-consuming. Be savvy with it and build a networking schedule that gives you maximum exposure to your ideal client – bearing in mind that even if the person you’re talking to may not be your ideal client, they may be associated with someone who is.
Giving too much. In our haste to be the best possible coach we’ll often deluge our clients with ‘added value’. In my case I quickly learned that the busy women I work with don’t have time to read the stuff, let alone work their way through it!

What strategies do you know work when it comes to finding new clients?

Referrals. It’s the strongest vote of confidence you’ll get.

What’s your favourite Coaching tool/strategy?

Having a laugh. If people are at ease and feel comfortable it really helps them to open up and be honest about what’s going on. Then I give them just enough homework to keep them on track.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Just be yourself. I worried that I wasn’t earnest enough to be a coach. I love life and that shines through – but just because I laugh at life doesn’t mean I’m not fiercely intelligent and well-informed in my area of expertise. My clients come to me because I’m their sort of person. I’m very comfortable that there are lots of people and lots of coaches out there that who are each other’s sort of person too.

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

My Website .. http://marykeeley.com/

Mary has also given a great resource, 10 Strategies for Success

Thanks Mary for being our guest today, you’ve shared some great tips with us.Mary has also given a great resource, 10 Strategies for Success

Over to you .. What’s the best business advice you’ve been given? Share in the comments below, and pop on over to my facebook page to join in on this and other great conversations.

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Filed Under: Be My Guest, Coaching, Mary Keeley Tagged With: Be My Guest, coaching, Mary Keeley

Be My Guest … Claire Mitchell (Interview Series)

July 4, 2013 by Ruby 1 Comment

Today’s Be My Guest post, as part of my Interview Series, is with the lovely Claire Mitchell. If you haven’t heard of her yet then you’re missing out! She is an amazing inspiration to thousands of businesswomen and seriously knows her stuff when it comes to marketing!

From Mumpreneur To Facebook Sensation!

She set up a Facebook group called The Girls Mean Business as a forum for other business women to vent their frustrations or share their worries about work. The amazing feedback she received from around the world encouraged her to EXPAND FAST. Claire used her marketing experience and new skills and set up coaching programmes she could offer the women in the group. As word got out, the group grew at an amazing rate – within 3 months there were 3000 fans, and today, 18 months on, there are more than 13,000 from around the world.

Claire realised there were LOTS of women like her out there. They’d lost their jobs through redundancy, or they’d stopped working to have children, and now they wanted some direction. She wanted to share her experiences with them and help them learn from what she’d been through. And to teach them how to make their businesses grow – no matter what their situation or budget.

She now has several hundred coaching clients from all over the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and the US who credit her with dramatically increasing their incomes. Claire also offers free advice and business resources, such as webinars, on the Girls Mean Business Facebook page. She has 4000 subscribers from 15 countries who love receiving her weekly newsletter and Bite Sized Tips on marketing. This lady is on fire!

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I’m a business owner, mum to a 5 year old and wife to Mitch. I spend my days helping women business owners to get unstuck and start making money in their business. I have the best job in the world and I love every minute of it – I see some amazing transformations, hear some inspirational stories and kick bums quite often….what’s not to love?

Why did you choose to become an entrepreneur?

My last employed job was awful – I’d taken it just for the salary and I regretted it within days. There were no others jobs around so I stuck it out for 9 months and one day said ‘enough is enough’. With £20k of debt and no savings, I upped and left and set up as a marketing consultant the following week. It was a disaster – I made every mistake in the book, I had a rollercoaster few years include building and liquidating a marketing agency, getting married, having a baby, moving house 4 times and being broke pretty much the whole time. I had to learn to dig myself out of the mire of debt so I used my last chunk of cash on my last credit card to buy some one-to-one business coaching and that one decision changed my life.

Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

The women I work with every day. I was always sort of inspired by people on TV but they seemed quite distant to me. I love to see what we girls can do when we’re up against it – there are business all over the world being run against the odds by truly amazing women. Women going through illness, bereavement, financial dire straits, bad relationships – they are taking them and using them as fuel to do something they love. And then we have the rest of the amazing Girls that Mean Business who are just doing their thing – juggling running a business with bringing up a family, holding down other jobs or looking after others. Every women business owner has a story and that’s what makes me love what I do.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Be yourself and do what you love – otherwise you’re just creating a ‘job’ for yourself instead of a business.

What three tips would you give when starting out with their marketing?

Know where you’re going – understand what success looks like and put some milestones and targets in place. Otherwise you’ll drift along aimlessly and never get any further forward.
Eat Your Elephant One Bite At A Time – Break everything down into bite sized chunks, rather than getting overwhelmed and paralysed into inactivity by huge jobs on your list
10 Minutes a Day – spend 10 minutes a day on your marketing, every day and you’ll be amazed at how much you achieve if you’re consistent and persistent

What are the three biggest mistakes that people make when promoting their business?

Not knowing who they are targeting – you can’t market to everyone so you need to find your ideal customer and market to them. Spray and pray marketing is costly and ineffective. You need to pick a type of customer or client and speak to them in your marketing, so that you attract more of the right people for your business – people who love what you do and value you
Not knowing their numbers – so many people just pootle along day to day, with no idea if they’re making a profit. Understand what things cost, including your time, and price properly.
Undercharging – following on from my last comment, many business owners price themselves too low. They listen to friends and family and existing (bad) customers and completely undervalue themselves. This has a knock on effect – they attract people looking for ‘cheap’ products or services, they have to sell more to make a living, they compete on price rather than quality and they wonder why it’s so hard to make money! Seriously, it’s only Mind Monkeys stopping you from appreciating your value so ignore them and put your prices up!

What if I know nothing about Marketing, where do I start?

Work out your ideal customer - the perfect fit for your business. The person who you love to work with, who makes your heart sing, who loves what you do and appreciates your value.
Write your marketing materials for your ideal customer and put them in places on and offline where your ideal customer will see them
Pick 2 or 3 marketing tools/activities that will work for your ideal customer and do them consistently for a month
Spend 10 minutes every day on marketing

Watch your business grow!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Don’t listen to Mind Monkeys or helpful friends and relatives who tell you to get a proper job. It’s tough running your own business but you can make it so much easier on yourself if you surround yourself with likeminded people. That’s why I set up The Girls Mean Business and it’s now a great place for women business owners to learn, connect and share. You are not alone.

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

Www.thegirlsmeanbusiness.com

Www.facebook.com/thegirlsmeanbusiness

We’d love to see you!

A note from Ruby … I am part of Claire’s Girls Mean Business Group and the support I get from other women in business as part of that is just fab. You know when you just need a quick answer or to share an idea? There is a wealth of support and encouragement in the group and from Claire herself. In fact I can’t even really list the benefits of how great it is because there are too many! Claire’s been known to give me a kick up the butt too and it’s SO been worth it in terms of my development and progress with my business

Over to you… We’d love to know what your works for you with your marketing. What one key strategy do you find really helps? Let’s get a conversation going in the comments section below. Missed my post about being the amazing you the other day? You can read it here.

Enjoyed this interview? Please share with people you think would enjoy it too and check out the sidebar for more guest posts.

Would you like to be my guest? Just drop me an email to apply and tell me what gems you’d like to share with my readers.

Filed Under: Be My Guest, Claire Mitchell, Interview Series Tagged With: Be My Guest, Business, Claire Mitchell, Interview Series