No Hard Drives Were Harmed in the Making of this Picture

Losing electronic data is one of the scariest things that can happen to business or personal data in my opinion. See the post on hard drives linked below for further information. I learnt a few lessons to add to my arsenal! Hope you learn some too.

On another note, some of you may recall one of my previous blogs (Kick up the backside conference) where I described a conference I attended and learnt some serious lessons about business.

That Australian business mentor – Wilson Luna – is back in the UK on 8th and 9th Sept for another Free bootcamp session for those who are serious about business.

Two easy steps to book yourself a FREE place …

1. Go to http://www.wilsonluna.com

2. Enter ticket code UK007 on the registration form when you book your seat.

Enjoy!

No Hard Drives Were Harmed in the Making of this Picture.

Kick up the backside conference

I have always been a fan of personal development / continuous professional development (CPD) and it has stood me in very good stead over the years in my career.  I never (if I can help it) pass up the opportunity to improve myself in one way or the other and when I became aware of the London edition of an international two-day Business Development seminar called the Millionaire Incubator Bootcamp, I became interested in it.  It was hosted at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London by Wilson Luna, an international business mentor, keynote speaker, and wealth management author.

I was only able to attend the second of the two-day  bootcamp that started on Saturday morning and ran until late on Sunday afternoon due to circumstances beyond my control.  Nevertheless,  I thought it better to be part of half the event and then get whatever I can from it rather than miss it altogether.

The first hour or so of the conference was a bit of a culture shock for me mainly because of the quite explicit language that was being used.  I was treated to participants randomly  standing up and shouting “f**k” at different intervals in addition to the host using quite fruity language.

Luckily for me, I was sitting beside a business associate of mine who had attended the Saturday session and on seeing the shock on my face, (also knowing me for who I am), he said to me “don’t worry about it, I’ll explain what is happening to you later during the break, which he did, but I’ll get back to that point later.

Once I got over the barrier of language and was able to focus on content rather than delivery, I was able to get some key business principles that I thought would be good to share.

*  Channel your energies aright  – Often in developing a new businesses and even in managing existing ones, business men and women often lose focus on where they should be directing their energies and spend a lot of time doing things that would yield little or no fruit.

* Stop people pleasing – Focus on your raving fans (your loyal clients) and be your unique self.

* Break through the fear – Make a decision whether or not you fear it’s the right one!  business is all about making decisons and there is no decision that is perfectly right.  Without making decisons, you will not get results.You will get a result, deal with it!

* ‘I should’ vs the ‘I must’ – Make a decision and take action!  Are you someone that ‘should do’ something or someone that ‘makes it happen’?

* Who’s who in my zoo – Difference between customers and clients – One is transactional, the other relational.

Now back to the reason for participants standing up, clapping their hands and shouting …you know what…  The idea is that there are times that you have an “aha” moment, that is a moment when the penny drops about a particular issue.  In order for it to sink into your psyche, you need to physically express it in a way that integrates it deep into you, otherwise you will lose it later.  Standing up, clapping and shouting “f**k” is meant to help you do that.

It was certainly one Sunday I won’t forget in a hurry and I’m glad I didn’t miss it.  Looking forward to implementing those principles I learnt.

The Bigger Picture, The Greater Good.

Waiting on a hospital ward this morning for a close relative to be called in for her scheduled surgical procedure, I had quite a bit of time on my hands as anyone who’s been through similar circumstances could imagine. I tried various things to fill up the seemingly endless hours. First, catching up on some paperwork on my tablet PC (the wonders of technology eh!, work while you wait in hospital). Then I tried some business reading, and lastly, I thought maybe some light reading? But I struggled to concentrate on any of these for longer than a few minutes each time.

Ah!……Lightbulb moment….why don’t I blog about this situation? So here goes….

You might wonder, why the boredom and why wasn’t I just chatting with the person I came to hospital with since we were both waiting on the ward. The wonders of medical care in the UK demand that once she had been ‘prepped’ and was dressed in one of those back-facing hospital gowns, we were not allowed to sit together.

We were asked to sit in separate waiting areas that adjoined each other on the same ward but for some reason, we couldn’t sit together and keep each other company and probably more importantly, I wasn’t able to calm her nerves for the coming operation.

I thought about it and about the fact that patients were even separated along gender lines. In other words, prepped male patients sat in one waiting area, and female prepped patients sat in another. It then occurred to me that the patients were basically undressed and in their ‘night wear’ and even though their dressing gowns worn over the hospital gowns covered their modesty, if we all sat together in the same area (male and female patients, family and friends) someone like me would effectively be sitting in a room with undressed strangers (for the most part) who may not feel quite comfortable with the idea of being seen in that state.

Ah, the National Health Service bureaucracy was beginning to make sense!
In this case though not in all cases by any means, there seemed to be some level of reason behind some NHS policies. I must admit that though I did not consult any of member of staff to confirm or refute my deductions, I’m quite happy with continuing on the assumptions I made because however right or wrong my deductions may be, I learnt a couple of lessons here today.

Lessons learnt
1. Much as we tend to complain and deride situations when they don’t suit our immediate needs, often, if we look at the bigger picture, the greater good can be served.

2. Writing blogs can help take your mind off looooooooong waits in hospital waiting areas.

Till next time….keep trying to look at the bigger picture and do your bit for the greater good!!!!

Bank Holiday relief

A couple of weeks ago, during the last Bank Holiday Monday and amongst all the ‘Jubilee-ation’ around the Queen’s 60th anniversary celebrations, I had the opportunity to spend a day with other like-minded ‘potentially imbalanced’ women. The idea was to spend a day relaxing, refreshing and rejuvenating ourselves while aiming to balance the various roles we, as women juggle in our everyday lives – sister, wife, mother, daughter, girlfriend, fiancée, grand mother, grand daughter, business and career women etc etc.

It was a time to get away from our families, slow down, connect with ourselves and socialise with others in a lovely hotel in the leafy suburbs of Surrey.

The organisers (Just-Be.co.uk) described the event thus:
“Being a 21st century woman is not easy as we aim to be all things to all people; a goddess to our husbands, super mum to our children, the exemplary employee, an inspirational leader, the trend setter. Then there’s women who’ve let themselves go, buried their dreams, or slumped into depression and sadness. Whatever state you find yourself, you can achieve a life balance and re-activate those buried dreams”.

There were indeed great expectations for the day as it started around 9:15 with the usual registration and time to chat with new people. We proceeded to take part in a couple of workshops during which we analysed our lives, and did some self assessment and re-discovery.

Following a wonderful lunch, and having set ourselves targets to achieve better balance in our lives, the fun started……..

We were able to choose from a long list of leisure activities: massage, make-over, swimming, sauna, steam, Jacuzzi and gym and ‘Just-Be’ ourselves. Ah…….bliss!

We also had the chance to really get to know each other and ‘network’ in a way that I expect is not common. The term ‘Networking in the buff’ came to mind.

In next to no time, the day had ended and it was time to go home and build on what we had achieved that day.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience.

Looking forward to more of the same!

Keep ‘balancing’ girls, and don’t forget your ‘me time’!

Networking learning curve

I attended a networking event last night called ‘Entrepreneurs night out in Soho’.  It was organised by Entrepreneurs in London for business people to network and brainstorm with ‘London’s best Entrepreneurs’.  For me it was an amazing learning experience as well as an eye-opening one.  Being the second ever “networking event” I have ever attended and the first “social” one, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

My very first experience a couple of months ago consisted of a series of short presentations followed by Q&A and then networking at a local pub afterwards.  For some reason, not least because I consider myself not to be a ‘pub person’ (whatever that means) and to be quite honest, also because I didn’t really know how to network, I didn’t hang around for the networking afterwards.

Last night though, I couldn’t run away from the networking bit once I got there and it was an experience I’m really grateful for.  Luckily for me, as soon as I walked in the door, I saw a familiar face and chatted with her for a few minutes.  That got me warmed up and I soon started talking to others while I was waiting to order a drink at the bar.  One conversation led to another and within a space of 2 hours, I had met with, had some really good conversations with 9 or 10 really interesting people, some of whom I promised to get in touch with later to follow-up and get to know each other and our businesses better.

One of the people I met particularly left a huge impression on me through challenging my thinking on a the subject of multiple business profiles.  We had quite a long and profound discussion and I am really glad that whatever the outcomes of my rethinking, the exchange would have succeeded in achieving one or more of a number of actions:

• Reaffirming my current approach
• realigning my approach, or
• Making a total u-turn in my approach

At the end of the evening, I thought “that wasn’t so bad after all”.  I wasn’t eaten alive and someone even said to me that I exuded a really bubbly aura, so the fact that I was petrified to start with wasn’t so obvious!

I’m really looking forward to more positive experiences of networking in the future!!!

Shola George

Hello world!

Hello out there,

I’ve been thinking about blogging for a while and never really knew how to go about it or what to write about until today.

I finally woke up tis morning and thought why not share my experiences of the learning curve I’m going through in business and see if it strikes a cord with anyone out there, so here goes!

Shola