More To Life Than Shoes

It started with a random magazine and all kind of discoveries. Then we got physical got sweaty. And last week we all had a go at making that call.

This week, we're after some entrepreneurial inspiration.

One of the reasons we started More To Life Than Shoes was to create an inspiration hub where we could share cool discoveries, helping us fuel our own fire and maybe even inspiring a new business idea.  

I am lucky enough to meet some amazing female entrepreneurs doing all kinds of cool things. For example, the other day I met Genevieve Murphy, co-founder of Trinket Women - a great new way to buy high quality tampons.



Simply sign up, enter your dates and details and receive a neat and stylish present from mother nature's helpers each month. Simple and genius.

I love the fact someone has taken on the big boys and given a much needed feminine touch (not to mention style upgrade) to the most feminine of products. Plus, never again will I get caught short. I'm a real fan of getting letters and packages- just imagine if getting your monthly supply became a joy!

(And if you'd like to try Trinket out, Genevieve has kindly offered us a 2nd box free when we enter code T1005 on www.trinketwomen.com.)

We'd love you to join in this week's mini mission and dig up some of your own entrepreneurial inspiration. 

We wanna hear about amazing business ideas that get you going. If nothing springs to mind, panic not - check out www.trendwatching.com and www.springwise.com. They are both rammed with amazing ideas and concepts - sure to give you as much buzz as a triple espresso.

Wouldn't it be great if we all shared our discoveries - to help each other on the way to success.

Tell us - what's the big idea, why you like it, key things we can learn and give us a link to the website so we can check it out.

And tell your friends about the More To Life Than Shoes mini missions too! Blog, tweet, retweet, text, Facebook, do real talking, whatever floats your boat. Tell everyone!

Nadia x

Award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and author of Create A Successful Website, Paula Wynne encourages all enterprising women to use a website as a progressive way into the corporate world or a stepping stone into a dot com venture.

 

Paula shares her Top Tips for creating a successful website:

1. Decide if you are going to start with a simple blog or possibly check out free websites and pay monthly sites as there as some fantastic resources available.

2. Research, brainstorm and plan your site to build your ‘brand’. Keep it stylish and consistent across all pages, avoiding cheap clip art and flashy animation.

3. Map your navigation menu with relevant tabs, aiming to have all your skills and talents featured as well as any other expertise and skills your audience may find interesting.

4. Create a dialogue with your visitors through good content and add value by uploading articles, snippets and images of your work.

5. Make your content ‘sticky’ so your audience keeps coming back – this means new, fresh and constant updates, which Google loves. Don’t throw up a few pages and then forget about it. Instead, use your site as the ‘window’ to your dot com potential.

6. Start building your ‘platform’ of fans and followers with keywords. Decide on your primary keywords to use in On Page Optimisation and make sure all your pages have these words in the title and the page description. To find out more about SEO, you may want to attend one of Paula’s workshops: http://www.paulawynne.com/workshops.html
 
7. Start a link building campaign to create back links by contacting community clubs or other cake decorators in the area and ask for links, also request link swaps with other relevant products or services.

 

Paula’s inspiring tale, her warm enthusiasm and her ‘breath of fresh air’ has resulted in endless invitations to speak at events and conferences as well as teaching workshops. See more details at www.paulawynne.com or take a peek at what Channel 4 Secret Millionaire Caroline Marsh says about Paula’s book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spmaf6bt3YU

Business Aunty Heather Wilkinson on why creating a plan of action with realistic goals is essential to make your business work.

So, you’ve had your big idea and you’ve produced a cracking business plan. But what’s the next step? How do you turn that business plan into a plan of action?

The first step is to make sure you approach your plan in the right frame of mind – and that’s a positive one. Expert Adviser, Jenny Ungless, explains:

“Keep your vision clearly in mind - successful people know exactly what they want. Visualise what your success will look like. Where will you be? What will you be doing? Who will you be with? Use pictures, quotations and any other prompts to remind yourself constantly of what you're aiming for. Imagine yourself succeeding and telling someone else how you did it - make it real in your mind’s eye, then go out there and make it happen.”

Believe in yourself Henry Ford said "whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're usually right". Successful people believe that they can - and prove themselves right. Remind yourself regularly that you are gifted, talented and capable. Write down your achievements and celebrate reaching targets and goals. If you don't believe in yourself, why should anyone else? You need to have a strong personal brand.

Prioritise As you progress through your business journey you'll learn where to concentrate your efforts for best effect. Successful people put first things first. Make sure that you know what your core priorities are and don't allow anyone to distract you from them. Don't allow urgent but trivial tasks to get in the way of the important stuff - the tasks that will make a difference.

Challenge yourself Push yourself beyond your comfort zone on a regular basis. Try something new or do something differently, whether it's learning a new business skill, taking up a new hobby, or striking up conversation with a stranger. Keep finding ways to stretch yourself intellectually and this will be reflected in your business.

Keep an open mind People achieve great things because they are open to possibilities. In contrast, when our mindset is narrow, we limit our chance of success. Teach yourself to think outside the box. Question your assumptions. Don't take anything for granted. Think about things from other people's perspectives. Be alert to what's happening and to what's new. Keep learning all the time.

Manage your time Create a daily framework for your business activity. Make a list of what you need to achieve that day and schedule when you're going to do each task. At the end of the day, take ten minutes to plan the next day’s activities. Review your diary regularly and make sure that the way you spend your time at work reflects your business priorities: what's important rather than urgent.

Put boundaries in place Success is about achieving the right balance. You may find you need to delegate, and working as a self-employed person means the boundaries can get blurred and you find it difficult to switch off. Set limits on how much work you're going to do and stick to them. Of course there will always be times when you need to put in some overtime, but you must be disciplined about maintaining the boundary between work and leisure.

How Are You Doing? Review Your Progress Once you are on your journey to planning and developing your business it can be quite easy to get you head stuck in the sand doing day-to-day tasks (working "in" the business) and not having the time to sit back and reflect on your progress, plans and forward strategy (working "on" the business). This working "in" the business can create a multitude of problems.

Businesses that succeed always have someone working "on" the business - reviewing progress and driving the business plans forward.

It is essential to take time out to review your progress.

Renew and adjust Successful people review and adjust their plans. You need to be flexible enough to work your way around obstacles that arise, to spot new opportunities and find better ways of doing things Keep focusing on your dream and your goals, but review and revise your plans on a regular basis.

Contemplate Successful people understand the importance of contemplation. This isn't strategic planning, or brainstorming, or thinking about the business. It's simply time for you to clear your mind of all the junk it accumulates, and get back your focus and sense of perspective. You'll feel refreshed and ready for the next challenge.

Learn from your mistakes Successful people aren't people who've never made a mistake or suffered a misfortune. In fact, most business leaders have at least one failed business under their belt. They're people who've learned to learn from their mistakes and moved on. Use your setbacks as opportunities to learn how to do things differently or better. You're building up a bank of wisdom for yourself to draw on. Mistakes are great learning tools. And if you led a mistake-free life or business, you'd not learn, and could end up making the same mistake when it really mattered. You're less likely to do that if you've already learned from that mistake.

Don't forget: think win win The most successful people don't trample over others on their way to the top. They have a mindset based on the principle of abundance: there's enough success for everyone to have a piece of it. Some business leaders are ruthless, but most who inspire others and reach the top aren't. They are fair bosses and good employers, they are responsible, have principles and win by sharing. You should strive to be the same. Don't be jealous of your competitors. Just because they're successful doesn't mean there's no room for you. Work collaboratively with everyone you can.

And lastly, never, ever give up. Successful people are people who get up one more time than they fall down. They achieve their success because they simply refuse to give up. They persevere. Perseverance isn't about pursuing the impossible, it's about refusing to quit until you've achieved your goal. You know what you want, you know how to get there, so just keep going!

www.stridingout.co.uk

Finding the right person to take your business idea to the next level can be daunting, but business coach Heather Wilkinson has some tips on tracking down your ideal business partner.

Finding a business partner A lot of ideas don't ever get off the ground because people can't find the right business partners or team members to help them make their idea happen. So, how do you define your ideal business partner, and how do you go about finding them?

Defining the profile of a business partner Firstly, it's important before you start out to think about what you are looking for in a business partner. It has to be about more than combating loneliness or sharing the same passion. You need to find someone with the right skill set, attributes, character, values and resources (whether it's time, connections or financial) to make the business perform.

It’s important to take time to think about your ideal candidate. You are entering into an agreement which combines finance, contacts, resources and your energy. It is very different to just recruiting an employee. You will need to think about the proportion of the business you want to give away in relation to what the business partner is offering, whether it's finance, time, or skills. You should also consider what your desired outcomes of a business partnership would look like.

If you need some assistance in clarifying the ideal profile of a business partner, or you need an independent person to facilitate discussions between yourself and a potential partner, helping you plan out your roles and responsibilities, then one of our Business Coaches can offer you a one to one coaching session . We have worked with many business partnerships to help them review their contributions, deal with issues, plan out their performance frameworks, analyse what skills they are still missing, and discuss their shared goals and visions for the company. Having a coach as a third party can help keep the discussion focused and ensure the company is kept on track.

Alternatively you might want to look at the different personality profiles which make up a good entrepreneurial team with the Wealth Dynamics Personality Profiling tool.  You can use this tool to profile you own character as well as explore the profile of others.

So, once you know what you want, how do you find the right person? There a few approaches you can take.

Face to face networking Face to face networking is one of the best ways of finding a business partner. It's like dating – when you meet someone in person you generally know if you’ll hit it off straight away. With the right person you'll explore ideas, get into your interests and talk business all night. You can then explore ways to work together and perhaps decide to merge skills or ideas. It’s like love at first sight! (Well, at least until you've had your first argument and the honeymoon period is over.) But just like a marriage you have to work at a business relationship too.

Head hunting If you need specific expertise for a business, headhunting someone who has the right skills for your business could be the best approach. Searching the team profile section of similar companies or asking around are good starts. It's what recruitment agencies do all the time. The offer of a share in a new company might be exactly the challenge your potential partner is looking for. If you don't ask you never know!

Business partner brokerage You could use sites such businesspartners.com, findyouridealbusinesspartner.com or companypartners.com, who run a type of dating service for entrepreneurs, allowing you to search for potential business partners.

Network leaders and business coaches People in both of these roles will know many start up business owners, and are likely to know their clients and their needs well. Talking from my own experience, I am always marrying people together to share skills and team up on aspects of business, and we've seen successful business partnerships flourish as a result.

With so many ways of finding your ideal business partner you've got a good chance. But it won't necessarily be easy, and you may have a few false starts! Remember, it is like dating but in business; you've got to find someone with the same values as you, and who will stick with the project in the long term, to ride the highs and the lows.

Heather Wilkinson, www.stridingout.co.uk

If you’re just starting out with your own venture, you may be snowed under with work, but it’s often impossible to find the cash for full time employees. Business expert Heather Wilkinson looks at the alternative – creating a virtual team.

Running a business requires a whole host of skills - administration, marketing, PR, logistics, finance, legal, HR, event management, IT... the list is endless. And the harsh truth is, it’s impossible to do it all on your own. At this point you might be thinking, but I can’t afford to employ someone! But don’t panic. There is an alternative!

Creating a virtual team… A virtual team consists of self-employed people who are skilled in the areas that you are not. They don’t work for you full time, just when you need their skills, so you can keep your costs to a minimum.

Investing in professionals with the right skills will be financially better for the business in the long term, because while you may be investing some cash now, the skills they bring to your table will make the business more likely to be a success.

Where do I start?

So, a virtual team might sound like a great idea, but where do you start? One great way is to join some networks. Networking gives you easy access to the skills and services you require. For example, members of my organisation, Striding Out, are connected to others in the network who offer a range of complementary skills to enable them to create a virtual team to suit their needs.

Introducing some virtual guys and girls...

If you need a PA, Stephanie Windsor runs Chaos to calm, offering Administration and Marketing support.

For branding and IT support, we have Nicola and James who run www.kinked.co.uk , Zac who runs Milk It Design and Sam who runs the TomatoNetwork

If you need PR support, we have Beth, who runs PR agency Huge Promotions or Paula who provides advice on doing your own PR DoYourOwnPR

If you need Event Management support, you get hold of Tim at Innerplace or Sarah of Wonderland Media

If you need financial support, check in with Dean of www.mmi-online.co.uk or legal advice, get in contact with David of www.dg-law.co.uk.

When you’re building your virtual team, you need to make sure you’re working with the right people. If you were choosing a new employee you’d interview them for the position, and this is no different. Check out potential free lancer’s experience, values and knowledge of your industry. And it’s important that you get on with them personally as well as having the right business acumen.