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What gets you out of bed in the morning? No, I’m not referring to your alarm clock, or a boot in the backside from your beloved, or even a wet nose on your face from the dog. Answer – your values. What do you need...
I joined Women Mean Biz Shepton Mallet group in late 2017 after visiting the group as a guest. I’d been thinking about networking for a while but breakfast meetings were never going to work with a young family and the school...
As a brand consultant and designer, I often meet people that are confused about what brand actually is. It is a very misunderstood area, the mysterious ‘unicorn’ of the business world. People either seem to believe it...
A month ago we had Mental Health Awareness week in the UK. May was also Mental Health Awareness month in the US. Why are we only promoting the awareness of Mental Health for one week or one month of the year? We should be raising awareness...
When the sun is out, all you really want to do is go out to play. We get such fitful and fickle spells of sunny weather in the UK, 20 degrees and all you really want to do is climb into shorts, slide into flip flops and soak up...
If I describe something to you, you will see it through your own lens. Try this... Imagine, a cat. It's a black cat. He has a small patch of white on the tip of his tail, as if he's brushed against a painted...
So you've invested in some PR for your business and it's finally working. A newspaper or radio station is interested in your press release and wants to interview you. You're going to be in the paper, or on the radio....
Remortgaging can be an attractive prospect for a whole host of reasons and if you’re going to take this route, you owe it to yourself to seek the very best deal possible. With this in mind, it’s vital that you pay close...
When a tenant signs up to a new tenancy, most landlords will request they pay a tenancy deposit. It is required by law and the responsibility of the landlord to protect the deposit through a government-backed tenancy deposit...
March is an exciting month for Purple Frogs Virtual Assistants as it is our birthday month and we are so happy to have reached a year old! As anyone with a fairly new business will know, the first year is a massive learning curve...
Tapping into your own innate creativity adds sparkle to your blogs. I firmly believe that everyone is creative, at least to some degree. Being creative is a natural human instinct. The misunderstanding, the disbelief, occurs...
My earliest memories of a love for writing, well, more specifically, a love of stories was of writing and reading bedtime stories to my younger siblings. I'd also write little plays and perform them with my siblings and the...
I last wrote about the importance of social media tools for business a couple of years ago, with some tips on best tools for scheduling social media content. Social media is now even more important when building awareness and business...
A client recently asked me what I thought of an award they had won but hadn't applied for. Should they invest in one of the marketing packages on offer to make the most of this "opportunity"? They wanted to know whether...
I started blogging back in 2013 when I was in the process of publishing my first novel, The Bronze Box, and working a full time day job as a Business Trainer. The blog began as something I did for myself, it didn't really matter...
Congratulations you just generated a new customer! Now what? You have spent time, effort and marketing budget finding that account, identifying who’s who and driven them successfully from the top of your sales funnel, all...
At The-Marketing-Department we are always looking at new ways that bring value to the engagement customers have with vendors and their websites. We've recently discovered a great innovation in online interaction - Landbot.io...
Great businesses are really just ideas machines; churning out new products, services and creative ways to sell and market what they offer. But how do you keep your thinking fresh and inspired enough to keep those innovative ideas flowing? Getting...
Have you considered how networking can help you at every stage of your business? If you are looking to start up on your own or have recently delved into the self-employed world, networking is a key stepping stone in helping you...
We all know that word of mouth recommendation is the MOST powerful marketing you can do for your business. That’s why most people network, to build long term genuine relationships so that members can confidently recommend you...
It happens all the time, and pretty much at every networking meeting I go to. Most people are not aware they are doing it. But, it isn’t serving them! So, what am I talking about? It’s when a business owner starts to talk...
Were you ever so desperate to be best friends with the most popular kid in your school that you would do some really silly things to get their attention? You’d try everything and anything to impress them but it didn’t happen...
Isn't it wonderful that so many businesses and individuals are becoming more and more appreciative of the opportunities that social media brings in the digital era we live in today? Customer service to industry news, free marketing...
I’ve been working with social media as a comms, PR and marketing tool since 2011 and have come across a variety of tools over the years to help manage time, output and content creation, Below are the top tools that I use and...
One of the great things WMB offers is regular training opportunities – workshops of a couple of hours in length on a range of topics and one I attended recently was specifically on networking - aimed at helping us get the most...
Business networking helps many business owners and entrepreneurs build long term relationships, and one of the most exciting elements is what this can lead to. For me, the art of good networking is all about collaboration. I’m...
The only constant in life is change. Yet one of the things we struggle with the most, is change. The big transitions of life challenge our identity: Starting Uni, the kids leaving home, retirement, redundancy, starting a new career,...
So, what does it mean to be in your power? For me, it is an empowering feeling, like you are on top of the world and everything is going your way. It is feeling like you are in control, and yet free and knowing that you...
In all seriousness, can you? I thought for a long time that I could - I thought by ignoring its signals, telling myself I couldn't afford things (gym memberships, healthy food, exercise classes, time) until my body told me I...
This has not been an easy post for me to write and in fact I've been skirting around it for a while, feeling that it is an important thing to share, but not quite getting round to doing so. Partly this has been because I've...
Have you ever sat in a meeting and thought: Nobody even knows I'm here I wish that person would stop talking What is the objective of this meeting? What are the actions from this meeting? I would like to say my...
I talk a lot about the importance of accountability in business and often I am asked specifically what I mean. Well, firstly, accountability is often thought of as being responsible for something, but that's what responsibility...
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If you run your own business, you understand the operations behind it (or at least I hope you do!). A bakery owner knows how to make a yummy cupcake and an electrician knows the cause and cure for a faulty wire. For a large number...
"How energy is created by completion” was my reply when I was asked this morning what I had learned from attending Ann Wilson’s Financial Freedom University at the weekend. It was one of those big aha moments...
Let me introduce you to England in February. Cold, bitter wind, dark freezing mornings, pipes iced up. 6am and even the walk from the bedroom to the bathroom turns your kneecaps blue. Now I normally love my showers scalding. I mean...
We all know that having and achieving goals is an important aspect of living a fulfilling and meaningful life. It gives us confidence and motivation. It allows us to recognise accomplishments in our lives, something many of us...
AT a networking evening a few weeks ago, a rather good looking gentleman, a sort of young Hugh Grant lookalike with floppy hair and a knee buckling accent asked me, “Do you know all there is to know about social media?”...
We all hear of the people who, after decades at their 9-5 decide to finally take to the stage to discover they're a hit, their hidden talents are unbelievably good and now their lives are suddenly fulfilling and wonderful... Lucky...
Having observed ALOT of networking over the past 9 years, I have concluded that there are two types of networkers. There are those people who are re-active networkers, and those that are pro-active networkers. So, which one...
Before we start, I’d like to make a very important disclaimer - blogging is unlikely to bring overnight fame and fortune. Hm, I wonder how many of you are still here. You are? Great! Then you’re the kind of person who understands...
Have you ever stopped to think about how you are using your brain in work, in your business? It's our most powerful and essential asset we all have, no matter what we've got in the bank account or on our client list, but...
One of the topics I always cover when I'm doing any kind of leadership development is Strategic Thinking. It's a vital tool for anyone in any kind of leadership role - and that includes you if you run your own business. It...
I hate to admit that I am over 30 or even 40, ok slightly over 50, however with age comes experience and what an experience networking has been. Let me take you on a journey. It all started back in my IT days, I was in sales and...
I've been networking and having 1-2-s for years and they've had almost no impact on my business. And then I joined WMB and Philippa taught me how to do things properly, and my word how things are changing! I use the format...
What does the word blogging conjure up for you? I am no longer surprised at what others say blogging is. Doesn't it take time to blog (whatever that is)? I have nothing to say? Why would anyone...
As businesswomen, we all know we should be using social media, right? After all, it's the new big thing. Everyone else is doing it. And it's useful for, um, well... promoting yourself. And getting clients. Isn't it? Most...
It would be naive to expect or even hope that life can be easy all of the time, wouldn't it? Having more success in your life is not necessarily about having an easy life. The greater your income the bigger your responsibilities...
I run an online Personal and Business Development Programme (Twelve Steps To Traction) which leads business owners through a 12 step process to align their activity so that they gain the traction they need in order to move forwards...
There are many definitions of leadership but the consistent theme through all of them all is ‘influence’. Leadership is the application of ‘influence’ in enlisting the support of others in the accomplishment...
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This is a question that I ask everyone who comes on our WMB Networking Skills workshop and we get so many different answers. It has become very apparent over the course of the last 8 years, that many people do not really,...
We often get asked to help clients who want a hand bringing together a structure and some content for their website. While we're not website coders or designers, (we work with those) we understand what makes a website...
Consider this: What is it that you are most fearful of – what keeps you staying small? My guess is that it’s your fear of being consumed by the wave. You must be the architect of the changes that you want. ...
Have you ever had one of those moments where a colleague has innocently asked “Are you OK? You look a bit peaky,” and, as well as being a wee bit miffed you’re also confused cos you feel fine? Next...
The topic of money is huge and more taboo than sex. It impacts every aspect of our lives and every decision we make. It’s something we think about all of the time, whether we’re conscious of it or not. ...
If you read my blog What’s Your Vision, you’ll know that when it comes to creating success in business, I place huge importance on having a vision that motivates you to take action. In addition to that, you also...
Do you have a vision for your business? A vision is a long-term view of the future which conveys the purpose and set’s the direction of the business. It includes the core values (beliefs that are shared by everyone...
Business networking has become an essential activity for micro, small and medium sized companies, entrepreneurs, and even the larger corporates are sending out their sales and marketing senior staff to ‘network’. ...