I know what you’re thinking ‘here we go, another one of these New Year, New You articles’.  Please stick with me here!

New Year is an inspiring time, chance to start afresh, make changes and focus on new things.  It’s a time full of hope, but how long do you let that hope last?  Think back – how long did it take you to give up on last year’s resolutions?  How long before hope dwindled, old patterns returned together with the frustration of not achieving what you want to achieve.

Why set goals?
In order for us to achieve something, however small, we need a focus.  Even if it’s to tie our shoelaces or to do up a button.  You focus on getting your shoelaces tied or your button done up and you do it.  In fact you’ve probably done it so many times it’s second nature to you.   There was a time when it wasn’t second nature and you had to consciously make an effort to do it.  The same can be said of anything you want to achieve.  You just need to get started, take small steps and soon it becomes familiar and comfortable.

What type of goal setter are you?
Do you set goals or resolutions every year and give up before January is out or sooner?  Or do you purposely not set goals because you don’t want to disappoint yourself?
Both situations result in stress, frustration no focus.  Not having a focus is giving up on what’s important to you and potentially going where others decide to take you.  Would you ever get into a taxi and say ‘Take me anywhere’?  Probably not, but by not setting goals that’s exactly what you are doing.

Some tips for making 2012 your best year yet.

1. Write down 3 areas in your life that are important to you.  This could be home, work, family, money, personal development, health and fitness.
2. Decide how you could make 2012 even better in each area.  Write down an outcome or goal for each area.
3. Now get started in each area, however small, just get going.  (Top tip – if you’re doing this before Christmas, start now!  By January you’ll be ahead of the game)
4. Do something every day towards your goals.
5. Sign up for my free newsletter, packed with tips, interviews and exercises all to help you reach your 2012 goals.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Ladies at 11 Conference 2011, speakers, back row l-r Tiffany St James, Dylis Guyan, Sue Bown, Carole Ann Rice, Laura Hart. Front row Sarah Martin. Picture courtesy http://samjhanamoon.com/

Is it possible to experience inspiration overload?  Because that’s how I felt when I left the 2011 Ladies at 11 Back to Business conference.  My head felt fit to burst with all of those highly charged particles and dollops of motivation that were ladled on us throughout the day.   The only way for me to sort myself out after this was to go for a run and if you know me, you’ll know that running is not a usual pastime.

What made it such a phenomenal event?   Given that last year there were only fifteen of us there; this year saw in excess of 80 delegates listening to an impressive line-up of high-profile speakers such as Penny Power, Rachel Elnaugh, Cara Sayer, Tiffany St James, Emma Wimhurst, Dylis Guyan, Carole Ann Rice and er… ME!

Carole Ann Rice, one of the UK’s leading life coaches and myself opened the day with a call to action.  Our message was simple:

1. You’re here, well done.  For many multi-tasking busy women just getting there was an achievement.
2. Pack away everything else and give yourself the time to enjoy the day with purpose.
3. Write down one goal that’s a BIG stretch, one that makes your toes curl!
4. Take ACTION!  Make it HAPPEN!

We were followed by Dylis Guyan from IncreaseYourSalesIn30Days.com  Dylis is a high-hitting Sales and Sales Management Coach.  With an impressive CV of sales successes Dylis shared top tips on how to increase your sales in a recession.  She dished out sensible, valuable advice and strategy that we all need. One fact stuck firmly in my head is 80% of sales are made in between the fifth to the 12^th contact.

Penny Power

After a quick networking coffee, Penny Power, founder of Ecademy took to the stage.  Penny captivated the audience with her passion for social media.  She told her story of success and how ‘through the keyboard’ we can all connect, share and turn contacts from stranger to friend to follower. Her story is indeed inspiring.  I loved her analogy about serendipitous moments that appear during your life that she called ‘random dots’ and how we should be looking out for them.  The standing ovation she received for her speech was well-deserved.

A relaxed Cara Sayer followed.  Cara, inventor of Snooze Shadeis a natural

Cara Sayer

speaker who spoke to our large group with such ease it was like she was chatting to us all as a friends.  She inspired us with wise words of advice and of how by focus, determination and making measured choices for her family, she has invented Snooze Shade. An award winning product to help babies sleep on the go.

Lunch was then served, Sandown Park, our conference venue provided a variety of delicious buffet choices.  Including some rather interesting desserts, which I’ve only just remembered and forgot to go back for!  There was networking to be done, lots of people to meet and catch up with.

Rachel Elnaugh

Ex-star of Dragon’s Den, Rachel Elnaugh opened the afternoon session.  Rachel, who founded Red Letter Days, shared her experiences of how a business can go from dream to nightmare.  Learning from her nightmare, Rachel has inspired countless business owners to create Business Magic.  Rachel told us we should each have a ‘seven second sizzle statement’.  To be able communicate the value of our business in just 7 seconds.

The arrival of Tiffany St Jamesto the stage piled on more inspiration, this time in

Tiffany St James

the fast-growing arena of social media.  Tiffany, former Head of Public Participation for the UK Government advised us how to using a digital strategy can impact and grow your business.  Did you know that London is the Twitter capital of the world?

Emma Wimhurst

Time for a welcome cuppa, and of course some much enjoyed networking.  After tea we were introduced to Emma Wimhurst, who became a self-made millionaire from the success of Diva Cosmetics.  Emma author of BOOM! a practical, no-nonsense business book inspired us with her story.  She talked us through her 7 Business Disciplines, a straightforward method to grow your business.  We also learned that 85% of business women don’t have a business plan, interestingly 95% of men don’t have one either.

Last, but of course, by no means least, Voice Coach, Laura Hart came to the stage.  Laura cleverly used examples from the day’s events to highlight how we can get the best from our presentations.  Laura, who works with blue chip organisations dished out tip after tip of how to make the best of your voice, your presentation and to communicate your business message best.

Do you see what I mean by inspiration overload?  My mind was brimming with ideas, thoughts, plans and more.  What I needed was time, time to get my thoughts together and start putting all this good stuff into action.

That’s exactly what I’ve done and I hope you have too.  And those toes are not curling quite as much as they were.

If you missed it, you missed a treat, looking forward to seeing you next year

Thanks to Samjhana Moon for taking pictures on the day and for supplying the picture for this article.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Louise Reynolds, Property Venture, busy working mum

I started my company Property Venture with a view to striking a positive work, family-life balance, as well as pursuing a passion in property. I had done all the city-commuting bit, doing a demanding job and still trying to have a family life, but cracks were starting to appear.

So Property Venture® was born, to make an ethical mark in the overseas property scene, operating a low overhead business model and allowing for home life. So,am I achieving it?

Well a typical, recent, Monday looks like this…

My alarm goes off at 6.40 a.m. but my alarm clock knows that there is a big difference between it going off and me getting up!  But, I am in action at 7.20 a.m. corralling, cajoling, chuntering and just generally getting the kids ready for school.

By the time I have dropped off at their schools at 8.25 a.m. and 8.35 a.m. respectively, I can be at my office desk at 8.45 a.m.  My low overhead business model means that my work is close to the childrens’ schools.

I check e-mails first thing to see if anything urgent needs to be dealt with and my Twitter Direct Messages, through my Hootsuite panel, as well as a whistle-stop at my Facebook Property Venture Company Page. When I first started using social media for business I was scared stiff about how much of my time it would sap away from doing productive, “hard-nosed”, work.  Now it has become part of my weekly routine and by using all the support tools, management suites and pre-saved tabs on my internet browser Firefox ( I find it more robust than Internet Explorer), I believe it has helped me become a more prolific and efficient business communicator.  This and property-forum posting have helped build the business profile on the property scene. I now have a following of over 1200 on Twitter (I like to think it’s because I have something valuable to say about property and investing, but it may be some people have nothing better to do…), and on LinkedIn and Facebook I have over 500 valuable connections respectively.

I try to limit my time on this so I can start with meaty projects.  It’s that time of month again…(no not that one…) when I send out my e-newsletter to my database.  I make sure I have all my Property Blogs and Press Room posts up to date (my latest mention has been in A Place in the Sun for my Turkish tips), as I feature them all in my newsletters. This mailing can be quick, or really time-consuming, depending on technology.  I use 1shoppingcart to manage my database and if I don’t work in the mornings, it chugs along more slowly when the USA wakes up in the afternoon.  Still, I console myself that last month’s newsletter got a promising 19% open rate, so there must be interest in all my latest tips on overseas property buying.

I manage to grab time to follow up on a Spanish property enquiry and have a conversation with the Spanish Lawyer I am working with to help people who have paid a deposit on an off-plan property, but have not got a finished property to show for it. This has hit a nerve for many, who have had a frustrating time dealing with this from afar.

I don’t usually take a lunch break, which is part of my way of extending my working day.  This is even better if the children have after-school clubs, so I don’t have to pick up until 4.15 p.m. I then get home and do a bit more work, although this isn’t a great way of making sure the children do their homework properly.  I have often found myself feeling guilty at Parents’ evening for not doing better at this!  Anyway, it seems a small price to pay for that ever-seemingly-elusive, work life balance.

Louise Reynolds is the Director at Property Venture® and would love to connect with other Business Ladies either through Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn

Property Venture® has been featured or mentioned in: The Sunday Times, The Times Online, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Independent on Sunday, Homes Magazine, HSBC Liquid Magazine, Easyjet Magazine, London Homes & Property, A Place in the Sun

If you would like to write about a day in your life and how you manage your own work/life balance, please get in touch with sue@thecoachingzone.co.uk.

admin

LK Bennett website

I am loving LK Bennett’s latest advertising campaign with it’s clever strapline ‘Life is the occasion’.  How often do you keep your best clothes, best attitude, or dare I say, best behaviour for special occasions only? 

Life IS the occasion.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Here I am inching along through my 30 day blog challenge.  I started off guns blazing and was managing to write a blog a day.  However, after a couple of weeks I made a decision to slow down, there were too many other things getting left behind so by the time I’ve finished it will be a 60+ day blog challenge.  Never mind, I’m determined to get there and I’m surprised to find I really am quite enjoying the process.

Thanks to all of you who have sent me comments and feedback on my blog, it’s lovely to receive your thoughts and insights into my writing.  It is much appreciated.

While we are on the subject, I’d like to know what you’d like to be reading about?  How can I help you?  What would you like me to cover in my blog posts? How can I help you to continue to be motivated, to develop new habits, to stretch yourselves and to reach your goals.  What are the challenges you face in your day to day life?  Let me know and over the next few weeks I will feature your selected subjects in my blog.

Be my guest. Also, I am keen to find more of you who would like to write ‘A Day in the Life’ for my blog, I already have received contributions from Zoe Brown, Bwebsites and Kathy Wright, Writewell Services, and of course I’ve written one myself.  Have a read of these to inspire you and if you fancy writing about a day in your life please get in touch.  The purpose of these ‘A Day In The Life’ blogs is to show how we all have our ways to balance our busy lives.  Also you can tell readers a little about what you do in your business, go on be bold, give it a try!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Top questions - picture courtesy of www.tvftdo.com

As a coach I ask a lot of questions, coaching is all about asking people questions that helps them think things through to enable them to progress, grow and reach their goals.  Sometimes the less I know about a client or their lives is better because then I ask the questions, that probably sound dumb, but makes a client fully think through what is going on in their life or business.

Funnily enough there are a great deal of questions I get asked too.  Here are the top 3 most popular questions right now:

How do I effectively manage my time?
This is a great question, because I have phases of being a bad manager of time.  I really enjoy having flexibility around my time, I like the feeling that I can choose to do what I want to do when I want to do it.  That’s great of course, up to a point.  There are many occasions where time has to be managed correctly, it helps with all sorts of things, getting things done for example .  Another  extremely vital reason is maintaining a good work/life balance.  Effective time management is something you can give to yourself.  Start by making some small changes, if you like flexibility give yourself some managed time and some unmanaged time.  Break tasks down into small steps, give yourself some deadlines.  Notice what works best for you and keep doing it.

How can I make sure I change my life?
Many people considering coaching are nervous about whether they can change or not.  They disbelieve that they’ve got what it takes to make the changes they want in their life to reach their goals.  My advice is to get started, we all learned to do things and to create patterns in our lives, the knowledge that we did learn is the proof that we can un-learn it too.  Human beings are creatures of habit, start gradually changing those habits and beliefs and you’ll get there.

My partner needs coaching how can I convince them?
This question comes up a great deal.  First thing to consider is how would you feel if the boot was on the other foot and your partner was suggesting you did something.  What would it be and how would you react?  Lose weight, give up smoking, take more exercise, get a new job.  It’s easy to find reasons why others should do something and not always easy to do something for yourself.  I believe the need for coaching has to come from within.  If it doesn’t then any reluctance will cause the coaching to not be as effective.  Step one is to see what changes you could make for yourself, maybe you could change your reaction to your partner, maybe just stopping the nagging could help.   By starting to do something for yourself could be the catalyst to help your partner get started themselves.

I hope you’ve found these questions useful, if you have any comments please use the comments section on this page, I’d love to hear from you.

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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A new leaf? Picture courtesy of www.tvftdo.com

Having seen all the recent activity on my blog, one of my lovely clients asked if she could submit a blog giving an account of her personal coaching journey.  I know she has come such a long way and got a great deal from her coaching.  She has done this with focus and very impressive determination.  I am flattered by what she says and I am delighted she wants to share her story.

“I started my coaching with Sue in April 2008.  Initially, I was seeking help with my work life balance.  Once I began my sessions I could see how closely connected all areas of life are and how it’s hard therefore to discuss them independently – hence the title “Life Coaching”!

Life coaching with Sue has made a real difference to me. I have been able to look at my responses and  reactions to situations and take greater responsibility for my actions and decisions. This has enabled me to feel calmer and more in control of my life.  Coaching is powerful because through careful questioning it leads to finding solutions from within yourself.  Coaching is all about finding clarity and moving forward.

Sue has walked alongside me through a range of issues –  from time management, issues at work to more personal issues of communication within relationships and even enabling me to face a real fear and anxiety about driving.

Throughout, Sue has challenged and supported me.  It has been an incredible journey (quite literally with the driving!). I have learnt alot about myself and made valuable life changes.  Life Coaching is a real personal investment..  I have learnt the importance of making and taking time to look at my life.  It is not indulgent, it is a necessity if we wish to give and be our best not only to ourselves, but to those we live and work with.

Of course, the real success lies in finding and working with the right coach. I count myself very fortunate to have met Sue and to have had the opportunity to work with her. Sue offers more than just the ability and skills needed to be a coach.  Sue is compassionate and has a real commitment to her role as well as great intuition.    I met Sue at a time when I really needed help and guidance.  I can really see the difference between how I handled things before coaching and now.  With Sue I have found clarity, contentment and a feeling that whatever happens I “can handle it”.

This is priceless.  Life Coaching with Sue is a present to myself – and what a gift it is.”

Find out more about how life coaching can help you.
Free your mind – Live your life, free email coaching programme

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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While we’re on the subject what is intuition?  The definition in the Free Online Dictionary is:

Intuition
1. a. The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition.

b. Knowledge gained by the use of this faculty; a perceptive insight.

2. A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression.

We all have intuition, the problem is that not everyone believes it, trusts it or knows how to notice it.

So how do you trust your intuition?  Think back to times in your life when you’ve made exactly the right decision.  How did you do it?   Did you feel it, see it, smell it, hear it, taste it or just know it.  You may have had a ‘gut feeling’ or an ‘inner knowing’ or something that you know in your heart or your head.  We all experience our intuition in different ways.  Start to recognise how you made these right decisions and get familiar with your thought processes and feelings.  Soon you will notice how to make the best decisions for you.

I read this heartfelt letter written by Cindy Eve to her ex-son in law on the day of the decree absolute of her daughter Cemanthe Harris’ divorce.  In the letter she writes “I will never forgive myself for not speaking up”.  Clearly, Cindy felt at the time of the marriage something wasn’t right and she chose not to say anything.  She noticed her intuition yet didn’t take action, I am sure she did this at the time with the positive intention of it being in her daughter’s interest.  For that reason I hope she does forgive herself.  Cemanthe will emerge from this time in her life with renewed strength and confidence, she already is doing that by growing a fantastic online social media company.  I wish them both well.

Have a read of Cindy’s remarkable letter.

I would love to hear about times when you’ve trusted your intuition, please feel free to comment below.

Previous blogs
Where it all began – good decisions
Would you buy more time?
Sarah Martin – aiming high and far
A Day in the Life
How do I indentify my target market?
How changing your view can reinvent your life

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Change is an interesting subject isn’t it?  It happens to us all, do you embrace it or fight it?  A blog post by Lisa Cherry, Holistic Health on this very subject caught my eye recently.

The blog post is appropriately called The Cycle Of Life.  Inspired by the popular John Lewis TV advertisement, Lisa contemplates how we learn as we go through life and how with the benefit of hindsight we can laugh at events and enjoy our lives.

It made me think about how so many of us fight change, yet with the cycle of life, how can we avoid change?  We are all changing, evolving in our own lives.  Perhaps it’s time to stop fighting, enjoy the moment and in doing so enjoy the precious time of our lives.  What do you think?

Read Lisa’s blog

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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Our wedding - a good decision

Once upon a time there was a very frustrated, unhappy, unfulfilled person working in a very good job in sales and marketing for a large international airline.  My life was not as I’d have liked it to have been.  I had only been married for two years and during that time my Golf Pro husband, David took Mondays and Tuesdays off, I was off Saturdays and Sundays.  I was working long hours and it wasn’t working for me and my life.  Then the company I worked for offered voluntary redundancy packages and I applied.  Part of me wanted them to turn down my application and the other ‘brave’ part was desperate for them to say ‘yes’.  When they did say ‘yes’, the brave part of me suddenly turned into the ‘not so brave’ and it took a good number of  sleepless nights to begin to get used to the idea.

Did I have a plan of what I was going to do – No

Did I realise what it all entailed – No

Did I give much thought to what I was going to live on – No

A couple of months later, I left my cosseted corporate life.  Gulp!   I say cosseted, I didn’t realise that at the time.  I took my monthly paycheck, my company car, my company phone, my private health insurance for granted.  I didn’t realise what it was like to be out there on your own without the big company name behind you.

The day after I left I remember going to my golf club, texting all my friends, basically bragging about where I was and what I was doing.  This was the life!   I was going to play golf every day, spend time lunching with friends and have a good time.  Which to begin with I did.  As time passed I realised there was more to life than golfing and lunching, also I needed to start earning some money.

By chance, I met a lady who was training to be a life coach, she was looking for practice clients.  Her offer couldn’t have come at a better time.  Her advert said ‘Are you at a crossroads?’   I felt I was at a crossroads, the lights had broken and were stuck on STOP.  Working with her was one of the best decisions I have made, finding out about coaching and what it could do opened my eyes to me and to my life.  In fact, I enjoyed working with her so much that I decided to do the Life Coaching course too.  The decision was that unscientific.

I immersed myself into the course, I loved every minute of it.  I learnt so much about me, my personality, others personalities, communicating, achieving, having a choice, goal-setting and so much more.  I appreciate you shouldn’t look back with regret, but I should have done it years before.  However, on further reflection I probably wouldn’t have taken it seriously.  Being that bit older gave me the wisdom to see coaching for what it is – brilliant and life changing!

In the time since I trained, I have set up my own coaching business, The Coaching Zone.  I work with clients on work/life balance issues, on setting goals and targets in their businesses,  I work with corporate clients on improving communication, getting better jobs and lots more.

My clients have achieved improved business revenue by 300%, redundancy avoidance, redundancy survival, saved marriages, weight loss, promotion, the list goes on.

And me, well I’ve discovered talents I didn’t know I had, I’ve amazed myself with my achievements,  I have days off with my husband, I enjoy my golf and I’m happy!

So that’s how it all began, four years ago.  Leaving my job, studying to be a coach are some of the best decisions I have ever made in my life, oh and marrying my husband!  Funny how the best decisions I make are taken with not too much thought.

A Day in the Life – Zoe Brown
Keep on running – The Martin sisters complete their challenge
Would you buy more time?
Sarah Martin – aiming high and far
A Day in the Life
How do I indentify my target market?
How changing your view can reinvent your life

Sue Bown

Works with businesses and individuals to get better results, more efficiency, less stress AND more success. I play golf too, especially in the sun!

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