Posts Tagged ‘business solutions’

I suppose that’s quite a revealing question – particularly about my current business position! And, although I’m not particularly being kept awake at night I am increasingly finding that I am constantly thinking about and planning for the business.

I recently launched my new website, created for me by the wonderful Sergio at The Web Showroom. And, whilst I am thrilled with the results and have received nothing but positive feedback for the website, I had hoped that once the process of rebranding was over things would settle down nicely and I could continue to focus on my work.

But, as business owners what is our work? Is it the skill we have for what we physically do for a job, in my case PR and business communication, or is it something much bigger than that? Read the rest of this entry »

At last night’s Working Women’s Network event on Speed Thinking Dr Ken Hudson managed to entertain as well as inform us about how valuable speed thinking can be for your business.

Ken’s keynote was one I’ve been looking to for a while but I didn’t expect to enjoy it quite as much as I did.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, Speed Thinking is a concept developed by Ken after his research seemed to demonstrate that people are more creative when they are forced to produce ideas in a limited amount of time. You can see more information about his findings over on his website.

When I was preparing the press release for this network event I was intrigued by how this could help me with my business and decided to see if I could make it work for me.

Ken’s theory sets a goal of coming up with 9 ideas in 2 minutes for whatever the problem, issue or challenge you have to find a solution to.

So, I decided to have a go. When you have to write articles, press releases, copy or plan publicity and PR campaigns, like with anything else I imagine, the hardest thing is to get going. By clearing the mind of all the unnecessary clutter at the beginning, asking yourself a simple question and coming up with 9 quick answers is quite liberating.

However, I am yet to make it my friend. As Ken demonstrated last night, getting out of the old “filtering” habits of second –guessing every idea you have or answer you give, is actually quite hard to do. I failed miserably in both of the excercises where I had to come up with the 9 “answers”.

But, I won’t despair yet. All day, when I have had to tackle a new idea, or even when driving to collect the children and I have a new thought, I have wondered what 9 ways I could tackle it! And, despite being hopeless at producing 9 pearls of wisdom in two minutes (well, actually he gave us 30 seconds!) I was heartened by the fact that, when working with another network member, Julie Mackay of MPathic, in one of Ken’s experiments, we found a fantastic way that we can work together for the benefit of each other’s clients in the future.

The whiteboard is now my friend and I will keep practising until I can rid myself of the habit of worrying about the immediate fruits of my thoughts and realise that random thoughts can be the most powerful and can also be fine-tuned into something magnificent later.

Today I receoved the first draft of my new website from The Web Showroom and I think this is the perfect opportunity to put speed thinking into operation. My first impressions were favourable to say the least but, if I were completely happy with the first rendition I think the designer would have to be given a knighthood. So, I’m going to ask myself several questions about the site (eg. What 9 things would improve the look of the site) and see what I come up with. It’s a very exciting experiment, not least because I hope that it will produce the perfect website that reflects exactly what I want to convey to my clients. I have to say, it should be a relatively easy task because it isn’t too far off now.

And, in preparation for next week’s Working Women’s Network workshop on Negotiation Skills with Jack Fraenkel, here’s my speed thinking take on what makes good negotiation skills:

Openness

Generosity

Kindness

Listening

Hearing

Observing

Talking

Smiling

Friendliness

I wonder how I’ll do?! J

Until next time.

Karen

Karen Morris is the Working Womens Network media officer. She runs Inscriptions, a copywriting and PR Consultancy, is a contributor to Flying Solo and is a wife and mother to three active boys. She loves life and work and has an insatiable appetite to learn all things new, especially all things 2.0.

Well, its official, I’m about to take off! After spending an hour or so nodding furiously (in agreement!) during Linda Hailey’s keynote presentation at the Working Women’s Network Event last Tuesday night there was nothing for it but to buy Linda’s book, Your Business, Your Future, and head home for some serious research.

I have been feeling a growing sense of excitement, mixed with trepidation, for at least six months (and possibly more without realising it) thanks to the growing success of my business. Hearing Linda speak last week confirmed my assessment, following her business timeline survey, that my business had reached take-off mode. Excellent news! But, for those of you who were either at the event, or have read Linda’s book, you will not be surprised to know that I should really be making moves to head off to sleep right now instead of blogging about my business!

For the uninitiated, especially the start-ups out there, Take-Off time is a period of frantic activity that produces more clients than you can seem to shake a stick at, not that you would really want to do that obviously, combined with the fact that you can’t seem to stop having ‘brilliant ideas’ to take your business forward.

Having now read Linda’s assessment of MY business, because obviously she has had a fly on the wall in my office to see exactly how I am operating, I am now ready to take the business forward. But, although it seems to be champing at the bit and prepared to run away with me, I now feel prepared to put the brakes on a little and make some time to seriously consider my options for the coming months.

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, I am currently going through a rebranding process to incorporate the expansion of what I offer to my clients (yes, she even knew about that too!) and I am starting to rely on the expertise of other professionals for several aspects of my business, which allows me to do what I am good at. This also means I can take a step back, breathe in deeply and consider planning some solid systems, procedures and philosophies that will shape my business for the future in terms of ideal clients and personnel that will help me get there.

So, the coming months will see me spending a considerable amount of time researching, learning, listening and planning so that I can maintain my momentum without getting lost in the maze of mountains of new work that my recent efforts have produced.

Once again, my networking philosophy has paid dividends. I chose Linda’s event because I knew I needed some guidance to steer my business through the turbulent times I am currently experiencing and, once again, I ended up with more than I had planned for. Linda’s insights, both during her presentation, and from her book, have not only helped me with my own business planning, but, during a lightbulb moment on the night, provided me with an idea of how to refine my services towards my clients’ needs.

So, no matter what stage of business you find yourself in. I highly recommend you check out the Working Women’s Network website for the PowerPoint presentation from the evening, as well as visiting Linda’s website to grab yourself a copy of Your Business, your Future, and prepare yourself for the bumpy ride ahead. Buckle-up, it’s going to be fun!

Until next time.

Karen

Karen Morris is the Working Womens Network media officer. She runs Inscriptions, a copywriting and PR Consultancy, is a contributor to Flying Solo and is a wife and mother to three active boys. She loves life and work and has an insatiable appetite to learn all things new, especially all things 2.0.