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Read all about it!
My last post was all about the Entrepreneur’s Convention and how motivated I was when I came back.
Just to prove this was so I thought I would base this blog on my journey writing a newsletter for the first time, and what I got out of it.
I gave myself four days to get it in the post, because I was due to go away for a long weekend with my mum for her birthday on the Thursday morning and I knew that if I waited until I came back momentum would be lost.
I had no idea what tool to use as I didn’t have Microsoft Publisher as part of my Office package – and Publisher was the only tool I knew. After some research we found Swift Publisher 3. This tool was relatively inexpensive ($18 I think) but had the professional look I was after. Package bought and downloaded it was time to think of a theme and title.
After much head scratching my hubby came up with a great title. As my blog is Bright Business Thoughts how about Bright Business Bulletin? Perfect!!
Then it was a case of using branding and pictures I already had on my website to give the right look and feel.
Content was the next issue. As the newsletter is for clients and other good business contacts it is important to me that they get value from the newsletter. It is not to be about me but about other interesting businesses and with useful tips and advice.
The Entrepreneur’s Convention was an ideal lead article as it was topical and of interest to an audience of entrepreneurs and business people.
The rest of the newsletter was filled with regular features I plan to run each month: A quote from that great business guru Winnie the Pooh; a slot with our financial agony aunt Jenny; Michael’s minutes where Michael gives us a quick tip on time management; dates for your diary; and a community section featuring a great business; someone who has helped me in the month and a partner of the month (someone I recommend).
I have had some good feedback so hopefully it is the right mix of content and entertainment.
I met my ‘in the post’ target – just!
By the end of Monday I had the newsletter at the printers, the envelopes ordered and the stamps bought. By the end of Tuesday I had the list of recipients prepared and labels printed. The envelopes arrived Wednesday pm so I was able to label and fill them before popping them in the post by 6pm Wednesday evening.
So what did I learn? Firstly, you can achieve a lot when you give yourself a deadline – even if the tight schedule meant a typo missed editorship! Secondly, a good tool takes a lot of the stress away from doing a project. And thirdly, I am very lucky to have a husband who is very good at graphics and is happy to help!
Fiona 🙂
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it!
We are guests of honour!
These are the immortal words of Bananarama (or Nigel Botterill this weekend).
27th-28th September saw the first annual Entrepreneurs’ Convention at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre. Conference organiser Nigel Botterill is by any definition a very successful entrepreneur himself and the aim of the convention was to impart some of the knowledge and tools which have helped him build 8 £1m businesses in 7 years.
I went with Helen Lacey of Redberry Recruitment and we came back incredibly motivated with a box of tools we can implement in our businesses straight away. My new newsletter – Bright Business Bulletin – is a direct result of this new found zeal.
Nigel himself is a little like marmite (I am sure he won’t mind me saying that his approach is either inspiring or irritating), but it is hard to deny the relevance and effectiveness of his message to business owners who truly want to build the best businesses they can.
In Nigel’s words ‘Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t…so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.’
Whether we think of ourselves as ‘entrepreneurs’ or not, if we employ people or if we want our business to have a value, even when we are not working in it ourselves, we do need to think entrepreneurially.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see so many familiar faces. In a hall of over 1300 entrepreneurs from all over the country, there were 11 people I already knew. So Kim, Antony, Jonathan, Helen, Carly, Sanjeev, Fiona, Liz, Mary, Mark, John and Cynthia I hope you are all working on the nuggets you took away.
A key nugget for me was that speed is the key to growing a business. Money loves speed, speed attracts talent, talent drives innovation and innovation drives value. As the key is to minimise the gap between the idea and the action, I need to be quicker to get started on, and implement, the ideas I have for my business.
The highlight of the convention was Sir Chris Hoy. He gave an excellent talk about what it took for him to win 6 gold medals over 3 Olympic Games (not to mention world championships and Commonwealth gold medals). The type of dedication he needed, and the physical training he had to put his body through, to get to his end goals was truly inspiring.
We will certainly be going to next year’s convention and I recommend it to any business owner who is serious about growing their business. The dates for your diary are 21st-22nd October 2014.
fiona 🙂
Feed your innovative soul!
I am getting very excited about going to the Entrepreneurs’ convention at the Birmingham International Convention centre next week.
I am going along primarily to support a client for whom it will be excellent but I cannot help thinking I will get a terrific amount out of it too.
The programme over the two days looks exhausting and very interesting. As well as covering areas I am pretty comfortable with I am sure I will be taken well out of my comfort zone as well.
I think this is really important!
As business people we cannot afford to get stuck in a rut. We need to continue to be innovative if we want our businesses to be successful in the future – the only way to be innovative is to keep the inquisitive and inquiring sides of our brains exercised.
Meeting new and interesting people can also trigger leaps in creativity. Just talking to successful people can lead us to reach for goals we previously thought were unobtainable – because if they can do it why can’t I?
This is why I think training whether it is in the form of attending conventions and conferences such as the one above, or individual seminars and workshops; reading books or magazine articles; or just taking note of the things around us that we can emulate, is vital to any business owner.
The cost to your business could be the couple of hundred pounds it costs to do the training, or the thousands of pounds it could cost your business because you DON’T do it!
Fiona 🙂
Fiona Bevan Financial Management
Business Accountant 