MBlog*

_{The world of business is a busy one.  With so many businesses of all shapes and sizes doing their thing, we can easily fall into the trap of worrying about the competition.}

_{I often hear concerns along the lines of "there are so many other, often more experienced/established, businesses out there doing the same thing, why would anyone choose to work with me?".}

_{This can also be accompanied by concerns around "what if somebody copies me or steals my ideas or content?"}

_{Let's think about coffee shops...}

_{If you've ever visited London, you'll know there is literally a coffee shop on every street corner.  In fact, in most shopping areas of London every third or fourth shop is a coffee shop!}

_{We could wonder how they all survive.  After all, coffee is just coffee, right?  They all have access to the same coffee beans and supplies of milk.  So how can so many coffee shops all offering the same thing, survive - let alone thrive - on the same highstreet?}

_Firstly,...

I see so many business owners struggling with marketing and knowing how to get paying clients, and I'm passionate about changing that - helping female entrepreneurs nail what I call Authentic Marketing in way that will have clients seeking them out.

In this blog series, I cover the 14 biggest mistakes business owners make when it comes to marketing and what they can do to avoid them.

So, here's marketing mistake #1...

#1 - Not having the right ingredients in the kitchen
Imagine for a moment that brilliant Marketing, is like baking a scrumptious cake that's irresistable to your ideal clients.  There are people out there craving your unique cake that's going to satisfy their hunger and once they've had a taste, they'll want to keep coming back for more.

So you're in the kitchen, ready to get baking.

You've got your personnalised recipe that, step by step, is going to create your scrumptious cake.

You've got the tools and equipment you need to make it happen.

But before you can get...

In this week's blog, discover the essentials of Authentic Marketing - what it is, why it's important for you and your business and how strong authentic marketing foundations will have clients seeking you out.

The Struggle

Marketing and the ability to get clients is the bit I see women in business struggling with the most - even those who are amazing at what they do or have a fantastic product still struggle.

Marketing can definitely become the ‘black hole’ in your business - an area that sucks up all your time, energy and the will to carry on. It can seem overwhelming, never-ending and often very unfair when we simply don’t seem to be able to get the clients regardless of how good we are or how hard we try to find them.

In the business world, I ‘grew up’ in marketing - it was my favourite specialism in my business degree, it’s where my career began, and I was an approved advisor on the Government’s Growth Voucher scheme advising small...

What does 'more' success mean to you?

Perhaps if we spoke to each of you and got you to speak frankly and honestly about what you would like more of in your business, and boiled everything right down, we might here things like…

More results!

or

A bigger impact.

Or, more clients.

Or, more money.

Or, a combination, or all, of the above.

Oh, and by the way, I want to achieve it all while enjoying a fantastic quality of family and personal life in the process.

And of course if you choose to invest in something like a business accelerator programme, it's because you want to fast-track your journey in achieving all of the above.

Does that sum it up in a nutshell?

That’s great!

Don’t be shy!  We know many heart-cantered, passionate, purpose-led business owners (that’s us here at Mpower too), can feel a bit uncomfortable saying loud and proud that we want more – more clients, more money and more time to enjoy it all.

We don’t want to come across as...

Claire Taylor shares her story of how just taking part in the Mpower National Business Awards changed everything...

Learn more about the awards - www.mpowerawards.com

A few months ago, The Independant, Indy/Best took on the task of reviewing the best books for new entrepreneurs, Jenna Farmer says "my search was overwhelmed by the staggering ratio of books written by men in this sphere compared to women. Whilst I did discover some gems, they were few and far between. Indeed, as I look at Amazon’s business books bestseller list, only three of the top 20 business books are authored by females.

There’s no doubt the male-authored books I discovered still made a great read, but they lacked many aspects of business that are important to women: yes, we are all about progression and leadership; but what about alternative careers, passion projects, maternity leave, flexible working, working from home, juggling motherhood, dealing with male-dominated workplaces and making yourself heard?"  says Jenna.

"With that in mind, I took on the challenge to discover the best business books written by women. The books that go beyond the...

UK pioneering community, Mpower for mums in business, announced the launch of the Mpower National Business awards to recognise and celebrate what it truly takes to ‘make it’ as a mum in the first four years of starting and growing a business.

Over 100 Mums in business have been nominated for a New National Award launched by Mpower... and there are still 2 more weeks to go!

• April is nominations month for the Mpower National Business Awards, shortlist to be announced on 24 May 2018.
• Finals gala to take place on Saturday 23 June 2018 at the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury in London.

These awards seek out and champion seemingly ordinary women, in the first four years of building a business and raising a family, whose courage, passion, creativity, commitment and vision has helped them to take a leap of faith, overcome obstaclesand start and grow a business facing the unique constraints and challenges of also being a full-time parent.

“There are a lot of awards out there, and...

IMPORTANT CHANGES IN DATA PROTECTION LAW happening in 2018 which relate to us all.

Heard about GDPR? Wondering what it's all about and if it affects you?

There could be big sanctions for business owners who do not comply.

So if you're wondering if this is relevant to you...if you have an email list, then this is something you need to become aware of and make sure you get compliant...

Here's the link to the free GDPR course I refer to in my video - https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/general-data-protection-regulation

And here is the link to the article on the IPO (Information Commissionner's Office) website - https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr

If you were a shape, which shape would you be? I’d probably be a ‘heart’. When it boils down to it, life to me is all about love. Those who know me well and follow me on social media know I put hearts all over the place, it’s a bit of a trademark!

What about if I asked you to pick a shape that represented business? That’s a tricky one…

My business shape would be the yin and yang symbol.

I believe that to be truly successful in business requires both inner resources and external resources.

True business success starts with who you are, not what you do.

How did I come to such a game-changing level of awareness?

When I was 24 years old, I had an American boss, Carolyn Wilson, to whom I will be eternally grateful. I’m not sure even to this day if she understands the profound impact she had on my life. One day she gave me a gift - a book. Reading The Alchemist, by Paulo Cohello, planted a seed which would quickly grow into a lifelong interest in...

A letter the old lady wished someone had written to her when she felt unsure, doubted herself or times got tough!
**************
Dear younger self,

I want to start by saying thank you, and there are so many things I want to thank you for.

Firstly, thank you for being you and for finally believing in yourself. I know the road hasn’t always been easy, but thank you for trusting in your ability to get through the tough bits. It’s only now that we look back, that you can understand how those tough times were also a necessary part of the journey. Only those challenges could help you to become who you needed to become on the inside, in order take on the mission of pursuing and receiving the stuff of your dreams.

I also want to say thank you for seeing the bigger picture of your life and not getting swayed from your own path. I know how easy it would have been to get sucked into living a life based on other people’s expectations and doing things the way others do it, but...