As its the New Year and I have a book out soon I thought I would get a new blog going. I will no longer be adding blogs to this site. Please now visit my blog at:
http://www.businessinredshoes.co.uk/
Thanks Rebecca
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Friday, 24 December 2010
Merry Christmas to you all
To all my friends, colleagues and clients I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a great New Year. To those of you I have been unable to catch up with recently lets make plans for 2011. For those who have been part of this busy but exciting year for me thank you as always for your support.
I know your all busy today dashing about making sure Christmas with your family will be perfect and I do hope that it is. All this snow has I know made life difficult recently but enjoy some time to relax with your family and friends. Don't forget to take this down time to review the last year in business and plan for 2011.
And finally my book 'Business in Red Shoes' will be available for pre-order shortly on Amazon along with a new coaching programme for women business owners in early 2011. Keep in touch and lets make 2011 your best business year yet.
Merry Christmas / Nadolig Llawen
Rebecca Jones - The Red Shoe Biz Woman
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Apprentice winner – working mum of two – Stella English
It would seem Stella has stamped all over the belief that women don’t take risks and that mothers usually stick to the job they have rather than move on to a more unsettled role while the children are young. However that seems exactly what she has done, take a risk, leave her employer and move into a new sector to try out a boss and company who may or may not suit her and her family needs. Yet Stella herself suggests that 'You know the thing about employing a mother – is that we stay in, we look after our kids. We’re reliable – you can’t risk losing your job because you have other people to consider.’
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| Stella and Chris make it to the final |
It’s not difficult to agree with so many of my friends and colleagues that Stella was a worthy winner. She remained cool and calm under pressure, organised feuding teams and generally threw herself into the process. For much of the process Stella has been determined and very focused yet all along she was juggling her role as a mother as well as a candidate. After winning Stella said: ‘As a mother you just think about your kids. They are the most important thing. I hope I have shown that you can be a woman, a mother and be in business and do well”.
It would seem Stella has stamped all over the belief that women don’t take risks and that mothers usually stick to the job they have rather than move on to a more unsettled role while the children are young. However that seems exactly what she has done, take a risk, leave her employer and move into a new sector to try out a boss and company who may or may not suit her and her family needs. Yet Stella herself suggests that 'You know the thing about employing a mother – is that we stay in, we look after our kids. We’re reliable – you can’t risk losing your job because you have other people to consider.’
| Stella and new boss Lord Sugar |
Stella has demonstrated that as women and mothers we can step up to a new challenge without being distracted by the day to day needs of our family. And what does Stella put it all down to ‘I have been a working mother for a long time now and it does take a lot to keep everything going. I am very lucky because my fiancé has been a great support to me. It is about being organised.’
Stella’s organisational skills will no doubt be stretched in 2011 but I have no doubt that she will manage to combine her role with Lord Sugar as well as her role as a mum. Her children will admire there mum and all she has achieved and wow what an excellent role model she is. Showing that determination, drive and a lot of hard work does pay off.
Good luck Stella, enjoy your success.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Job cuts in public sector could see more women considering self-employment
Deb Leary OBE is the president of the British Association for Women Entrepreneurs. She believes that the cuts in national spending could see more women turn to business start up. Speaking recently about the public sector spending cuts and likely redundancies she said “Its going to be hard for some but one of the key things about this is that it is also an opportunity; it may be an opportunity towards self employment”.With unemployment among women rising in the last quarter of 2010 to 31,000, the opportunities for those seeking new posts are likely to be limited. In addition women who, in the words of Deb Leary, “are a resourceful bunch”, may see this as the final push towards making their business start up dreams a reality. With some limited cash in hand from their meagre redundancy pay out, it is likely that women will use it to start up a small or home based business. Making income generation their own responsibility, and cutting their ties to employers for ever.
With higher than ever visitor numbers to my web site, and other resources for women in business and mumpreneurs, it seems more and more women are turning to themselves to provide job security going forward into 2011.
Watch this space, and Twitter for my new business start up coaching programme to get you and your business off to a fab start in 2011.
Know your audience well and offer them what they want – it usually leads to success - The Apprentice Week 6 – Advertising
The big give away of this week’s task must have been the location for Lord Sugars revel. Pinewood studios - to you and I the location for films such as James Bond and Harry Potter - to Sandeesh, the furniture showroom people! Really Sandeesh, I know I always say entrepreneurs don’t need qualifications, but an ounce of common sense and general knowledge helps!
As often happens, the candidates spent plenty of time on their own egos and personal desires when considering the product. When will they learn to always offer what the customer wants. This lack of consideration saw Stuart’s team left with the challenge of selling motor racing experiences to toddlers!
The girls on Stuart’s team rose to the challenge, and even managed to get him to believe it was his idea to sell to children. Yep, a definite female male manipulation skill demonstrated there. Well done girls, your customer focused thinking, and powers of persuasion with Stuart, led the team to victory. Even with his appalling communication and leadership styles. I think the girls should have had an additional treat for keeping their patience with him!
Interestingly, the winning team upped their price from £10 to £15 during the day, while the losing team slashed theirs from £12 to just £8. All the prices were plucked from thin air, and had no thought behind them of the audience and what was realistic. But it was Sandeesh’s team who made the least profit and therefore saw them return to the board room. Her weak leadership and poor decision making saw her become this weeks board room casualty.
From this week we can learn the importance of knowing your market and understanding your pricing in relation to your customers.
Daft saying of the week comes from Stuart – “I like adrenaline… why be boring that’s for someone else to do … I want every day to be jam packed with fun” – this from a man in a corporate suit who treats his team like kids. Yep, fun fun fun!
As often happens, the candidates spent plenty of time on their own egos and personal desires when considering the product. When will they learn to always offer what the customer wants. This lack of consideration saw Stuart’s team left with the challenge of selling motor racing experiences to toddlers!
The girls on Stuart’s team rose to the challenge, and even managed to get him to believe it was his idea to sell to children. Yep, a definite female male manipulation skill demonstrated there. Well done girls, your customer focused thinking, and powers of persuasion with Stuart, led the team to victory. Even with his appalling communication and leadership styles. I think the girls should have had an additional treat for keeping their patience with him!
Interestingly, the winning team upped their price from £10 to £15 during the day, while the losing team slashed theirs from £12 to just £8. All the prices were plucked from thin air, and had no thought behind them of the audience and what was realistic. But it was Sandeesh’s team who made the least profit and therefore saw them return to the board room. Her weak leadership and poor decision making saw her become this weeks board room casualty.
From this week we can learn the importance of knowing your market and understanding your pricing in relation to your customers.
Daft saying of the week comes from Stuart – “I like adrenaline… why be boring that’s for someone else to do … I want every day to be jam packed with fun” – this from a man in a corporate suit who treats his team like kids. Yep, fun fun fun!
Friday, 19 November 2010
Gut feelings are important, but base them on fact -The Apprentice Week 5- Fashion
The world of fashion is a more complex business than it appears. From the moment Lord Sugar announced the task you had a feeling this was going to be a tricky task. Without the luxury of time to actually research the market place its obviously difficult to select the two designers. However instinct should tell them that its likely to be easier to sell the cheaper ranges than the top end stuff, especially when you have no customer base to start from.
I’m known for getting business owners to consider their gut instinct more often, but, those gut feelings are usually based on some knowledge of the business you are in and it was obvious from some of the decisions made that few of the candidates had knowledge of retail and fashion. Other than Alex, who chose to pop his head over the parapet and announce his retail guru status, and what’s more his in depth knowledge of the location for the task ‘The Trafford Centre’. Do these guys not watch previous episodes when these promises of insider knowledge and higher level expertise regularly comes back to bite them in the board room?
Lord Sugars aide Nick (my favourite in all this) likened Stella standing in the shop window with a short sparkly dress on as similar to the ladies seen in windows in Amsterdam. Don’t you just know that will be used against her in the future, and didn’t she think, when she was stood awkwardly waving, just how it would look on TV?
Chris seemed to excel at selling clothes to women. He is a bit of a smoothy and could be worth keeping an eye on for the future. Paloma, on the other hand, sealed her own fate by her outburst in the board room; very ugly, unladylike and unprofessional. Sir Alan you were right to let her go.
Daft saying of the week came from Alex, the retail expert, who stood outside the shop with a limp sweater on a hanger asking random passers by “What do you think of this jumper, do you like it” odd they replied “not really”. Oh Alex you didn’t listen to your famous retail professor!
I’m known for getting business owners to consider their gut instinct more often, but, those gut feelings are usually based on some knowledge of the business you are in and it was obvious from some of the decisions made that few of the candidates had knowledge of retail and fashion. Other than Alex, who chose to pop his head over the parapet and announce his retail guru status, and what’s more his in depth knowledge of the location for the task ‘The Trafford Centre’. Do these guys not watch previous episodes when these promises of insider knowledge and higher level expertise regularly comes back to bite them in the board room?
Lord Sugars aide Nick (my favourite in all this) likened Stella standing in the shop window with a short sparkly dress on as similar to the ladies seen in windows in Amsterdam. Don’t you just know that will be used against her in the future, and didn’t she think, when she was stood awkwardly waving, just how it would look on TV?
Chris seemed to excel at selling clothes to women. He is a bit of a smoothy and could be worth keeping an eye on for the future. Paloma, on the other hand, sealed her own fate by her outburst in the board room; very ugly, unladylike and unprofessional. Sir Alan you were right to let her go.
Daft saying of the week came from Alex, the retail expert, who stood outside the shop with a limp sweater on a hanger asking random passers by “What do you think of this jumper, do you like it” odd they replied “not really”. Oh Alex you didn’t listen to your famous retail professor!
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
BOOK REVIEW How they Blew it – Jamie Oliver and Tony Goodwin
This book looks at 16 entrepreneurs and CEO’s (one per chapter) who have been involved in some of the most catastrophic business failures. Most tales explain how they have built up vast empires, often from nothing, only to lose it all again, frequently in moments of weakness or possible madness.
Whilst I found this book interesting from the angle that someone had researched the way in which each of the entrepreneurs featured had made and lost their fortunes I found it a bit lacking in actual insider knowledge or real understanding of why these men did what they did. I was left wondering what, other than shock value, this book had to offer me as a learning tool. I had hoped it would explain more about what makes entrepreneurs take unreasonable risks and how others can save themselves from similar fates.
It did however cement in my mind that even the most intelligent people can become swept up in the moment. Believing they are invincible and that it is their business skills alone which has seen them get this far; leading them to believe that any business they touch will be a success. The book demonstrates, as I have seen before, that success in one field does not guarantee success in another.
Would I recommend this book? Well yes actually. Its an easy and interesting read, which you can dip in and out of, but its let down by its lack of reflective learning, although perhaps great to make you feel better about your own success.
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Whilst I found this book interesting from the angle that someone had researched the way in which each of the entrepreneurs featured had made and lost their fortunes I found it a bit lacking in actual insider knowledge or real understanding of why these men did what they did. I was left wondering what, other than shock value, this book had to offer me as a learning tool. I had hoped it would explain more about what makes entrepreneurs take unreasonable risks and how others can save themselves from similar fates.
It did however cement in my mind that even the most intelligent people can become swept up in the moment. Believing they are invincible and that it is their business skills alone which has seen them get this far; leading them to believe that any business they touch will be a success. The book demonstrates, as I have seen before, that success in one field does not guarantee success in another.
Would I recommend this book? Well yes actually. Its an easy and interesting read, which you can dip in and out of, but its let down by its lack of reflective learning, although perhaps great to make you feel better about your own success.
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Saturday, 30 October 2010
Think before you speak as others are often wiser than you - The apprentice – week 4 – Selling to the trade
As often is the case with the apprentice a lack of clarity and poor communication cost both teams dear. Losing sales because you haven’t been clear with the supplier or the trade customer are in excusable. Not asking for the right information before putting yourself up for a pitch is down right rude to all involved. Remember its important to value your time, your customers time and above all value the product you are selling, because if you don’t, they sure as heck will not.
In business it is a fatal mistake not to be clear in your own mind, before you pitch and hold discussions with customers regarding the price, order and discount levels of the product. It is often necessary to make a quick decision, and having the facts clear in your own head means that is possible.
Yet again a gaggle of girls let us down with in group fighting. Mainly caused no doubt by the individual order books, but some clear communication and clarity at the beginning may have smoothed over their determination to succeed at all costs. Put those claws away girls. Thank goodness Liz showed us all that girls can be excellent in business, well done to you. You listened and learnt from the business woman who pitched the babygro to you and used the same tone, words and clear demonstration which worked so well. Hats off to the producers of the product and Liz for a boardroom record in sales.
So in essence this week may have seen a girl make the best pitches but others make this a week of Halloween witches, and we can all learn how communication is always key in business.
Daft saying of the week
Melissa in defending her pitch, which led to no sales, “ What has my ability to pitch got to do with the way the pitch went” - Oh Melissa, think you need some more feedback, although – the fact it was you that got fired is feedback in a way.
In business it is a fatal mistake not to be clear in your own mind, before you pitch and hold discussions with customers regarding the price, order and discount levels of the product. It is often necessary to make a quick decision, and having the facts clear in your own head means that is possible.
Yet again a gaggle of girls let us down with in group fighting. Mainly caused no doubt by the individual order books, but some clear communication and clarity at the beginning may have smoothed over their determination to succeed at all costs. Put those claws away girls. Thank goodness Liz showed us all that girls can be excellent in business, well done to you. You listened and learnt from the business woman who pitched the babygro to you and used the same tone, words and clear demonstration which worked so well. Hats off to the producers of the product and Liz for a boardroom record in sales.
So in essence this week may have seen a girl make the best pitches but others make this a week of Halloween witches, and we can all learn how communication is always key in business.
Daft saying of the week
Melissa in defending her pitch, which led to no sales, “ What has my ability to pitch got to do with the way the pitch went” - Oh Melissa, think you need some more feedback, although – the fact it was you that got fired is feedback in a way.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Dough, Dosh and despair - The apprentice – week 3 – The bakery
Dr Shibby showed the world just how easy it is for business owners to sell even when they are a new start up business. He also showed it’s the delivery of the product and customer service which enables business owners to make a profit and continue trading. Under sell over deliver should be the name of the game here so you always exceed your client’s expectations.
Mind you at least he could work out the costings. Melissa doesn’t seem to be able to add up, either with or without a calculator. If her team had lost I’m sure she would have been going home. Please don’t give her your spreadsheets Lord Sugar.
A lesson to you all here: business is about ideas, income and profit, and customers are the key to all three.
Daft saying of the week came from Melissa, who decided the task would be about hampers. “Yes” she said all excited “create a hamper that speaks”. Never work with children, animals and talking hampers !!!
Mind you at least he could work out the costings. Melissa doesn’t seem to be able to add up, either with or without a calculator. If her team had lost I’m sure she would have been going home. Please don’t give her your spreadsheets Lord Sugar.
A lesson to you all here: business is about ideas, income and profit, and customers are the key to all three.
Daft saying of the week came from Melissa, who decided the task would be about hampers. “Yes” she said all excited “create a hamper that speaks”. Never work with children, animals and talking hampers !!!
Thursday, 14 October 2010
GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS - The Apprentice – week 2 Beach accessories
Stella thank goodness showed control and great leadership qualities with the boys team. Even Lord Sugar, all be it with some prompting from Karen Brady agreed to the benefit of ‘women power’. If it hadn’t been for her the whole episode would have been a disaster advert for women in the workplace
After years of women, mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers campaigning tirelessly for the rights of women in the workplace the girls tonight demonstrated why maybe we should be put in a cage fight rather than a board room.
I’ve worked with women, women only companies and management teams for years and never have I seen such cat fighting and blatant disregard for each others views. The whole thing was a shambles; no business idea, no leadership, no responsibility and no sales.
Learn some manners girls, consider your dignity and for goodness sake learn to sell.
Daft saying of the week came from Jamie “when I open my mouth it’s like a Champagne bottle that will explode unless I get it all out.” Yes well Jamie, sometimes in business we have to learn when to keep our mouths shut and it’s usually when the Champagne has been flowing.
After years of women, mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers campaigning tirelessly for the rights of women in the workplace the girls tonight demonstrated why maybe we should be put in a cage fight rather than a board room.
I’ve worked with women, women only companies and management teams for years and never have I seen such cat fighting and blatant disregard for each others views. The whole thing was a shambles; no business idea, no leadership, no responsibility and no sales.
Learn some manners girls, consider your dignity and for goodness sake learn to sell.
Daft saying of the week came from Jamie “when I open my mouth it’s like a Champagne bottle that will explode unless I get it all out.” Yes well Jamie, sometimes in business we have to learn when to keep our mouths shut and it’s usually when the Champagne has been flowing.
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