The Business of Life!

The business of life is a fascinating subject.  Whether we’re educators, homemakers, charity workers, carers, entrepreneurs, business owners, creative, service or armed forces personnel; employed or self-employed, it’s all business!

 

Leadership and personal development courses, coaches and training resources are plentiful; I’ve attended and benefited from many, without even touching on and enjoying the literary resource from books and audio books.
As a child, it never crossed my mind that ‘normal people’ won Olympic medals, never mind knew that they wanted to.  When my local Rotary Club sponsored me to attend their Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) programme in my 20s, rather than following and trying to make the best of the journey I thought I was on, I realised it was MY journey to plan, direct and steer.

In the early days books like Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, The E-Myth Revisited  and Rich Dad Poor Dad illustrated entrepreneurship and new ways of looking at the business of life.  Audio/visual learners can now also enjoy the experience of watching TED talks. For anyone interested in education of any kind, making time to watch Sir Ken Robinson will be time well spent.  This animated one on changing education paradigms was my introduction to his work and I still love it. 

Recently I had the privilege of meeting Lis Protherough who is passionate about ‘…students everywhere to aim high, be all that they can be and keep on climbing.’  She has established her business around this, writing The Book on Successful Teens and is leading by example with her own sons. 

So, with everything pointing me towards entrepreneurship, it was interesting to come across this article  highlighting some of the pitfalls. 

Robert Kiyosaki laid out a strategic plan for developing his key business skills, leadership, sales, marketing and finance.  Ken Robinson talks about why education is changing and needs to change and Lis talks about the 3 pillars of success in her YSC Training Programme:

1. Personal effectiveness,
2. Practical finance and 
3. Modern entrepreneurship. 

I’m an advocate of collaboration and sharing.  Learning from others to further my goals, sharing my knowledge to support others in achieving theirs and working together to achieve a greater result than would be possible by working alone as well as creating opportunities for young people to start fulfilling their dreams.  I believe this is consistent with seeing the return of apprenticeships in the UK as an alternative segue from education to work.  

Recently I heard a teenager quoted as saying 'but it really doesn't matter how you look Mum, people really don't care anymore!'  While it may not be AS important as it might have been in the past, being empowered, authentic and visible (as your true self) is key to supporting you in achieving your goals.  If you don’t look the part, it will take you a lot longer and you’ll have to work harder to convince people that you know what you’re talking about.  Nothing works alone in this life and while your own expertise is paramount, communication is becoming increasingly more visual (YouTube) and all communication needs to support who you are, whether it’s a still photo, a filmed presentation/conversation or a face to face meeting, the messages need to converge not diverge or worse, conflict. 

As a young graduate, investing in myself with a Colour and Style consultation was one of the best things I did, further developing this to gain clarity on my personal brand has been a key enabler for me in focusing on pursuing what’s important to me while progressing my career.  While it's never one thing alone, I'm clear this is one of my investments that has delivered the greatest ROI (return on Investment).

What were some of your best investments or resources that empowered you to move forward in your life?

A True Gift

With 2 children under 4, I took advantage of a treat that actually seemed like a good investment.  We all have our own variation on ‘leading a busy life’ and I hadn’t been shopping for anything but maternity clothes, stretchy tops and jeans for 5 years.  I teach this stuff and knew that by embracing a totally different lifestyle it was easy to lose myself! I took the opportunity of a shopping trip with a Fashion Stylist. 

 

As an Image Consultant myself, I was fully aware that hiring someone, an 'expert' to help me make the most of a rare day’s shopping should be an excellent investment,; this is what I had seen my clients experiencing time and again when shopping with me.  Focus and objectivity is the key.  Staying objective when you are losing the will to live in changing rooms is a type of sanity worth paying for.  We all find it difficult to stay objective about ourselves and I’m no certainly no exception. It’s so much easier to be objective when I’m working with a client but I needed to become the client!

Within a few weeks of this shopping trip, the opportunity arose to go shopping with some of my colleagues at House of Colour, all fully trained Image Consultants.  Due to other commitments my available time was only 3 hours not the whole day, so off I went.

 

Both days were fun, both days included a break for lunch and both days resulted in me purchasing some great pieces for my wardrobe and looking outside my normal comfort zone for inspiration.  The real value for either option was making the most of someone else’s expertise to get a job done more efficiently, effectively and enjoyably than I would on my own.

 

Success is generally a subjective measure which in the case of clothing also needs to consider cost per wear for each item.  With my tendency to analysis, I weighed up the two alternatives which revealed the smarter investment was employing a fully trained image consultant. 

Statistical Analysis	Fashion Stylist	HOC Consultant
Investment	£300 + travel	£150 + travel
Time invested (hrs.)	1 day (7 hrs.)	3 hrs.
Items tried	Approx. 60	11
Items purchased	11	6
Items returned	3	0
Items kept	8	6
ROI Ratios
Productivity = items/hr.	1.3	2
Returns	27%	0%
Wasted energy = (Items tried x hrs.)	420	33

The added value came from savings in time and energy and keeping hold of my ability to make clear decisions. This relied on my ‘shopper’ remaining objective and keeping me focused – which became harder as the day progressed.  I could also see that the training of the HOC Consultant ensured they remained objective rather than being influenced by their own styles or preferences.

 

As a result, some of my nearest and dearest are receiving HOC gift vouchers for Christmas this year (let’s hope this doesn’t spoil the surprise!).  As well as being a useful and valuable present, it’s my contribution to a greener Christmas – fewer ‘things’ that they have to find a home for, less mistakes in purchases and the bonus of supporting a fully functional wardrobe that carries fewer unused, often excessive, items (frequently disguised as ‘bargains’)!

Gift vouchers are available for a class, a product or an amount of money (note - wardrobe reviews are sometimes more valuable and almost as much fun as shopping trips!).  You can purchase them from your local consultant or you could take advantage of free Post & Packing on all Gift Vouchers from the House of Colour web shop until the end of December. 
Happy Christmas everyone! J