Monday, 28 June 2010

GET SENTIMENTAL WITH A LIFE HISTORY BOOK

Hi there,

I run Life History Books, an efficient, affordable memoir service. We help you record personal memories, anecdotes and family history in a customised book accented by your photos, recipes and other mementos saved through the years.

In as little as four hours of your involvement, you could own a professionally-published 60-page archive quality book full of your stories.

For LWMB members, I will conduct interviews myself so I can offer 20% off the prices on the website. I absolutely love getting to know people, and I adore putting together a perfect book that fully satisfies the client.

These books come a variety of packages to suit every need, with or without audio or video CDs of the interviews.

Before the old stories are forgotten, complete your Life History Book or give this special gift to a loved one. These memoirs make the perfect birthday gift, retirement gift or wedding gift.

We have a lovely gift certificate package, exquisitely wrapped, and we guarantee to make the entire process enjoyable and easy.



Corina KellamFounder, Life History Books Ltd
www.LifeHistoryBooks.com
info@LifeHistoryBooks.com

Saturday, 26 June 2010

DOS & DON'TS WHEN USING TWITTER FOR BUSINESS

Following our event in June, Claire Boyles, our speaker on the evening, has put together some points for you to bear in mind when "tweeting". Which presumably you are now all doing following her talk!

Some Dos & Don’ts when using Twitter for Business.

By @ClaireBoyles http://www.twitter.com/ClaireBoyles

Number 1 Golden Rule:
Before tweeting ask yourself 2 questions:
1) Would I be happy if this tweet appeared on the front page of a national newspaper?
2) Do my customers & potential customers really want to read this?

Do:
  • Do be yourself - be honest, open & transparent. [This doesn’t mean you have to share intimate details about yourself!].
  • Do be friendly, join in conversations, this is what Twitter is for, you don’t need to wait for an invitation to @reply anyone!
  • Do help others - answer questions, RT questions for others if you don’t know the answer, generally be a good neighbour in Twitterville.
  • Do share information, if you’ve learned something new on Twitter, share it so others learn too.
  • Do use twitter to expand your network, connect with people who you wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet otherwise (I’ve had conversations with Duncan Bannatyne recently that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to, without Twitter).
  • Do share interesting, valuable information & keep it relevant to your customers/potential customers.
  • Do share things about your own life, people can relate better when they understand the person behind the tweets.
  • Do check your spellings before you tweet - this is your public image, you want to be showing your best!
  • Do upload an avatar of yourself, people connect better when they can get a sense of the person behind the tweets.
  • Do complete your bio & use it wisely to share with people what you want them to know about you/your business.
  • Do engage, don’t just tweet special offers.

Don't

  • Don’t spam tweople, spamming is constant tweets about what you’re selling/links to your website.
  • Don’t set up automated tweets that go out constantly without you being there to converse.
  • Don’t go following 100’s of people, then unfollow if they don’t follow you back. Twitter is NOT about numbers of followers, it’s about quality!
  • Don’t criticise competitors in public (Yes twitter is public!) it just makes you look bad.
  • Don’t share highly personal information - remember the Number 1 Golden Rule - Would you be happy if this appeared on the front page of a national newspaper?
  • Don’t attempt to be something you’re not, you’ll get found out in the end.
  • Don’t, Don’t, DON’T tweet when you’ve had a few drinks/are drunk. This is self explanatory & is a really BAD idea!
  • Don’t Broadcast, broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast, Twitter is a 2 way communication tool!

In summary, remember the Golden Rule: Ask yourself: "Would I be happy with this tweet appearing on the front page of a national newspaper?"

And secondly, remember this is a SOCIAL media site - people use Twitter to socialise, they're not on Twitter to buy your stuff, they're on Twitter to connect with other friendly, like minded people.

And thirdly- have FUN :)

SAVE THE DATE!

We have now scheduled the meetings of London Women Mean Business through to the end of 2010 so that you can save the dates in your diary now to ensure you don't miss any of these great events.
  • Thursday 8th July
  • Tuesday 7th September
  • Thursday 14th October
  • Thursday 11th November
  • Thursday 9th December

We will also send you a reminder prior to each event.

We look forward to seeing you at a future meeting, where you can listen to some inspiring speakers, have the opportunity to promote your own business, and meet some amazing ladies.

Tuesday, 15 June 2010

BACK PAIN? TAKE A LOOK AT THIS SPECIAL OFFER

Giselle Malawer of Back in Balance would like to offer all of those who attend London Women Mean Business the opportunity to take part in one of her workshops. Details below:

"BACK TO BASICS” with The Alexander Technique
An Introductory Group Workshop (1.5hrs)
with Giselle J. Malawer MSTAT
(Back pain and Posture Specialist)


Do you suffer from Back Pain? Would you like to improve your posture and have a healthier back? Have you heard about the Alexander Technique but not quite sure what it is?

We invite you to experience this interesting and interactive workshop. In an informal setting, Giselle will share practical tools, top tips and expert knowledge on how to alleviate back pain, reduce stress and release muscle tension.
With an increased awareness you can:

 Be poised, without stiffness
 Move gracefully, with less effort
 Be alert and focused, with less strain
 Breathe and speak more easily
 Be calm, confident and relaxed
 Be effective and energised in your daily activities
 Restore your natural health, poise and vitality

Choice of Dates:

Monday 21st June, 2010 or Tuesday 29 June 2010
(12 places available per workshop for maximum results)

Time:

7.30pm for 7.45pm start (till 9pm approx.)

Cost:

£15pp to include refreshments plus a complimentary 1:1 Alexander Consultation, with Giselle, at a later date

Venue:

The Finchley Alexander Studio
Flat 1, Jay Court
33 Brownlow Road
Finchley, London N3 1YT

Questions will be invited at the end of the workshop.

So come and join us for this fabulous workshop and rediscover the balance of body and mind!

To reserve your place, please contact Back in Balance: 020 8346 6282
Please specify date of the workshop you wish to attend

For more information about Giselle and The Alexander Technique, please visit: www.backinbalance.org.uk

ANOTHER HUGE SUCCESS!

Thursday 10th June saw another successful evening at The Embassy Club with the London Women Mean Business.

Attendance was as high as ever, with over 80 women enjoying each other's company, making new connections, doing business and supporting each other.

Guests arrived from 6pm, with open networking until 7pm when our guest speaker, Claire Boyles (AKA the Twitter Queen of Ireland!), gave an interesting and informative talk about Twitter. Claire had just 30 minutes to share as much information as she could about how Twitter has worked for her gaining new business, optimising her website, building business contacts, and gaining trust as an expert in her field. It seemed 30 minutes was just not long enough, with plenty of questions being asked at the end. If anyone would like to learn more about Twitter, Claire holds workshops in London, the next one taking place on 29th June. Click here to book http://bit.ly/aYVdvE

In addition to hearing from Claire, we offered the opportunity for two of our guests to share a little more about their businesses with us.

Nicoletta Adda from Pinkananas Image Consultancy - a natural born speaker, even in her non-native language (Nicoletta is Italian for those of you who missed that bit!). Incredibly inspiring, beautifully stylish, so if you need to update or change your image, we're sure a day with Nicoletta would be a fabulous experience full of fun & learning http://www.pinkananas.com/main.htm

And Kelly Chester, who spoke about an amazing retreat she is running in July which will include not only pilates lessons, but also look at how we fuel our bodies and how we treat them mentally and physically with the aim of introducing lifestyle changes to restore balance. The Elite Retreat takes place in Zakynthos, Greece from 23 – 30 July 2010. And remember, for any referrals to the Elite Retreat in July, there will be a £100 referral fee! http://www.dianapowley.com/?page_id=20

We'd like to thank all of our speakers for making the evening so interesting.

And after pulling out business cards at random from the Champagne bucket, the following people were chosen to speak next month:
Usha Penumuchi of Dare to Dream Ltd, Nicola Smith of The Revival Company, and Natalie Bystram of Bowes-Lyon Partnership. So we look forward to hearing your 5 minutes next month ladies!

Finally, a big thank you to our hosts, The Embassy Club, with a special thank you to owner Mandy Fuller who joined us on Thursday evening.

See you all next month!

LAUNCH AT THE EMBASSY CLUB

The launch of the London Women Mean Business networking group took place on Thursday 13th May 2010 at The Embassy Club in Piccadilly. Almost 100 women enjoyed the opportunity to meet with like-minded business women in an informal atmosphere.

The format for the evening was open networking, and we explained that future events would include guest speakers, and the possibility for guests to pitch their own business to the audience. We're very keen to gain feedback from everyone who attends, as we'd like to create an event which offers the type of networking that guests would like to see. Feedback forms were distributed on the evening, and it seems that the majority of you were keen to hear guest speakers in various subjects.

In addition to this, we also have lots of budding speakers amongst us! Five minute slots will be offered, and we will try to make this available to as many of you as possible.

We're now planning to make this a monthly event, so watch this space!

Sunday, 6 June 2010

THE BEGINNING

Following a Business Link conference in February 2010, many of the women that attended were inspired to keep in contact and build on the networking which took place that day.

Melanie Berenblut set the ball rolling by posing the question on LinkedIn "Would anyone like to network following the conference"? And what a response!

The first meeting took place with approximately 12 women in attendance, with no set venue (although we found a great place at St Pancras), no set agenda, simply an opportunity to meet with fellow business owners to share ideas, collaborate and generally have a good evening whilst gaining something, be it business, learning or friendship. From this small beginning, the group has grown with now well over 100 women expressing interest in attending the networking event.

Dawn Gomes came on board to run the group with Melanie, and they now plan to host monthly events with interesting speakers and opportunities for guests to present their businesses.

If you're interested in attending, just email us at londonwmb@googlemail.com.

We look forward to seeing you soon!