Category Archives for Blogs

A fantastic must-have book

I have Dee Blick to thank for big bags under my eyes today! Dee was our speaker at the East Grinstead meeting yesterday and she brought along copies of her book ‘Powerful marketing on a shoestring budget’. I could have listened to her talk for hours – she was so enthusiastic about what she does. I bought the book and made the mistake of reading it in bed……..It is such a brilliant read that I didn’t notice the clock ticking on-hence the bags under the eyes today! This book can be used for reference – each chapter dealing with separate topics-exhibitions/marketing plans/e-marketing to name but a few. I would recommend this book to everyone – brilliant! Thank you, Beverley, for arranging this and thank you, Dee, for making marketing seem so easy in everyday language – I don’t thank you for my ‘new look’ though!! Denny Gaskell. Metamorphosis Unterior Style Consultancy

Shine Owner/Therapist inspired to celebrate life by charity swim

Woking: Despite painful fibromygelia Caroline swims in memory of her less fortunate relatives

Having fibromygelia may cause some people to be less mobile but not Caroline owner and therapist of Shine. Although suffering from daily pain she is a respected beauty/massage therapist who helps and supports her clients to improve their health, beauty and to reduce muscle aches and pains.

The 41 year old who is the owner and senior therapist of Shine Beauty and Well Being is taking part in a sponsored swim challenge for the Marie Curie Cancer Care. She has already completed 8 sessions of 60 lenghts of Woking’s Pool in the Park (1.5 k or slightly under a mile) and has half to go of her 17 session swim challenge.

Caroline is swimming solo, completing 4 sessions a week during the month of April in memory of her aunt who died of breast cancer in 1982 and her grandmother who suffered with rheumatoid arthiritis from the age of 18 years of age. Caroline has had difficulties during her swim, including sinusitis, muscle cramps, a cold, ear problems and muscle aches and pains, but has been determined to continue and complete her goal.

She said “I consider myself very fortunate, that I have been inspired by my strong female relatives and can help people who are less fortunate than myself. I want to support Marie Curie Cancer Care because it provides free nursing care to cancer patients and those with other terminal illnesses in their own homes.

Although Caroline has had fibromygelia since she was a teenager she has learnt from her grandmother that pain can be reduced by keeping active and being determined to achieve her dreams. She also promised her aunt to help others that are in pain and as a result trained as a beautician, body & massage therapist and electrologist in 1994.

She says “I am so lucky to have a business and to work in an industry where I can reduce people muscle aches & pains and help people feel better about themselves. It also means that I have to keep active on a daily basis and swimming helps me so I can keep physically strong to work long hours in my beauty therapist practice. I have also been so lucky to have had celebrity and lovely clients who have enjoyed the quality treatments I offer which has meant I have amongst the most testimonials on the best of woking website. It is so rewarding when your customers take time to write a testimonial for your business and service.”

She hopes that with her swimming she can raise over £500.00 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. She says “If everyone I know puts in a £1.00 or more we could achieve this target together for this worthy cause. Finding out a loved one is terminally ill is terrible. However, I beleive that for my aunt’s family it would have been better to have spent and enjoyed her last days at home where she felt most comfortable.”

To sponsor Caroline log on to www.shinewoking.co.uk to access a link to her charity swim a thon page. Thank you for your support.

About the Author
Caroline is Woking Town’s Expert on Decleor Aromatherapy facials, body treatments and products

www.shinewoking.co.uk
info@shinewoking.co.uk
Facebook club: http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36189761578&ref=mf

New ventures….

How exciting it was to hear at the meeting today, that Fiona Coppard has now branched into Bridal Jewellery. I have seen Fiona’s business grow and flourish over the last year ~ this is in great part due to her business acumen, hard work, passion and natural flair. Above all she is a great people person and has the ability to make everyone around her feel special. Congratulations to her also for being on the panel at the AOB last month, well deserved!

Fiona is a great networker and member Denny Gaskell thanked her for a contact she had given her via the Woking meeting.

Denny Gaskell told us how she was invited to be a guest speaker at the North Kent Property Roadshow. She had a fantastic stand at the exhibition, with furniture and accessories lent to her by Lom Bok. All in all it was a very successful day, with plenty of opportunities to network.

Also three guys from Lom Bok’s head office came to visit her home. (If you’re not familiar with Lom Bok, check out their website-they have furniture and accessories to die for!) They are arranging for a national magazine to come and do a photo shoot of her home, sometime over the next few months. This will include an interview with her, so will give her a chance to plug her property styling business, Metamorphosis. She is going to let us know when this has all happened, so that we can go out and buy the magazine!!

To top all this off, Denny announced some great news!
she has just been invited to be the ‘resident’ property stylist (‘house doctor’-courtesy of Ann Maurice)of the National Federation of Independent Estate Agents. This has come about from an initial 1230 TWC networking contact last year, for which she thanks 1230 TWC!

Springing forward……

What a great buzz there was at the East Grinstead meeting today. We had a fantastic speaker in Dee Blick ~ award winning author of:POWERFUL MARKETING ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Dee’s passion shone through as she recounted her story of how this book got off the ground. In the last eight months Dee realised her lifetime ambition of writing her first book. ‘Powerful Marketing On A Shoestring Budget For Small Businesses’ was published in December 2008 and is currently selling in the USA, Italy, Israel, Korea and the UK.To date she has sold 11k copies on Amazon ~ how inspiring is that!

However, writing the book proved to be a real challenge for Dee because she has chronic repetitive strain injury in her upper body, a condition that makes it impossible for her to use a computer keyboard and that makes handwriting for any period of time very difficult. Nevertheless, she managed to write the book in just four months, whilst continuing to run her full-time marketing consultancy business. In this informal talk, Dee shared what motivated her to write the book and how she overcame some major physical barriers. All in all an incredible lady.

Dee very kindly donated a signed copy of her book for the business card draw, this was won by member Elaine McGloin.

Some great networking took place today and it was heartening to see how members’ businesses have taken off in the last few months

I feel that the confidence and diversity that women are showing , particularly during these challenging times is in great part due to the continued support, motivation and inspiration that members give each other.

Thanks again to Christine Wise for her support in organising the meeting and to all those who attended. Onwards and upwards !

A deciding factor

For those of you that have been following my blog on my Vision Board Sessions with member Susie Jefferies, I am now writing about the final session. However, the board will be an ongoing tool, so from time to time I may update you as things evolve.

Susie is a wonderful spiritual guide and natural teacher. I had made affirmations to accompany my pictures ~ one of which was ‘ this is an abundant Universe’ AND said Susie…. the penny dropped And I live in it !!!

The first statement was a fact, the second a much more importantly worded belief.

A few days after that session, I made a very important decision, it was also a very hard decision, however one that will underpin my future happiness. I was able to realise the good intention and best outcome from that. Whereas previously my way forward had seemed muddled, confused and emotionally heavy, I could now see more clearly and most importantly it felt right.

I would thoroughly recommend exploring your options and gaining focus in life from working through these sessions with Susie. And remember, keep your beliefs abundant because:

Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habits become your values
Your values become your destiny

Mahatma Ghandi

Teleconference

Thank you Jackie for talking us through the 1230 website today on the teleconference. There are so many useful areas that I need to add information to straight away with details and special offers. It was lovely to link up with Ruth Trigg from Women Inspired by Wine too. All the best with your business Ruth.

Magazine article

3 guys from Lom Bok’s head office came to visit me at home a couple of weeks ago. If you’re not familiar with Lom Bok, check out their website-they have furniture and accessories to die for! They are arranging for a national magazine to come and do a photo shoot of my home, sometime over the next few months. This will include an interview with me, so will give me the chance to plug my property styling business, Metamorphosis. I will let you know when this has all happened, so that you can go out and buy the magazine!!
Denny Gaskell (www.metamorphosisstyle.co.uk)

Recent exhibition

Last week, I was invited to be a guest speaker at the North Kent Property Roadshow. I had a fantastic stand at the exhibition, with furniture and accessories lent to me by Lom Bok. All in all it was a very successful day, with plenty of opportunities to network.

Great news!

I have just been invited to be the ‘resident’ property stylist (‘house doctor’-courtesy of Ann Maurice)of the National Federation of Independent Estate Agents. This has come about from an initial TWC networking contact last year. So…..thank you, TWC! Denny Gaskell www.metamorphosisstyle.co.uk

Beauty hype – playing the April Fool

April Fools Day – perfect for those of us who love to play with our Inner Child! So imagine my glee when I stumbled across a news item on GMTV (with Dr Hilary Jones participating) reporting on the newest anti-ageing technique.

Of course, specialising in facial rejuvenation treatments and natural skincare, I am always on the prowl for latest anti-ageing treatments. Not because I believe we should all be rushing off to try anything which will help us to look younger – far from it! – but because anything which can help raise awareness within ourselves to keep happy and healthy has to be a positive!

So beaming from ear to ear, off I went to pen a mini-blog about the Lirpa Loof programme. I diligently posted all of the links to GMTV’s own website (where you promptly redirected to an April Fool webpage) and also included an April Fool image at the bottom of the blog … and truly believed that no-one would take it seriously, that I would be rumbled within a few seconds of reading.

How wrong could I be?

I was inundated with enquiries, even telephone calls from France. It blew my socks off, so many people keen to find out about this new programme … and so it was left to me to gently reply to each enquirer individually that it was only an April Fools joke, posting an apology to reinforce my genuine regret that so many people had been taken in by the beauty hype that morn.

If only such a simple programme could erase years of sun-worship, stress, joyful living and environmental pollution!

Facial rejuvenation (natural face lift massage) treatments CAN indeed help to restore a youthful glow to your skin, to help re-train your facial muscles and gently smooth away some of the finer lines … facial yogacise and exercises at home each day can also help you to tighten facial contours. Even something as simple as smiling can produce great results!

There are many amazing products available (yes, you can find all-natural beauty products too) which can help to restore a plumpness to your skin, giving a dewy radiant glow – which is just one of the reasons why I am sure I have the world’s best jobs, so much lovely stuff to create and play with.

Still, a magical programme which can beam rays to smooth out your complexion and wipe away all that makes you really YOU, all that makes you truly beautiful and unique … that is, alas, something which is still yet to be achieved.

All we can do is try to find the best solutions which works with our lifestyle and our purses to keep us looking beautiful and radiant each and every day – it takes a little bit of hard work, a little bit of courage and a huge dose of adventurous spirit.

So please, exercise a little caution and remain a little sceptical of anything which promises you instant youth … it is highly unlikely that the elixir of youth has been rediscovered just yet. In the meantime, why not consider treating yourself to a completely natural, “no products used” facial rejuvenation treatment which will leave you glowing, full of energy and vitality to continue your hectic life as a busy business woman!

PS For anyone who saw the item on GMTV and saw the lady after “half an hour with this programme” – you can achieve EXACTLY the same look with mineral make-up!

Holistic Feathers blog: http://holisticfeathers.wordpress.com
we will shortly be combining our website and our blog into one)