Category Archives: Networking

Proofreader meets… Training Consultant

As part of my marketing strategy to promote my proofreading, copywriting & blogging business, I spend some of my time networking. As a result, I have met some wonderful people working in all sorts of businesses. With my innate interest in “all things business” I invited Lisa Butler, Training Consultant from Adhere Training, to tell me her business story. Here it is…

Lisa Butler, Training Consultant

In 2010, Lisa Butler founded Adhere Training – and later the Adhere Training Club – based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Adhere Training was established to support local businesses in meeting their goals through highly effective training workshops.

Lisa’s experience in the training and development sector is based on several years with Business Link and Train to Gain in the South East. During this time, she worked with businesses to diagnose their training and development needs. This set the path for Lisa’s vision to deliver a truly unique training facility in the form of the Adhere Training Club.

What is the Training Club?

The Adhere Training Club is specifically geared towards small local businesses in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire areas. Employers understand that employee performance and retention is linked to training; they know that, through regular training, their employees will reach their full potential.

What’s the secret?

Adhere Training Club members

Membership to Lisa’s Training Club is based on an affordable pricing structure. Employees can access a broad range of interactive, innovative and enjoyable training workshops for as little at £10 per month per employee. Adhere publishes a full 12 month training schedule; employers can therefore budget for their employees’ development needs through a single training provider, and design a development plan to suit their business objectives.

The training package offered by the Adhere Training Club is unlike any other on the market. Most small businesses know they should be investing in training. However, they are concerned about the cost and time factors.

Customer Service Workshop

Lisa says she often hears “I really must come on one of your social media training workshops. I know nothing about it and I know it will help my business”, or “I really need your finance course. I know nothing about the finances of my business and I want to understand what my accountant is talking about”.

The Training Club solution removes the cost barrier and opens the door to a better way of accessing and planning for training in a way that says: “What’s stopping you?”

The Adhere Training Club is “going places”

Training Club is going from strength to strength. They are already meeting the needs of small businesses in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, with new members joining every month. They now have plans to open further training venues across Berkshire, Surrey and London.

Training Club materials

Lisa is very excited about the direction of her business. She has plans to franchise the Adhere Training Club, and is actively looking for new associate trainers and potential franchisees who want to be a part of this distinctive training concept.

If you would like to know more about how the Adhere Training Club can help you realise the full potential for your business, visit Adhere Training. Alternatively, please email lisa.butler@adheretraining.co.uk. Lisa would also be very interested to hear from associate trainers or potential franchisees.

Photo credit: www.beckyrui.com

Proofreader meets… Nutritional Therapist

Would you leave your child at the school gates on their first day?

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Feeding the baby

I’ve got a new baby! I planned and prepared for the safe arrival of my “blog post”… Now I have to take care of it. Like babies, blog posts need rest and warmth – but they also need feeding!

For every post I have written, I have “toyed” with the idea first. Will the concept work? Does the idea have legs? When is the best time to publish? What shall I call it? Once written, the post is proofread, polished, categorised, tagged, optimised, wrapped and bound with eye-catching photographs to bring the words to life. Only then is it time to schedule the delivery!

Within WordPress et al, posts can be automatically scheduled to broadcast across your social media. However, just like the first time you take your child to school, you cannot leave them at the school gates; posts need encouragement and introductions to help them settle into the world wide web.

Independent child

Once my blog posts are “brought into the world”, I take additional steps to introduce them to relevant LinkedIn and Facebook groups; I “tweet” under appropriate hashtags, then I let them rest. A while later, I warm them up again – perhaps give them a new coat – and “repackage” them for Twitter under new hashtags and with fresh tweets.

Like every mum with a child in the vibrant school playground, they are hoping their little ones will be “liked”, “shared”, interacted with and commented on. This feeds them and helps them grow into strong, healthy, respected and independent blog posts.

If you found this post helpful, and you think others would enjoy it, please click one of the sharing buttons. Comments, using the box below, also very welcome. Thank you.

Photo credits: abbybatchelder / Foter.com / CC and Digimist / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Proofreader meets… Architect

Proofreader meets… Recruitment Consultant

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Guest blogging at www.proofedbylinds.co.uk is very welcome.

As part of my marketing strategy to promote my proofreading, editing & copywriting business, I spend some of my time networking. As a result, I have met some wonderful people working in all sorts of businesses. With my innate interest in “all things business” I invited Jayne Johnson, a recruitment consultant, to tell me her business story. Here it is…

Jayne Johnson

I started Better People Ltd Recruitment after working in corporate and high street recruitment for 25 years. I knew there was a market for ethical and tailored recruitment for small to medium sized enterprises. I knew I could offer something more than was on offer for businesses currently. I know my business area very well, having recruited across the Thames Valley and London for most of my career.

My business growth has been achieved through targeted sales calls and mailshots, but the most effective has been referrals through word of mouth. These come about because people have used my service either as a candidate or as a client and they recommend me. I also meet people through my business networking groups who then recommend me to people they know.

My recruitment campaigns are different for each client. I work with each client to establish what is going to work best for them, what sort of assessments and profiling tools they might want to use – if any. I establish which interview questions will elicit the responses we are looking for. I take the brief, go away and only come back when I have around 3 suitable candidates for the client to interview.

I keep up with learning and employment legislation. I recently qualified as a Talent Dynamics Flow Consultant. This enhances the service I can offer my clients through more detailed knowledge of the candidates, saving them money on recruitment and enhancing individual and team performance.

What my clients say – “Jayne has saved me time and money – all the candidates I interviewed were suitable for the role. They all knew everything about us and the job. It was hard to choose between them”.

“We have struggled with this Practice Manager role for a while. Jayne came in, met with us and we didn’t have to do anything else until we interviewed the candidates. We would recommend her highly and will be passing on her details to other practices”.

About the Author:

Jayne Johnson has spent 27 years working in recruitment. Whether she has been running huge multi-million pound contracts for high street recruiters or supporting small to medium sized enterprises as their recruitment partner, it has all been about finding the right people for the job who will stay and add value to her client’s business.

She loves running her own business. It gives her the flexibility she needs to support her teenager who is doing GCSE’s and to continue her love-hate relationship with the gym. It also gives her the time she needs to carefully select her clients and candidates as people who reflect her ethics and values.

www.betterpeopleltd.co.uk

Round the (guest blogging) world in 80 days!

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Phileas Fogg

Am I a modern day Phileas Fogg? Hmm…

In 1872, the fictional character Phileas Fogg, wagered he could make it around the world in 80 days. He would explore the world, using trains… boats… balloons… elephants. It was a worldwide journey into the unknown.

In 2012, the non-fictional character Lindsay McLoughlin – me! – tried to establish an around the world guest blogging reputation in 80 days. I would explore the web, using LinkedIn… Google+… Twitter… Facebook. It was a worldwide web journey into the unknown.

I ventured into blogging territory writing about networking, well-known expressions and proofreading, broadcasting them across my social media. My posts first caught the attention of Belinda Weaver of Copywrite Matters via Twitter in October. My “travels” had taken me to Melbourne! Given that Twitter had made the introduction, I wrote a post entitled “What creates noise but is quiet at the same time?” (One of my favourites!)

My guest posts continued with articles around guest blogging and ghost writing for the 10-12 Business Club and Athena networking groups, respectively. I was back on terra firma - on home ground in the UK.

The next thing I knew, I was in North Dakota in January, guest blogging for Karen Elliott. It’s brutally cold over there at the moment, I can tell you! This time, I wrote “I called my daughter an apple cart!“, an amusing little article that Karen has said has brought her a fresh influx of followers, fans and friends from the UK. (I like to think I might have made some impact!)

My next stop is the beautiful – and hopefully warmer – Cape Town! I have been invited by Lisa Steyn…

I have been around the (guest blogging) world in (perhaps a little more than) 80 days! My host bloggers in Melbourne, North Dakota, the UK and Cape Town have all been very welcoming. Through the social media and their blogs, I have learned a little bit about their lives and lifestyles. I have “brought home” some great friends from my experience on these travels, and I am looking forward to working with them again.

Am I a “Phileas Fogg”? Probably not… but a proofreader, copywriter and guest blogger for business and marketing materials… Yes!

Photo credit: garryknight / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Guest blog…great! Um, what now?

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Guest blogging at www.proofedbylinds.co.uk is very welcome.

My second guest is Lisa Steyn, aka the Cape Town Copywriter, from South Africa. I “met” Lisa through blogging; we have become electronic penpals. I caught a couple of her posts, “liked” them, and then invited her to guest blog. Here’s what happened next…

Day 1

I am on fire! It’s the New Year and I’m bouncing around with enthusiasm…yes I am ready to take on the world (even my poor husband has a hard time keeping up with me!) That super energy wave results in my blog being unleashed on the world. Whoa…goal!

Day 2

6am (I blame this on child) – I sneak off to my computer (I have been banned due to excessive blog mania). I open my email – I am a serious blogging queen! I have two, yes really, two likes on my first post. I’ve hit the big time now…you get my drift here of peppered sarcasm? Off I go to vigorously like other posts and find some really interesting stuff. This is the life.

10am – Another victory…second blog post done and dusted! I have to almost physically restrain myself from bombarding people every half hour with my written word. I rationally tell myself that there comes a point where people will want to shoot me for irritating them with constant messages (luckily my marketing hat is working today). Wait, there are 2 likes AND a follow on my second post. How can my heart bear this excitement? Just need to lie down and breathe.

Wow! I’m on fire! Supplied courtesy of Microsoft Office Images.

6pm – I ask my husband to please check my heart as I think I’m having a heart attack. ‘No’, he says calmly, “You are fine!”. Now that I know I am not having a heart attack…I stalk back to my computer. Not only have I still got my amazing two likes, and one astronomical follow, I have also been asked to guest blog…hence the reason for my near death experience from excitement. I am a rock star and fame is just around the corner for me! Lindsay McLoughlin has asked me; yes me, to please be a guest blogger. At this point I am absolutely sure that I am going to go stratospheric in the blogging world. I excitedly go back to Lindsay with a resounding YES please! I am amazed at the friendly support and the honour of being asked. Tomorrow is the day I will tackle this.

Day 3

6am (yes child again…or is it addiction?) – back with my new best friend, the computer. I grab my tea and settle down to write an amazing article for Lindsay. Ok, I’ll just quickly check my emails and then come back to it.

Day 4

What have I done? Image supplied courtesy of Microsoft Office Images.

10am – Oh my word what am I going to say?

Day 5

11am – Seriously, what am I going to write about?

Day 6

5pm (can you see the pattern here in time?) – Eureka! I’ve got it! I’m going to write about my first dip into guest blogging! The result…I’m sure you can see how important I’m going to be in the blogging world based on this one article alone. Yes? Can you feel it?

6pm – I’ve cracked it…let me just read over it and check it (I am a proofreader after all). Anxiety…I can’t send this, Lindsay is going to hate it. Affirmation…no it’s fine, she’ll enjoy having a bit of a laugh. Anxiety! Affirmation! Anxiety! Affirmation! Eventually acceptance – let me just send it and see!

6:10pm – There it goes. Need. To. Have. Drink.

Let’s just wait and see!

What’s the point of all this rambling?

Ok, I’ll try and be serious now! The ultimate point to this article, diary or rant (you decide) was to show thanks to fellow bloggers, and especially to Lindsay. I have been amazed at the network of supportive people…everybody genuinely wants to help each other. That’s a real rarity today. I flip through ‘Freshly Pressed’ and when something catches my eye I immediately show my support to give a blogger a boost and a positive word. We all need that at times. This is a general theme of all bloggers, definitely not just me.

Thank you Lindsay for the opportunity and here’s to bloggers uniting!

As I’m sure you gathered from my ‘amazing’ amount of likes, I have a long way to go. The beauty and excitement is in the journey to getting there. But with support like this we can all go a long way!

Please feel free to visit my blog. Thank you.

Networking: Fasten your Seatbelts and Hold on Tight!

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Most people have been on a rollercoaster. The train starts slowly; you’re thinking “What’s this going to be like?” and “Do I really have to?” and – before you know it – the train starts to pull away and there is no going back.

When I started my proofreading service, I approached a marketing agency and offered my services. They gave me the obligatory test, and then employed me for all their outsourced proofreading projects. I wouldn’t like to say “I cut my teeth” with them, but they certainly threw everything they could at me to see what I was made of. I proofread slide decks, newsletters, blogs, press releases, presentations; I gobbled it up.

Having got one very happy marketing client under my belt, a friend of mine invited me to visit an Athena Networking Group. It was that rollercoaster moment. Do I ask to get off now or just welcome the opportunity to try it out?

I arrived at my first meeting and was welcomed with open arms. With the first introductions over, I then had a “minute” to tell the room about my business. I signed up that day, and fastened my seatbelt!

Networking takes time. People need to understand what you’re about and to grasp what you do. After a few twists and turns, the work started to come in and – within a surprisingly short time – I had earned back the membership fees.

I met people individually to find out more about their business, and to think of ways that I could help them by connecting them with people I knew. The same thing happened for me. One of my regular proofreading clients is a client reference specialists company based 165 miles north of here. Can you imagine the chances of meeting them without networking?

I set myself a goal of networking with three people per month outside of the regular meeting, including a “wild card” – someone who interests you but who, at first glance, might not be an obvious business relationship. These are the corkscrews; the meetings that spin you in directions that you are not prepared for.

Very soon the rollercoaster ride was picking up speed. I was still on board and, with the increased acceleration, I added a copywriting carriage. My new passengers included training providers, jewellery specialists, business coaches, graphic designers and virtual PA’s.

One of the greatest tips I can give anyone before they take their seat on their networking rollercoaster, is not to dismiss anyone as irrelevant to you or your business. Just this week, a lady who – on the face of it – did not look like an obvious connection for me, asked if we could meet. When I followed it through, I found that – wearing a different hat – she writes subtitles for film scripts!

Networking has been a life changer. It has brought different and exciting new business opportunities, but it has also brought powerful new relationships with inspiring people. I have met and learned from people I would never otherwise have met, never mind worked with.

If you are thinking about starting to build a network, have a look at the different “rollercoasters” available to find the track that is right for you and your business. Once you have one in view, prepare your business cards and LinkedIn profile, invite yourself along, fasten your seatbelt and hold on tight!

You can’t see what’s coming, but it’s definitely worth the ride!

Lindsay McLoughlin

Proofed by Linds

Category Archives: Networking

Proofreader meets… Nutritional Therapist

Proofreader meets… Architect

Guest blog…great! Um, what now?

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