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The European Women in Business has a solid reputation for high-class, informative events so I was very excited to be attending their intimate August event focusing on the topic of success.
I knew as soon as I exited the lift into the foyer of Candela Nuevo I was in for a treat. This exclusive members-only club gushes with sophistication and glamour (if only I’d had time to duck home and change between my very casual not-for-profit meetings and walking into that foyer!). The front desk is a piece of artwork in its own right, with backlit metal spikes poking out from the ceiling and back wall in a modern masterpiece. To my right there was a sleek bar area and, through a display wall, an inviting coffee lounge area with magnificent city-skyline views.
In the broader foyer area, sitting around a coffee table, politely chatting to each other was a wonderfully diverse range of business women. Between us there were a couple of fashion entrepreneurs, an artisan chocolatier, a paramedic, marketing and PR people, and some aspiring writers and social changemakers – definitely a great recipe for interesting conversation! After a little time getting to know each other, we were invited into the board room to find out what organiser and host, Janine Lum had in store for us.
The first presenter of the evening was Lina Di Prisa of Explora Coaching and Consulting. She started with a great video presentation of the Holstee Manifesto (as I have this manifesto in poster format above my desk, she certainly had my full attention). Lina shared her steps to success and taught us how to “coach ourselves to success”:
• be very clear about what you are trying to achieve,
• be a realistic optimist,
• focus on what you will do (not what you won’t do)
• reflect on your progress relative to your own previous skill level not comparing to others, and
• always, always, take the time to celebrate your success!
With this positive framework in mind, we had the opportunity to work with the person sitting next to us to identify an area of our life where we could use a breakthrough and to consider what we could possibly achieve in this area in the next 6 months.
Nesan Naidoo, CEO of Mind Modelling, talked about the three core foundations of business: time, team and money. She also covered the 5 key leverage points in a business that every business person must understand:
• number of leads
• conversion rate
• number of transactions
• average value of sale
• profit margin
Nesan showed that if you can create even just a small change to each of these 5 leverage points, the overall impact on your profit can be significant – in fact, he promises (with a money-back guarantee) to double his clients’ business in just 12 months using his techniques.
While both coaches had great insights and showed the value they bring on a personal and business level, what was obvious to me was there is certainly no “one coach fits all”. Both their personalities, insights and approaches were so different, and each would have seemed ideal to some of the people in the room; but picking the right personal or business coach would certainly require a lot of consideration, a clear idea of what you were trying to achieve and an understanding of your own preference for how much of the process you want to drive.
Overall, it was an interesting and educational night, enhanced significantly by the unique mix of talented and successful women in the room who were willing to share their own stories and insights to help each other get the most out of the evening.
For more information about the European Women in Business, visit www.europeanwomeninbusiness.com.au.
If you’d like your event covered by woman.com.au, contact us.
Lina
Hello Jacqueline, what a wonderful review – thank you. I throughly enjoyed the evening and also enjoyed meeting such inspiring women, you included!! It never ceases to amaze me what women can do. Thank you for attending the event. Lina.