What is the single biggest challenge you face as a business owner? 

We discussed this topic in our most recent masterclass 'The Surprising Habits of Successful Business Owners' held in our Facebook Community. 

Strong themes were...  

• Procrastination and Avoidance
• Bringing In Sales and Consistent Cashflow 
• Having Balance and getting out of Overwhelm 
• Lacking Confidence 
• Knowing - What are my next steps? How do I get from where I am to where I want to be?  

When we follow the thread all of these can be traced back to one common denominator...

Self- Doubt

It is THE single biggest challenge I notice with my clients

Is this something you struggle with? How does it show up for you? 

Agonising over a decision? Changing your mind? Hesitating? Getting into overwhelm and overworking things? 

The good news is, it CAN be overcome and it DOESN'T have to feel that way! 

The answer may seen surprising, but it's tried and tested and I can assure you works l...

I'm here for you and I want us to be here for each other

We are facing unprecedented times.

We are in a state of upheaval.

We are being faced with decisions and dilemmas that are causing us to question so much we previously took for granted. 

And it feels hard and scary. 

Let's do it together - Come and join me in my Facebook group where I will be offering support and Live Q&A sessions over the coming weeks and months.

Living and Leading Authentically Facebook Group

Tell me specifically what you want to be supported with and I'll help you in anyway I can.

See you in there, Mel x

As I sat waiting in the coffee shop, I was overflowing with anxiety and emotion. Tears brimmed from my eyes and I was shaking like a leaf... Yet underneath the surface I had accepted what I needed to do. Now I had to follow through on that and say the words out loud.

It was about to become one of my life's greatest defining moments. 

I knew that by saying the words out loud I was giving them form, making them real and that through uttering them I would open Pandora’s box… And deep down I had a knowing that my career and professional life as I knew it would be forever changed - but I had no idea what that would look like. 

So I waited for my boss to arrive and steadied myself to bring my failure full circle and admit defeat.

It was a HUGE admission.

I had spent all my energy holding things together for soooooo long to AVOID failure and now I was about to agree with all my critics - that indeed I wasn’t up to the job I had been entrusted with and I could no longer f...

Charlie (the glue guy) is reading a book right now about homeschooling. It’s called The Call of the Wild and Free. I bought him it for Xmas as it sounded like the type of thing he’d like (I was right, he does!) 

Anyway, we got to chatting about a point made within the book about the rationale or need for kids to receive homework, something neither of us had thought to question until now. *Warning - personal and possibly controversial viewpoints coming up!*

The point made within the book was why would you need to give children more work to do at home in their own time when they spend 7 hours a day, 5 days a week at school learning? 

Hmmm - indeed when you stop to consider the rationale it doesn’t make sense… 

It immediately started a lively conversation in our kitchen - 

• Was the teaching system so inefficient that they couldn’t fit all of the education into the allocated time?

• Why would you expect small children to do more than 7 hours a day of focused, con...

I'm off to Paris on Thursday to meet a client and spend the day strategising for her new business  🤩

And I'm feeling a bit nervous. 

There. I said it out loud. 

It's taken me completely by surprise. 

I LOVE solo travel. 

But I haven't done it much AT ALL for over 3 years as I have been focusing my energies on becoming a Mum and learning how to run my business at the same time.

Confidence is what I do well. Confidence is what I help others do well.

Yet here I am - feeling the all too familiar butterflies in the tummy and wondering why?

And through a short walk out the house to Costa for some fresh air and headspace here’s what I’ve discovered/been reminded of. 

In Paris without the safety blanket of my partner Charlie and my little boy Maximilian I will be more exposed.

Without them to focus my energy and attention on I will be left to my own devices. 

And it’s been a loooooong time since I was left to my own devices with only myself to take c...

Having a clear vision and strategy in place is essential for any business owner or senior leader in business. It’s not something to be debated, it’s a given that you create this clarity and direction and that it guides your daily, weekly and monthly activity.

But how many of us take the time to have a clear strategy and vision for our wider life, our relationships, our health and career? If it’s a tool that works well in helping you to be successful and achieve relevant progress – why not apply it across other areas of your life that matter?

As leaders acquire more responsibilities and become more in demand, this often goes hand in hand with more plate spinning, juggling of priorities and busywork. Taking the time to get off the hamster wheel, invest in yourself and your vision for your future seems too indulgent, or something you think about doing but never get round to prioritising.

My coaching clients often say that taking the time to step back and think creatively about wh...

“When I let go of who I am, I become what I might be.” ~Lau Tzu

Two years ago, I was trekking in the Himalayas challenging myself to achieve something I had never done before. It was a planned part of my transition from being a senior leader employed in Financial Services to an unemployed woman unclear of who she was or what she was here to do. I had taken a career break to take some time out from the life I had worked so hard to build over the last 16 years. Some people thought I was ‘lucky’. Some people thought I was ‘brave’. Some probably thought I was crazy or unappreciative to give up what I’d achieved. Only those who knew me best and intimately knew that I was broken and really what I needed was time to heal.

It’s a funny old thing the ego. Several years before, I had the wonderful opportunity to study at Ashridge Business School. I was studying a subject that was incredibly close to my heart and my head - ‘Consulting and Change in Organisations’. The quality of the tutors, ...