IWD and my talk to the KU Enterprising Women

Next week I’m giving a talk at the Kingston University Enterprising Women’s Network. My theme? Content and communications made easy. I was a little unsure exactly who attended this event and, as any good marketer will tell you, understanding your audience is key.

So I went along to a session last month to gauge the lay of the land. The subject was ‘Marketing on a shoestring’ led by Kate Pilgrim. To say it was comprehensive is to undersell the word comprehensive. We all came away with an amazing checklist of ideas to bring in a lot more business.

But what really struck me was the expertise in the room. One by one as we went around the room introducing ourselves I found my jaw slowly lowering to the floor. Every woman had a wealth of experience in their given field and were now looking to go it alone, establishing their own businesses and making work work for them.

I find myself working with entrepreneurs a lot. In part that’s because establishing a tone of voice for your business, creating a website, crafting the business sales packs is all the sort of stuff you do before you launch your business. And in part it’s because that’s the sort of work that interests me (and we all veer towards the stuff we love, don’t we?). I’m strategic so getting in on the ground floor of a business means I can contribute meaningfully to the development of the brand and the communications strategy.

But as this is International Women’s Day I want to particularly take a moment to be grateful for the entrepreneurial women I’ve worked with since launching my business. For their drive, passion, common sense, compassion and extraordinary good humour when faced with crazy deadlines. Whether it’s launching a dream business, capitalising on a brilliant idea that will hopefully sell for millions in five years’ time or building a work environment that is stimulating whilst allowing a work life balance – I’ve learnt a lot from working with you.

As a little thank you, I will post my talk here after the session next week. Or come along and see it live – it’s a friendly and incredibly knowledgeable group of enterprising and inspiring women.