Summer Specials - Starting Thursday 4th April

Another quick post this morning to announce that as of tomorrow, Candid Apple are launching the first of our Summer Specials...

What are Summer Specials I hear you ask? Well, we've been speaking with our lovely clients and other wedding professionals over the past few weeks to find out what help they'd like from us over the coming months and it seems like there are certain things lots of you would like. Things that it can be really hard to find the time for over the busy busy summer months but things that are oh-so essential.

So, we've put together some special offers to help. To help you keep on growing your business while you're out making wedding days wonderful for your clients, to help you keep up all the momentum you've built over the winter months and, most importantly, to help you keep some balance over the crazy summer.

The first Summer Special will be launched tomorrow morning - here on the blog and on our Facebook page. We'll be adding special discounts and promotions for all our Summer Specials on Facebook too so make sure you 'Like' us now (because you're going to love us for the Summer Specials, that's for sure!)

Summer 2013 - it's going to be a good one.

31st March - The Week That Was

It's a slightly belated catch-up this week - following my own advice from last week, I let myself off the 'e-leash' over the Easter weekend and it was great. Quality family time without the incessant beep-beep of phones, mails, messages and other things demanding my attention. So, I'm not sure whether it's that dose of headspace or the beautiful blue sky outside my window that's making me smile this morning but actually, it doesn't matter. So, on with the catch-up...

• Some amazing conversations with my son whilst he was home from school poorly.
• Watching the dog watch over my son - that dog would make a great nurse.
• Starting the 'Woodley & Earley' Clandestine Cake Club & setting the date for our first get-together.
• Writing approximately 15,000 words for various projects & assignments.
• Signing up for the 60km South Downs walk to raise money for Hounds For Heroes.
• The kids breaking up for Easter holidays and planning lots of activities.
• Easter egg hunts, Easter baking and other Easter-ish fun.
• Lots of family visiting for Easter lunch - 6 hours of cooking for a great feast!
• Dog walking through the daffodils.
• Son purchasing a huge Lego set with his saved up pocket money - a great project for cold holiday days.
• Taking two brilliant enquiries for work and getting lost in phone conversations with the people in question.
• An evening reading by the fire - the upset at finishing 'I Capture The Castle' has been somewhat repaired by starting 'Peaches For Monsieur Le Cure'

And Relaxxxxxxx - Thoughts On Downtime

With the long Easter weekend almost upon us, I'm sure there are plenty of wedding professionals out there experiencing that state of perpetual confusion experienced by many of us - whether to work or to take some time out.

When you run your own business, there's no 'home time', there's no-one from HR e-mailing you with your annual leave entitlement form and, quite crucially, there's no-one from Finance merrily paying money into your bank account every month.

It's all you. You are responsible for everything.

And 'everything' takes a lot of time. It takes a huge amount of time and then of course, there are the weddings themselves. Long, busy, hard days that are absolutely full of joy but, because we tend to love our clients and want to give them the best, they require total concentration and commitment and that's tiring

Then, when you're back from the wedding, the usual schedule of work at HQ tends to continue straight away. Downtime is rare. There's also the pressing need to 'get yourself out there' - to blog, to tweet, to Instagram, to Pin, to promote, to plan, to network and to build a personality and a brand. It can feel like a merry-go-round that spins a little too quickly and never stops.

But, there's plenty of research that says this continual need to be in the thick of it is totally counter-productive. That we should be contactable but not permanently available, that we should keep stuff back and not share everything, that we should actually do less if we want to do better. Being addicted to work and always being on call might be more socially acceptable than necking a bottle of vodka every day but it can still be incredibly damaging.

As a wise-man once wrote - "You'll never ever get everything done so stop worrying about it." And he's right. We are the ones that make everything on our schedule seem so gut-bustingly important. Perhaps we like to play the in-demand, always busy, bordering-on-being-an-inhumanly-amazing person. But really, didn't most of us get into working for ourselves so we didn't have to be a slave to anyone, let alone to ourselves?

And the thing is, when we whip ourselves into the fakey frenzy of imagined emergencies, we quite often do silly things - whether it's making a crazy decision or snapping at someone who didn't deserve it. Slowing down makes everything better and when you're in a better state, you do better work, you are a more attractive person to be around, you're rested, positive and less resentful of everything and everyone that's taking up your time. Which they're not, by the way. You're allowing them to take your time and your energy.

So, this weekend, give any of the following a try...

1. Have a little think back on the year so far. As my wise man said "reflection is one of the most underused yet most powerful tool for success." What's worked? What's gone well? What can you make better? 
2. Practice stepping away from your phone/laptop/iPad for a little while. Give your time to your family and friends, the people who are there with you. Share real things with them. In researching this piece, I read an article where the author called our love of social media "the e-leash" which is pretty accurate.
3.  Jump around a bit. Oh yes, this one works wonderfully. When you're getting sucked into something, make a conscious decision to jump around. On the spot, up and down for a minute or so. This has lots of benefits - it 'breaks' our state, it will usually make you smile and that little break is often enough to give you time to work out if you really need to go back to doing what you were doing.
4. Write down who you are without mentioning anything about your work. It's great to love what you do but you're more than that right? Just remind yourself about the rest of you.
5. Make a memory. Do something this weekend that you'll remember for a long time and even better, share it with someone else. 

So, even though it feels like you might not have time to relax, I bet you can find find some time this weekend to do just that. You just have to prioritise and surely, when you're the one that everything rests on, you're the one that needs to be in good shape so taking some time out is pretty damn important really. 

Have a great Easter weekend, eat chocolate, do things to make yourself happy, take a break and we'll see you on the flip-side...

If, in best BBC voiceover styleee, you've been affected by any of the issues in today's piece, you might like to take a look at the following links - Are You A Workaholic?, Workaholic, Understanding The Dynamics of Workaholism. Or, shut your laptop off and go and talk to someone.

The Wedding Professional's Business Conference

So, I'm writing this post with, amazingly, the sun streaming in through the window. This is making me very happy and smiley so it seems like the perfect  time to share some news.

This November sees the first UK Wedding Professional's Conference and I'm really pleased to be able to say that I'm speaking alongside some truly fabulous people including the gorgeous Julia from Brides Up North, the very talented Tina Reading from Ultimate Wedding Magazine and many more (you can check out the list here)

In my sessions, I'm going to be talking about making today's bride want you and knowing your powers to sell you strengths - both sessions are going to be really interesting, full of tips and ideas and also, I hope, a bit of humour!

I'm really proud to be speaking at the Conference - the wedding industry in the UK is full of vibrant, creative and dynamic individuals. And I'm hoping to see lots of them (and yes, that means you!) in November.

24th March - The Week That Was

Firstly, I hope you're all warm and snug on this bitingly bitter Sunday. As we skid sideways towards Easter, it's almost impossible to think that next weekend we change the clocks and welcome in 'British Summer Time'. Never before have my thermals been worn quite so regularly! Thank heavens for warm drinks, good food and a roaring log fire every evening otherwise I would be a Tamryn shaped icicle. Anyway, whilst I type one handed (other hand wrapped around a mug of tea), here's the week that was...

• Seeing some hard work pay off in the form of beautiful new brochure proofs for a lovely client.
• Watching son run his annual school cross country race and being blown away by his sense of fair play and friendship.
• Arranging to meet the gorgeous Tiffany Grant-Riley next week (whooop whooop!)
• Booking onto my first Clandestine Cake Club meeting. Can't wait to get baking for that.
• Getting inspired by my step-daughter's school reading project and having a great 'favourite book' debate by the fire.
• Falling more in love with my gorgeous dog and signing up to learn more with Pets in Practise.
• Joining up with a group of incredibly wonderful women to work on a very special new project.
• Having a great telephone coaching conversation with a client in Wales.
• Receiving some really fabulous feedback about our 'Finding Your Voice' series.
• Being interviewed for and accepting the post of Poppy Appeal co-ordinator for my area. Very proud.
• Writing my little piece for the Dambusters 70th Anniversary memorial.
• Having a day at the Waitrose Cookery School with the lovely Adriana Rabinovich teaching us all about gluten-free breads and pastry. I met lots of great people and loved every minute of it.
• Reading the beautiful 'I Capture The Castle' by Dodie Smith and loving my new literary heroine, Cassandra Mortmain.

Excuse Me, Who Are You? - Thoughts On Cliques

via Pinterest

Ok, so this post isn't exactly part of the Finding Your Voice series but it fits quite nicely with all the things we're talking about at the moment. And that, in case you're joining us a little late, is being who you are - an authentic, consistent, true version of yourself.

This post has been inspired by my eleven year old step-son because it's all about knowing who you are and being that person with your head held high.

There are groups, cliques, circles, clubs, clans or whatever you chose to call them in life. It's part of the way humans bond with like-minded people. We can't fit into them all, no matter how much we try. Is that fair? Actually, fair doesn't come into it because it is what it is - getting bent out of shape because of your perceptions is crazy and, if you're happy as you, happy with your place in life, why should you care?

Now, I'm not advocating stamping all over people, being rude, being downright mean and excusing yourself with a "well, I'm just being me" comment. But my point is - if you know who you are, the place you're in is the best place for you.

My step-son doesn't know who he is. He wants to hang with the sporty kids but he's a bit too small and not quite competitive enough for them. He wants to hang with the quieter kids who stay out of trouble but he's too boisterous for them. He wants to try gymnastics because the boy in the class who can bend himself into a ball is the centre of attention but my step-son hates the discipline of classes. He doesn't want to be told what to do but without someone giving him structure, he's at a complete loss. He just doesn't know who he is or where his place is and that makes me sad.

And I see some of the same thing in the wedding industry too. There are people, good people, who want to hang with the 'cool kids' but, for lots of reasons don't and that's somehow then portrayed as being the problem of the group in question. That's not the case at all - the question should be why is being part of that group so important? What do you get by being in that circle? And why can't you get it without that approval?

Knowing yourself, being yourself and finding your own way is so important. It's how we attract like-minded clients, build relationships with other professionals that are supportive and mutually beneficial and, most importantly, enjoy what we do. Trying to wedge yourself into a group you perceive as being 'important' is never going to work on so many levels. It's a waste of your energy and it can become so destructive - it's a fixation that obscures the beauty of who you really are from everyone.

As my step-son is finding out, it's not existence of these groups that's the problem. The problem is not knowing where you really belong because without that knowledge, you can never find the place that suits you.

Finding Your Voice - Part 2

via Pinterest

So my lovely people, how did you get on with last week's worksheet? Got your list of words? No? Well, I'm really sorry but you can't keep reading this until you've got them so if you've not done your homework, stay behind please and get on with it now...

Right, now we've all caught up, we can get on with today's little installment. So, with your list of words by your side, let's get on with reviewing your current 'voice'.

Firstly, make a list of every way that you communicate with potential clients and industry colleagues. Whether it's your blog, your Twitter and Facebook feeds, your static web pages, your press releases, your standard letters and e-mails - everything that gets your message out there.

Now, I'm sure you know what's coming next. Yes, that's right - you need to review everything. Re-read everything being uber-critical - does absolutely every phrase and paragraph reflect the words that you have selected from our earlier exercise? You don't have much time to get your message across, especially to new contacts so highlight any sentence that doesn't work (we'll be coming back to those pesky little words in our next installment)

If you're finding it tough to be impartial, print out your communications and get someone else to read them and ask them what words sum up those paragraphs. Ask a friend or an industry colleague for their opinions too. Or ask me to have a look, I'm happy to give you some freebie feedback.

I know reviewing all of this might seem like an onerous task but I think you might be pleasantly surprised - it's very likely that there'll be bursts of 'your' voice in your writing already - underline these, see what works for you and be proud of yourself. You've got a really good basis to work from and you know now what you want to change. Perfect.

In our next installment, we'll look at how to keep your voice consistent and how to make it the 'best' you that we can. You're voice is going to be singing like a superstar rather than mumbling by the time we've finished!