16 minute read
SMBN SOS
CALLING ALL CARPET FITTERS, PAINTERS AND DECORATORS, DOG WALKERS, THERAPISTS, MECHANICS, ELECTRICIANS, PLUMBERS, ROOFERS IT TECHNICIANS, GARDENERS, DIY GODS AND GODDESSES, CLEANERS, CARPENTERS, HAIRDRESSERS, AND MORE!
There have be en times over the year s where I have desperately ne eded help! Simple things that are jus t physical ly or financial ly to o much; so we are lo ok ing for our very own t rus ted SMBN SOS team!
Advertisement
One th ing I always struggled with was not being able to afford counselling when I need ed somebody to talk to, or not having anybody to call to help me move (again) or even if the money was there, not knowing who to trust when I need ed some skilled professionals to help me in the home. A simple TV ariel fix would leave me propositioned and feeling vulnerable in my home and so after two years of similar discussions with other single mums particularly; myself and the partners plan to manifest an SMBN SOS bus! So that when a member is in dire straits either emotionally or practically we can send out an SOS to members and trusted external contractors and professionals to see who is free to volunteer for a day or two to help make everyth ing okay.
We will either pile on the bus or convoy to get the home right or smbn members will t urn up if a safe circle, good cry and box of chocolates is all that is need ed.
So if you fancy being on our database to potentially give some time, and join our imminent directory of trusted and publicly accountable skilled professionals, watch th is space or get in touch via email to smbn@singlemumsbusinessnetwork.co.uk
And if you have that bus….. you know where to send it!
Just wow! You know that question that often pops up – if you could choose just a few people to have dinner with, well, Alison Cork would certainly be on my list, she is an absolute powerhouse, doer, thinker, entrepreneur and all round great lady to support, motivate, inspire, whilst knowing how to pull something out of the bag in an absolute humanitarian crisis to help us all do SOMETHING, when we may feel we can do nothing! I had the pleasure of interviewing Alison on Sunday March 6th 2022; we had planned the interview to talk about her journey in business, politics and health, but as the Ukraine Crisis unfolded, Alison also launched the #smallbusinessbigdifference campaign, which you can learn about on the next few pages.
You've been an entrepreneur for well over 25 years. Tell me a bit about how You started and grew your businesses. You've always been a supporter of women in business and started a charity to support women to start a business. Why?
I always wanted to run my own business; by process of elimination, I learned that I would be better off ploughing my own furrow, as I was very independently minded. In the 80’s that was quite unusual; I was inspired by Martha Stewart and began to focus on what I wanted to make my long -term business. I launched Alison at Home, that became an on-line business and I presented television programmes, my favourite being Home in the Country, which was filmed from my then cottage in Wales, and to rapidly condense the last 2 years I have started working on shopping television and launched Alison at Home on QVC, and I pleased to share that during the pandemic we have launched in America. I have always been a great champion of women’s empowerment. I went to an all-girls school and that I think had quite an impact on me supporting women to fulfil their potential. I realised as a woman in business there was a real lack of parity between men and women in business and so I launched Make it Your Business, which is a not-for -profit, to help and support women running their own businesses. Currently only 1 in 5 businesses are women lead, which isn’t good enough, apart from being a complete economic miss. As an economy we need that contribution from women, and we just don’t have it.
More recently you've moved into politics what prompted that?
As part of my journey in business and supporting women in business I became very interested in Politics, and actually stood as a candidate for London Mayor in 2018, which I didn’t get but it was a fascinating process, and interestingly, I think only 1-5 or 20-30% of MPs are women, which again, not good enough, and so through business I have developed an interest in Women’s Rights, Women’s Empowerment, and more latterly politics.
You've had a lot of national media coverage recently about your recent health and fitness journey and weight loss. Why did you decide to make this change?
I got into my late 50’s, and I wasn’t particularly happy with how the menopause had affected me. I do know the tricks of the trade via TV, but you know how you feel inside, and I did not feel my best. I am great believer that whatever body or mind you are given you can always make the best of it and be the best version of you you can be. I was not happy, and I did not want to slip into a silent despair of feeling unattractive or unfit, like it was all over for me, but actually, it is women over 50 who are the fastest growing entrepreneurs, we realise we have a lot of life ahead of us, and I wanted stamina, and to be in peak physical condition for longevity of my career etc. And so I went to a gym, but a gym that teaches you about diet as well as exercise. We absolutely must get processed foods and sugar (continued over)
In the past week you've launched a national campaign to encourage small businesses to donate to the Ukrainian humanitarian effort - tell me about this.
It dawned on me that I have spent years establishing good contacts in the small business community, they are resilient, and they understand the principle of challenge and hardship in their own way. I thought if every business could just donate £1 (there are 5.6 million small businesses in the UK), the together, we could make a big difference, hence the tagline ‘Small Business – Big Difference’. By a stroke of luck I spoke to the Daily Mail, who have launched a campaign, and their beneficiaries are British Red Cross, who is exactly who I wanted to donate via as I know that 95% of their money goes to the intended recipient. And so via the Mail Force registered charity, they are giving 100% of that money to the British Red Cross and CARE International, and in return the Daily Mail are supporting the small business community with some PR, which in turn helps us as we help others. As you know, press PR can be completely transformational to a small business.
We talked so much about Alison’s work, the British Library, sugar, diet, food budget, confidence, inspirational role models and more, please have a listen! Alison and I both say – don’t give up hope – it’s not game over. We are working our magic!
(continued from page 95) out of our diet. I walk 20’000 steps a day, that’s nonnegotiable, I get up at 6am every morning, and I lost around 4 stone over 8 months, and it was completely life changing. I feel so much stronger; I love the compliments, but it is more about how you feel inside, and how people respond to you more positively when you radiate positivity. I have now signed up to climb Everest in October, because I can!
In light of the unfolding events in Ukraine, Alison at Home will be donating £10 for every order to Mail Force Ukraine Appeal
We stand with Ukraine
Alison has great knowledge of the UK business infrastructure, and with 5.6 million UK small businesses, had a clear vision that we only needed to donate a single pound each, to collectively raise near to 6 million pound to support the Ukraine Humanitarian Effort. Alison is well educated and knew that she would want this support to be realised via the British Red Cross, as they ensure that 95% fees go to the intended recipient. With that, Alison very quickly gained the support the Daily Mail, who, via their Mail Force Charity are running the Ukraine Appeal to provide much needed money to charities giving aid including shelter, clothes, and food to refugees who need it most. This is being delivered through the British Red Cross and CARE International.
Just £1 – that is all it takes to be part of making a massive difference. We (the Single Mums Business Network) have pledged to donate that for every SMBN member for three months, February, March, and April. You can donate your £1 here https://www.mailforcecharity.co.uk/
and mention that you are donating as part of the ‘Small Business Initiative’ .
Asian Single Parents Network CIC (ASPN) is a unique community which offers social, emotional and practical support in order to build confidence, prevent isolation and combat the stigma attached to being a single parent in South Asian families.
Research suggests that ASPN is the only support network for both single mums and dads across the UK for the South Asian community.
Set up in 2011, ASPN has organised an array of activities for hundreds of members, including day trips, evening events and holidays and weekends away and celebrated its 10th Anniversary in September. When members join, they often express relief that they are finally in a space where they are with other people who understand what they’re going through. Also that they wish they had known about ASPN earlier.
The network is a safe space, where members can talk to others in the same boat without judgment. It provides company for parents when doing activities which they would have otherwise done alone. It also helps the children of members who might feel different to their peers, seeing that there are others in the same situation as themselves.
In response to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, the network adjusted very quickly organising its communication and outreach through Zoom activities and virtual meets, such as daily dance sessions and the weekly catchup for parents to raise spirits and help well-being. It has also held numerous Expert Q & As covering topics relevant to single parents, such as family law, financial, and parenting. Each region has a WhatsApp group, so that people can make friendships locally too and ask for advice which they can do anonymously. The questions and responses are then shared to a new Members’ area of the website so that parents can refer to them if the same questions crop up time and again.
Here are some extracts from video feedback messages sent by members:
‘Just meeting and talking to fellow single parents made me realise that being divorced wasn't the end of my life but the beginning of a new one’ male member
‘This community and group has been so helpful for my own journey, from making great friends and networking and even getting business support sometimes[…]a really really amazing group and I wish Aruna all the best for another ten years’ female member
‘Being Asian brings slightly different challenges and this platform is really good to enable us to talk to each other about our feelings and what we are going through, I appreciate Aruna and what she has created.’ male member
‘I joined asp earlier this year, in hindsight I wish I had joined it earlier, Aruna runs a great member group, and congrats on your ten year anniversary Aruna’ female member
HAPPINESS—ARE YOU OUTSOURCING YOURS? and are you still blaming your first round of life education?
You’ll be pleased to know that this doesn’t need to be overcomplicated! Just as my book ‘Finding Happiness and Freeing Your Spirit’ offers 20 simple steps to help you on your way, sometimes we just need some short sharp direction that isn’t bumped up for thickness.
It takes about ten years for your body to completely regenerate your skeleton—you would be forgiven for thinking that the skeleton you are born with is the skeleton you die with, but it isn’t, and neither is your personality or your cognitive conditioning. I often hear people complain about the way they were brought up or taught to do things, but all of this learned behaviour can be unlearned, and we can re-educate ourselves in what we know to be right, we can teach ourselves new ways of thinking, behaving, and acting out. It is true that our parents may model us as children, but you model you as an adult. It is only you that stops you, it is only your first ten years that mould your second. Thereafter you can remould, relearn, re-educate, whatever it is that you need to do to be the person that you want to be or create the future that you want to have. Of course it takes work, and time, but you cannot write off the rest of your life because you are not prepared to start over and rebirth, and spend another decade (or less) re-growing. Do you see? It is down to you, not down to your first experience of life. If you need help with this.. You know what to do,.
Are you also outsourcing your happiness? Are you looking for reassurance that you are worthy or loved? Are you waiting for another person to buy you flowers or make your life good? Do you spend money on the lottery with the mindset that this is your only route to happiness or financial security? people to provide it for you is to identify and break down what it is you are longing for, what problem that will solve, how that will make you feel once you have it? You need to keep going until you understand exactly what feeling you are looking for, is it security? Is it touch? Is it a healthy body and healthy mind? Is it the feeling of love? You can create all of these strong feelings when you identify the fear. Feeling unhappy is strongly linked to fear, fear of destitution, starvation, loneliness, cold, pain, and you can mask this fear by distraction by chemical or action, but when you identify the fear you can identify what it is that you need to help you feel content, safe, secure, loved, and happy.
Love is what releases oxytocin, and that is the best feeling, but this comes from many forms of love and social circles. You will be surprised the more you read about it how you can create every feeling that you need and may be outsourcing for your happiness. This is just a brief article that offers a trigger more than an in depth explanation but I invite you to learn more about your happiness hormones, think more about what it is you want and who or what you are outsourcing this to, and recognise the underlaying fear that is blocking your happiness, as per the picture below, if you fear losing your partner if you depend on them for happiness this will hinder your ability to enjoy the relationship. If you know you will be okay even if that branch breaks…. You can trust the process, and trust your gut…
CHERYL T - CHAPTER 46 ARTICLE
Visualise who you are, where you want to be and where you want to go.
This is your journey…make it reality. I’ve made it a fun process for anyone that chooses to come on board as a client and introduced the 360 Leadership Mindset Retreats as an extension of the consultancy business which takes place in Ghana, Accra in August 2022 and the Masterclass Rejuvenate Retreats scheduled in May (UK) and October (Ghana) 2022.
I’ve never been a person that just ‘follows the crowd’, so it’s not entirely a surprise that I started a business that wants to see people pursue their goals, have total belief in their ideas and more importantly, who they are as leaders.
At the age of 46, there were pivotal points in both my personal and professional life that made me more determined to go it alone - it was my skillset as an employee, at the end of the day, that had helped so many individuals/businesses thrive along the way in my 20+ year career history, so why not do it for myself?!
Chapter 46 was formed in 2018. New start, renewed outlook.
I take a unique, hybrid approach when working with individuals, focusing on the personality of the client and whether their approach to how they run their business is in sync.
More often than not, they aren’t.
This isn’t because they can’t run the business, but somewhere along the line they have lost the passion, drive and determination of why they started in the first place. A classic and common tale of ‘working in the business’ instead of ‘on the business’ which can lead to burn out, fatigue and adoption of subconscious behaviours. Well, if you’re going to set up a business you may as well fit it around the lifestyle you want to create too!
You can read a little bit more about Chapter 46, the retreats and all about me here: www.chapter46.com or follow me on Instagram www.instagram/cfortysix
Running a business doesn’t come without its challenges and we all need a helping hand from time to time, so I’d like to take this opportunity especially to thank Jules, the SMBN members and Purple Shoots for your friendship, support and giving me the kick up the backside to do this article!
Wishing everyone and anyone who reads this continued success on their own, individual journeys and if I can help an SMBN member in anyway at all with a bit of positivity, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You’ve got this!
Cheryl x
It all sounds very heavy, (sometimes it can be) but the whole purpose of Chapter 46 is to help alleviate all of that and unravel the essence of who you truly are because it really doesn’t have to be that way.
