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Welcome to this week’s Ponder and thank you, last week I met many friends, due to a highly sociable birthday week, and it was amazing to hear that they like reading my Ponders. I love that some people really do choose to ponder the thoughts for their week and this week’s words are based on a great learning I had from a new client. I am talking here about how love is a virus, we can all spread it, and it seems to be highly spreadable. It is the basis of any culture to create it, within family, friends, in…

This week, as I fast approach a big birthday, I have been having thoughts about what positive habits I should form for the next decade and which negative ones, which tend to be the easy habits, I should work hard to remove. I thought I would share in this week’s ‘Ponderings’. We all know that self-development is the foundation for professional development. I want to thank our daughter Hannah, who ran an amazing session on the importance of routines this week for our BIP100 Community, it gave me so much inspiration Here is a list of some good habits and…

This week I thought I would share a very common challenge, how to focus in a technology driven world when we have so much information coming at us. It is so hard to manage the multi-tasking needs of work and balance this with the need to concentrate. For those of us who own a small business It is not just the tech that we manage, it is also the variety of roles within the business we navigate. I have always been proud of my ability to multi-task. I am a hard worker, and I cannot rest until my work is…

Thank you for joining me in this ponder and I hope it sparks something in you to create calm, inspiration or just amusement. This week I am talking about the art of achieving sales without being a hustler, by purely being interested in the person you are seeking to help and by being deeply interested in other people. I am very aware that few people have been trained in sales, and many have never been a ‘sales person’, yet, we all have to inspire, to gain trust, to promote what we believe in and to earn a living. So many…

I think you all know how honest and open I am about the journey of being a businessperson, so let me continue that journey with you. I sat in a café on Saturday to write this as I am speaking in Lisbon next week and have therefore lost two days of my normal routine. I stared out of the window and thought deeply about the week I have had and what message was channelling through me for you today. This week has been about how much time and money should I invest this year in my skills and personal development,…

Thank you for joining me in this week’s Pondering's that are actually very confronting and uncomfortable to share, however, when you read this true story, I know it will be an important message for you and you will probably always remember it. I have pondered this because I absolutely love ‘experts’; people who have a passion and wisdom built over years of investment in themselves. This is why Thomas and I have supported experts for over 25 years, some call themselves solopreneurs and small businesses, most are so humble about the wisdom they have, and many find it hard to…

Thank you for joining me again with my ‘Ponder’ and, this week, together we can think about all those moments we were challenged, those moments of adversity and how life turns out depending on how we reacted to it. None of us have sailed through life without some serious moments of pain that caused us to develop our inner self. I imagine, like me, you are quite grateful for those times, even if the memory of those moments can still hurt in some cases. I remember each year, at this time, the moment my sister rang to say her daughter…

Thank you for joining me on this and I would welcome your thoughts on the opinions I am a about to share because this week, I have been pondering the fact that I now call myself a Small Business Owner, following 22 years of being an Entrepreneur. Maybe this will help someone to define their mindset this year and I would love that as it helped me hugely when I defined this for myself. When I became responsible for an idea I came up with in 1998, Ecademy, the first Social Network in the world, I had never worked for…

Happy week 2 of January, I hope the year is going well so far for you. This past week, I thought I would spend time pondering my willpower and whether I had a strong or weak willpower and how I can apply it to those things I need to give up, as well as those things I would like to achieve. I guess both should be a ‘towards’ emotion, rather than an ‘away’ from. My greatest issue is sugar, in the form of chocolate, and every single year since I became a mum (31 years ago) I have had the…

  Happy New Year and may your year be filled with Happy Moments. This week my pondering is about happy moments and the power of knowing you are noticing the moments in your life that are happy. When I met Thomas, he noticed that I was always saying, "isn’t this a lovely moment?", or "I want to savour this moment". Later in our life he said that my grave stone should say “Penny lived her life through happy moments". A colleague once said to me in 1998, "you get pleasure out of such tiny things". Go forward 15 years and…

There are moments in all our days, weeks, year, life, that we experience a ‘random act of kindness’, someone does something that makes you feel seen, understood, and cared for. It can be as small as a person noticing you are in a rush and letting you go in front of them at a supermarket, or even a moment when a stranger says something unusually kind, such as ‘I just want to say, you look so amazing’. I said that to a woman walking through a car park last week, it made me feel great saying it, and I hope…

Here I am sharing the tenth article in this series about ‘Community Led Growth’. It is an exciting journey for me, I am loving the discipline and also the thoughts that come through while I am attempting to inspire more people to lead great communities. Thank you for the comments and the messages I receive. I can tell I will need to assemble quite a team around me to help people that are coming forward to implement community, it takes many talented people to create community and change in this way. In this article, I am writing about the ‘3…

Now that you have (possibly) read my 8 articles within this Newsletter Series on the subject of ‘Community Led Growth, you may already get a sense that community is a powerful force for wellbeing. The subject of wellbeing is on the tip of everyone’s tongues, and we all have our own language and motivations around this. There are so many aspects to our human state and the balance we seek in our wellbeing. I shared last time that, in this article, I will share more about why I believe that ‘community is a mental wellbeing’ strategy within a company, and…

In last week’s blog, I teased the fact that in this article I would talk about ‘Social Capital’ and how it has impacted my journey in business, this will lead me to share why the subject of ‘Community Led Business’ is linked to the growth in your individual and company social capital. Please remember that I am not academic, and I am not a big internet surfer, nor reader of other’s wisdom, reading is not a strength of mine. I never learned to study, apart from the study of people. My learning comes from the joy of observing others ,…

Today I want to share the leadership style that is critical for a thriving community. To begin, I do need to share a journey I have been on. When I was 23, I found myself in a demanding leadership role, I had joined the IT Industry aged 19 in 1983 and felt like a fish out of water. I didn’t want to be in business, I wanted to be a Physiotherapist and work with children with cerebral palsy. Failing to achieve this due to my academic results, I then applied to do Psychology and in my ‘gap year’, I joined…

I am thrilled to bring my 5th article to you and appreciate the comments and messages I am receiving; I learn a great deal from opening these discussions up. I also hope that this Newsletter might encourage more ‘leaders’ to share their thoughts on this LinkedIn feature. Before I start my thoughts on this week’s title, I want to gain some of your trust. I hope to do that by sharing some of my business experience as a ‘futurist’. Without any bragging rights, I can firmly state that I have always sensed change in human needs in business. Ecademy was…

My 4th Newsletter. Thank you for continuing this journey with me. I run these as a 'sequential story', sharing the sentiment, joy, beliefs and my wisdom from experience on why I believe 'all companies will thrive when they create community'. Last week in my Newsletter, I stated "I will share how I have witnessed my beliefs around ’Community Led Growth’, having seen the joy and the growth within Community, and why it really is the most beautiful asset to build in your business". I first have to reiterate that ‘building a community’ is very different to ‘building a network’. There…

I am getting into my stride now, this is my 3rd Newsletter within the LinkedIn Newsletter service. I now have 3,892 subscribers, and I am very grateful I am now assuming that anyone that is subscribing is curious about why I believe that every business will have ‘community’ as part of their customer delivery, our belief in ‘Community Led Growth - #CLG as Thomas has advised me to start using. Last week I shared what the 3 people and their insights did to create the foundation of what we believed the Internet could bring to humanity in 1998. (shared here…

Within my previous Newsletter post, the first one I wrote, I shared that I believe that every business will have 'community' embedded into their business model. I know that if you are a ‘leader, of a company', of a ‘team’, of a ‘thought’, then you are already a community leader in waiting, you just have not looked at it with this filter on. I cannot possibly persuade you of this in one post, in fact it would probably take a good chat about your business to convince you, however, in this post, I am sharing some history to my personal…

The new feature of Newsletters within LinkedIn intrigues me so I am committing to writing one post a week, which will go to those who continue to want to hear my thoughts on being a business owner and the fact that 'community' means the world to me. I believe that every business will have 'community' embedded into their business model, you might find this hard to believe,  but 20 years ago people struggled to believe it was possible to create friendships online and run a multi-million pound business from home. You may have heard about community, but do you truly…

Yesterday, I went for my 6th visit to an Acupuncture chap, a lovely man. He makes me giggle as he sees life in such beautiful, simple terms. I am there due to pain in my wrists and back (pandemic desk life). I am also there to calm myself (pandemic work obsession).

  Recently, I was interviewed for the Brave New Girl podcast, hosted by artist and author of 'Brave New Girl- How to Be Fearless', Lou Hamilton. Her podcast is a platform for women's voices who are positively impacting the world and Lou invites real life Brave New Girls who are entrepreneurs, creatives, authors, campaigners & thought leaders to share how they found courage, through all of their challenges. We discussed my life and business journey after losing Ecademy in 2012, and the personal and professional tragedies which led to an hallucinogenic panic attack. Happily, we also talked about my current…

So, which person/mentor do you truly trust? (A) This is me, a Penny Power - the winner, the shiny person who has a Number one selling book (fake) the OBE - (true) the founder of a global business (true), the Award Winner, the Entrepreneur who appears to always win (fake) OR (B) This is me, Penny, the emotionally open person who has struggled through business, the person who has had to learn a lot through failure before understanding business, the hard worker who can’t stop trying, the person who has been broken and questioned herself and her abilities. The person…

Today is International Womens Day 2021 and there has never been a year in which it has been more important that we should consider women and how we support them globally. This picture is Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka - United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. A brilliant communicator and compassionate thinker. Yesterday, she shared these statistics on Sky News and I felt it was very apt to share them. Today I am delivering 3 speeches to companies about "Confidence, Courage, Resilience" and how I, as a women, had to grow these skills to build my career in business. I…

All my life, as a little girl through to the 57-year-old me, I have been so aware of, and sensitive to, the thought of anyone feeling lonely. I always felt sad for the child in the playground with no friends. We all need to matter to someone and belong to something. It is what motivated the idea of Ecademy back in 1998. Building the first online way for businesspeople to connect as friends, 4 years before LinkedIn, we were driven to connect, care for and create an environment of love. Now, in a world that has never been more connected,…

Thank you to The Business Owners magazine for allowing me to share why I believe "Business Is Personal" in their monthly magazine for Business Owners. https://www.imags.uk/the-business-owner-magazine-feb2021 Pages 18-19 Here are the opening paragraphs... "Do you remember that moment on the film ‘Taken’, when Liam Neeson is searching for his abducted daughter who is being trafficked? He is in a lift and is pointing a gun at the perpetrator? The evil man says, “it was never personal, it is just business” and Liam replies “It is personal to me”. Well I identify with that within the business world. Several years ago,…

I feel a bit like a rockstar as my book is now on Spotify. I don't think you will hear me sing though, this is my recording of my book "Business is Personal". 2020 has not been an easy year for so many, yet adversity truly can make us and help us find a path to a life and business we really want. I wrote this book following a period of deep adversity, both financial and family related. Through a deeper level of understanding about how we need to manage our personal mental fitness, and through the support of a…

[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text] It's okay, not be okay.... Based on calls with clients and prospects this week, every single person I spoke to this week, and that is over 40 business owners, are finding this lockdown tough. I think the March lockdown gave our brains a jolt, 'how do I pivot my business?', how do I manage my cashflow?'. All cerebral thoughts that required a logical approach to our life. Then our heart took a knock, the reality of deaths, the love we shared, clapping for NHS, the camaraderie of being in this together, a sense of belonging to a cause…

I have suffered loneliness in business, although I didn't realise that was the issue I had. It manifested though a reducing lack of self worth, seeing less value in myself to others. I lacked the stimulation and validation of others and my mojo was low. I had family, friends and I was really connected to many on social media. Business loneliness is different. I was lacking a small group of people that I could really be myself with, warts and all. A place I could reinvent myself after adversity, a place where I could help others and enjoy the feeling…

When I was young, born in 1964, the term bullying didn’t get mentioned. My school was not very emotionally aware. However, as an adult, I can remember moments and know that it happened, and know that it happened to me. The long-term impact is interesting, a lack of self-worth, people pleasing, the feeling that whenever there is an atmosphere around me, I take responsibility for either causing it or needing to make things right. Harmony is a high value for me and so is giving people a sense of belonging and making sure they know they matter. I guess my…

Over the last 6 months, life has changed for a lot of us. This is being discussed widely on Social Media and I thought I would add my reflections. There are a number of things that this has tested many of us at an individual level. Our stability Our self belief Our friendships Our ability to adapt to change Our knowledge of the online world Our ability to remain positive Our propensity to focus on fears Our values and what really matters to us Our choice of careers Our belief, hope and trust in the future. I have loved so…

Three months have past now since Covid-19 impacted the economy, how are small business owners feeling? On a monthly basis, we track the thoughts of small business, a random poll through our Business Health Check. This consists of 42 questions ranging from Mindset, Business Skills, Confidence and thoughts on Growth. There is no doubt, April was a shock for all business owners. The revenue achieved by most reflects the economic conditions and the fear that spread across the majority of business owners. There are a few exceptions, sectors that were in their ‘perfect storm for growth’. Generally, however, everyone tightened…

Do you notice the small wins in your business? My goodness me, business owners are so hard on themselves... I have done a lot of coaching this week, from the mature business that needs a check on its procedures and perhaps a boost to their mojo and self-belief, through to the start up. The absolute common issue is how incredibly hard we all are on ourselves. If you were an employer, you would be in a tribunal with yourself! So, Friday, can I suggest you start a new habit from Monday. I have been doing this for two years now…

I am very aware that Founders and Entrepreneurs face a great deal of challenges around managing their mental health. I have, and I took too long to realise. So many Business Owners I support speak of feelings of - overwhelm, loss of control over their choices, exhaustion, low moods, feeling anxious, intolerant towards family as too exhausted with work, the list goes on and on. The impact of this on our business performance is measurable and profound, once we realise that it is 'me that is the problem' we move forwards so powerfully and positively. Of course, we like to…

I thought I would share my journey around how I became a speaker, many people are interested in either being one, or hiring one. Having a career as a speaker was not something I set our to do, but it is what I love doing the most. Aged 33, with 14 years of business (employed) experience, I ventured into the world of entrepreneurialism after noticing a gap in the market for business people to connect online as friends. 4 years prior to LinkedIn, I released my community, Ecademy, to the world in 1998. This business grew globally and at its…

When I heard the subject of Mental Health being highlighted on TV and in the wider media I listened sympathetically. I was thrilled I didn’t have a Mental Health Challenge.  What I failed to consider was my need to be mentally fit. My greatest learning last year was that my ability to respect my mental needs and vulnerabilities. As a result of my experience I am very thrilled that I will be on BBC World News during their Mental Heath Awareness Week this month. Our characters, personalities, values, experiences, memories and personal drive are complex. Overtime we build our strengths,…

I am am so inspired! When I started to write my book, my daughter Hannah Power said to me “Mum, it is always better to be amazing in one niche than mediocre in two”. She helped me define my client and who I loved helping the most. Now Hannah is coaching me (and in line with my beliefs that you ALWAYS pay people for their skills and never have a coffee to “pick their brains) I am her client and I pay her.  She is helping me to build a brand that serves me but critically serves the exact market…

I wanted to share some seriously powerful thoughts I have had during my mentoring of amazing business owners recently “There is nothing wrong with you. The absolute number one feeling I get is the lack of confidence in people who have taken the huge step to own their destiny and take charge of their future by being a business owner. Self worth and confidence in yourself is so critical. I write about this in my new book as it has been my own journey to my personal definition of success. So however you feel, whether business is tough and feels…

Easy - you must be kidding.... In the 1980’s many of us lived the dream of wealthy futures. The ‘Maggie Thatcher’ era, ‘anything is possible’ if you work hard, drive for personal success and put your blinkers on to the rest of the country and the sabotage that happened in our manufacturing and mining worlds. In the 90’s – well, that was the .com millionaire era! Just register a URL and walk around with your ego and business cards and you were holding a lottery ticket to the Millionaire future you so deserve! Then the 2000’s, the birth of the…

Do you notice the small wins in your business? My goodness me, business owners are so hard on themselves... I have done a lot of coaching this week, from the mature business that needs a check on its procedures and perhaps a boost to their mojo and self-belief, through to the start up. The absolute common issue is how incredibly hard we all are on ourselves. If you were an employer, you would be in a tribunal with yourself! So, Friday, can I suggest you start a new habit from Monday. I have been doing this for two years now…

  In 2018 I wrote 60 posts about my journey back to me – a journal on my personal discoveries and vulnerabilities that I shared inside The Business Café and reposted on our Website HERE  I was investing time and money in myself for the first time in my life and felt that so much of what I was learning was applicable to all small business owners and business people. Ambitious and determined, full of zest and the ability to work hard, but something was missing in my mental and emotional awareness and skills that I believed had to be…

Self worth and the way Masterminds can grow yours....   "self worth comes from giving worth".   This is my strong belief. In 2002 I wrote my first blogs and the biggest one, with the most traffic and engagement, was one was about "Emotional Wealth leads to Financial Wealth"   Over the past 20 years of supporting business people with their personal brands and reputation, the greatest need is self worth and confidence in themself. The rise in Imposter syndrome shows the stress caused by the shiny vision we have of everyone else online and the feeling that we lack.…

What I am learning while recruiting master-minds to join my Mastermind Group 3 weeks ago I launched my own Mastermind program. A 12-month, very intimate program with the desire to take 12 people on a journey with me where everyone could rise and shift and up their game in business. I thought I would share this experience for anyone thinking of joining one or indeed starting one, plus I am still searching for some members of my one. I know there are many Mastermind Groups, I have loved this concept for years since we used to run a version of…

Pace…. How we learn to manage our life, our way I want to share a huge learning for me that was highlighted to me when I was forced to pause last year. It is all about pace. As in my book, I am a torch- bearer on the subject of being in business and how to manage our emotional and mental health. I shine a light on this subject and if I trigger any thoughts, I ask you to spend time thinking about the things I share and seek support. This post is about how “Pace is Personal”. Learning this…

I have been thinking a lot about the importance of being acknowledged, a need we all have. Maybe we have differing sensitivities to the need, maybe we need it in differing situations. The deep need to be acknowledged starts as a young child, the motivation of the clap when you stand and take the first step, the joy of a teacher’s positive words. The pride from a parent when you pass an exam. Then we go into the workplace, we grow up, When we grow up we are among a huge community of influencers. Our peers, our bosses, our adult…

The Money Monster Few people, despite the shiny image online, have peace with money. Life is about survival for most of us and my personal journey has been the most terrifying roller-coaster of learning the ups and downs and risk of being a business owner. Owning your own business is amazing, so is being in control of your career and feeling the sense of growth in your personal development and bank balance. The term “Money can’t buy you happiness”, this is a great statement and mantra, however, the lack of it can seriously impact your mental wellbeing and at times…

"Escape the Rat Race"- a great phrase and adopted by the fabulous Christian Rodwell - Escape The Rat Race [ETRR] - Christian interviewed me for his podcast and I shared my thoughts on "Business is Personal" and the importance of understanding your 'what'. #businessispersonal So, is the grass greener when you 'escape the rat race' and become an entrepreneur? Do you have the profile as one, or does risk terrify you like it did me. Christian is such a powerful interviewer, I actually found myself enjoying listening to my own words! He helps people to decide if 'escaping' employment is right for…

Today has come, a very special day, 35 years of learning business and a year of writing, my book is now published and available on Amazon (and on my website!). Shining a light on emotional and mental health in business ownership. Being a business owner is the most exciting, creative, personally rewarding journey. We all see the joys of it online. However, is every day, every moment, every end of month as good as everyone likes to shout about? The shiny side of lives that we all share online and at networking events. For 8 months, throughout 2018, I was…

New Year 2019 “be the leader of the life you want” in 2019 5 years ago, a business colleague of mine noticed how some of the major investors I was working with were dominating my decisions and controlling me. He had watched a documentary of happiness and advised me that the results of a global study on happiness showed that 10% was down to the achievement of things we want, 50% was about your personal constitution “are you naturally a happy person” and 40% was about the feeling of being in control of your life and decisions that impact it.…

Last night (13th December) I was invited to be the speaker the Carol Concert hosted by Honeypot Children's Charity, who , with the support of trustees, donations and the amazing work of their staff and volunteers, provide respite and love to 5-12 year old carers. I thought I would share my talk, relevant to all of us as we approach the Christmas period. I hope you can enjoy it too and reminds us all the real message of Christmas...to give and have.... Rest, respite and LOVE Giving a speech at such an auspicious event, in front of the most amazing…

This time last year I stepped away from business and realised I had some massive healing to go through. 20 years of business ownership, 26 years of motherhood. Many experiences of joys, but many experiences of pain. On the 30th November 2017, I had a huge physical shock in the form of hallucinations while delivering a workshop. The faces in front of me changed into faces from my past, many of them were the trolls that had hurt me deeply. At that time I was putting myself through an insane amount of stress and exhaustion. I decided, with the love…

This is a dynamic Blog in which I will be adding new information in the form of people, websites, articles, TEDTalks etc to add to the content I feel would hep the reders of my book, Business is Personal. I am very keen to promote the information that I learn from and enjoy and therefore the originators of this information. It is in addition to the information I want to reference that is in my book, all captured here Chapter One Update - Business is Personal Chapter Two Update - Being Broken is Personal Chapter Three Update - You are…

  I delivered a talk to an amazing group of Graduates on 26th November 2018. They were graduating from a Further education College called North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College.  Hired as the keynote, I was quite in awe when i arrived at the event and saw the stunning room the gowns and the excited students, parents and teachers. The emotion of the Principal Marion Plant OBE, which was beautiful, reflecting her incredible commitment and passion to her students. After my keynote, I was asked by a number of parents and students if they could have a copy of my talk,…

Below is a list of the Blogs and Podcasts, plus other Media that I would like to share to encourage the readership of other websites and communities that have asked me to write for them. Click on the headings to open the links.   They discuss the business case for love - How we can create cultures of growth, contribution and connection Talking to StartUp Sensations - “Building Community- a focus in emotional intelligence in business” ”Servant leadership and building communities' - with Kevin Thiele and Sales Code Leadership Podcast Building Community - A focus on emotional intelligence in business…

Tonight I am speaking at Google Campus in London about the experience of building a business that I loved and then seeing it die. The event run by Google is called “StartUp Funerals” I am proud to have been asked to do this as the learning achieved when you go through this type of experience helps to propel you onwards and with greater knowledge of yourself and business. Passing on this knowledge adds purpose to the experience. The first observation I made when asked is why does Google refer to the experience as #failure. I guess it is obvious to…

Coming back from being broken.. ... This year I decided to focus on rebuilding myself after years of ignoring exhaustion, stress, loss and disappointment. Overtime, unaware of it, I was losing a lot of confidence and feelings of self worth and so I retreated. I needed to repair, rebuild myself and consider my future. I wrote my book and let go of (for a while) the dream I have of The Business Cafe and decided to stop pushing. Living for income is very different to building an asset. Building a business on the scale that I want to build The…

Be the leader of your life and business If I asked you, “want is the life you want?”, would you be able to answer this? In 2018, I asked myself this, and it was hard I know there are people who are absolutely brilliant at setting out their goals, managing their time, stepping over obstacles, focusing on the vision, always looking beautiful, handsome, eating well, sleeping, meditating, succeeding. Preaching the gospels of their incredible life, we follow them, as maybe there is a chance we can be like them They have and giving us all the illusion of being in…

Recently I was invited to an event to ‘Celebrate 21st Century Women’. This seemed such a powerful and positive statement and event to go to. I accepted the invite with great joy. My thoughts as I drove there on a rainy, windy Friday night was how far we have come as women. I reflected on my own mum and then on my daughter, the life my mum led and the life my daughter lives and will lead, are so incredibly different. I realised that I was part of this change, the channel to a new way of being. All around…

I wonder how often you go online and are left with a feeling of lack. Noticing and judging yourself against all the things that you see online that others seem to be achieving. The emotions can be one of feeling you lack knowledge, skills, relationships, joy, money, beauty? The list can go on and on depending on your vulnerability at the time you see or hear something that triggers this emotion. I have learned that this comes from a need for us all to understand our own personal desires, dreams, ambitions and definitions of success. We need to clearly know…