First Person Singular!

Here is the original article submitted to the Chichester Observer.. in this weeks paper...with the photos (as requested) of my 'claim to fame'...

Dawn Gracie, Sales Coach and Manager of the Chichester branch of The Mumpreneurs Networking Club.

When I left school with 9 O’levels , I wanted to be a make-up artist and embarked on a career as a beauty therapist in Oxford.  My dream job came along and I worked for a day on the film ‘Three men and a little lady’ with Tom Selleck and Shelia Hancock but to this day I have no idea why I didn’t grab the opportunity to go back the following year to work on the film Robin Hood, Prince of Theives! I think I was busy just being 19 and having fun!

After moving to Brighton in 1991 I decided to change direction and applied to University to take a degree in Psychology. My passion is ‘what makes people tick’ and always has been. Whilst waiting for the application to be accepted, I accidentally got offered a really well paid job with a recruitment agency and so began my next career. University was never to be!

Two years and two children later, I had the urge to return to work and started working as a party plan rep with Body Shop at Home.  After a fantastic response to my recruitment advert with ABC Magazine, I successfully grew the Brighton team, but as It was only intended to be part-time, it had grown to such a size that required full time attention that I decided to hand the empire over and began working with ABC Magazine as their part time West Sussex Sales Manager.

I moved to Chichester in 2004 and carried on working for ABC Magazine to help grow the Franchise network and continue the advertising sales. In July 2010 I heard about the Mumpreneurs Networking Club which had eight groups across Sussex and London and decided to join the Chichester group to see if I could meet new advertisers and other local business people. Initially the thought of networking was daunting and I wondered if it really was all just an excuse to get out of the office rather than be a productive work activity.

It turned out to be a perfect mix of the two, and I loved the group so much, that in January this year, I took over the Chichester group and have since seen our network of clubs grow to twelve with more and more areas launching all the time. Despite the word ‘Mumpreneur’, it is NOT a club exclusive to Mums, or even women! We are a non-lock out group and welcome men and women (parents or not!) looking to reach women in business. Everyone is welcome at my friendly, informal group that meets once a month at a family friendly ‘day’ time at the Chichester Premier Inn!

Having mixed with some truly inspirational people, I decided in July to leave my job of eight years with ABC Magazine and have developed a rather niche business inspired by the Mumpreneurs. I am using my experience and knowledge to help other ‘Solopreners’ develop and hone their sales skills. I am now trading as Dawn Gracie Sales Coaching and offering 1-2-1 coaching and training for those who work alone, or in a small team. It can be a lonely job for these people so I offer my skills to inject enthusiasm and oomph into their sales activities, and offer a motivational ear when times seem tough.

I turned 40 this year and have achieved so much – lost nearly three stone with my personal trainer (met through Mumpreneurs Networking Club), threw a vintage style birthday party, won best dressed female at Goodwood Revival, and finally grew up and  joined the Chichester Chamber of Commerce.

I also run a holiday cottage from my home www.northleighcottage.co.uk and in my spare time (!) I sing in a fantastic local Chichester covers band called The Chain www.thechain.biz , scour charity shops and markets to collect vintage clothes, walk my two dogs Basil and Ruby at East Head, write a blog and visit food/craft fairs with my family.
What’s the saying? ‘Ask a busy person’!

 In my beauty therapy days...1989...

 I blame the 80's for the perm!

Steve Guttenburg also in Three Men & a Little Lady

Business to butter!

It’s taken me a few days to recover from the fantastic Business Mums Summit www.businessmumsconference.co.uk in Brighton and I’ve attempted three times to write a blog about it but it became one long string of words such as ‘inspiring, fabulous, creative, wonderful, honest and like minded’ So I gave up!

To summarise, it was a day of B2B exhibition stands, break-out business sessions, making excellent business contacts,  keynote speakers (including the fabulous and very honest Kate Garraway of www.goodypass.com and ITV!) and not to mention cupcakes, coffee and chatting!

I was there representing the Mumpreneurs Networking Club www.agoodgossip.co.uk where we were to ‘take control’ of the ‘Networking Conga’… this sounds fun in theory but rather noisy and hectic in practice. It was however a fantastic ice-breaker for the day and lots of business cards were exchanged and fifteen second stories shared. I even had my three seconds of fame on the BBC who were filming!

As my working day had started at 6.30am and ended at 7pm, I made it home and promptly fell asleep whilst checking my emails… to be woken up ten minutes later to the call of ‘Mum, I’ve got Food Tech tomorrow, have we got everything to make apple crumble?’. After all the inspiring conversations and honest ‘working mum’ speeches that had inspired me to JFDI and sort out various aspects of my new business www.dawngracie.com  (minor things like the website so check back with it shortly!!), it all came back to the day to day ‘mum-chores’  of rushing around trying to establish whether or not ‘unrefined’ brown sugar was just normal brown sugar, and were golden delicious really just small cooking apples? My business head would have to wait until the kids left for school in the morning…. with or without cooking apples, unrefined sugar and unsalted butter!

Proud to be a Mumpreneur

With the new school term, come new opportunities! The Mumpreneurs Networking Club is back after taking time out for the summer and it seems we are back in business and raring to go!  The summer seemed to come and go so quickly and with the children under our feet for six weeks, working in a house full of demanding little ones or transient teenagers coming and going, can prove tricky for Mumpreneurs who are juggling the work/life balance. How do we ever manage to achieve anything when our time is being pulled in so many directions? If you are running a business by yourself, generally working from a home office, then getting the balance right can be a daily struggle.

If you’ve read this far and are still wondering what I meant when I referred to ‘Mumpreneur’ then let me explain.  People have tried to define this in many ways and the Wikipedia listing is very revealing in as much as (as I type) it hasn’t yet created the English definition and instead has the American version  ‘Mompreneur is a neologism defined as a female business owner who is actively balancing the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur.  Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to help launch a new venture or enterprise and accept full responsibility for the outcome’.

 So it seems that the word Mumpreneur has been coined as a phrase to encapsulate the essence of a mother who is an independent business woman who might have started up her own business, or at least is flying solo in the big old world of business, perhaps as a franchisee or licensee yet combining it with her role as a mum and housekeeper. Quite a task you’d think, but there are millions of us out there doing just that! I was recently at a Business Link workshop when the trainer described JK Rowling as a famous Mumpreneur. I have to say, I initially disagreed because I’m not a Harry Potter enthusiast and didn’t really know her background, and even went as far as to denounce JK as an Entrepreneur at all. I assumed she was just a well educated lady who stumbled upon a good premise for a book at just the right time! Oh how I ate my words when I carried out some research on this amazing lady! Whilst on income support, she would pitch up in cafes to write her book with her daughter sleeping in her pram next to her, and despite stories being told about how she would be in the cafes because her flat had no heating, she cited one of the reasons she wrote in cafés was because taking her baby out for a walk was the best way to make her fall asleep and that she wasn’t stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in the middle of winter! Despite many knock backs including the twelve publishing houses that rejected her book (oh how can they sleep at night?) she continued with a ‘do or die’ attitude and eventually her book series were a success and within five years she became a multi-millionaire. A Mumpreneur we can all aspire to and certainly worth a doffing of the (sorting) hat!

Personally, my motives go beyond my need to fulfil my role as a parent. Ten years ago before the term ‘Mompreneur’ even reached our shores, a  good chunk of my reason for pursuing the path of self employment and entreprenurship was because I wanted the time and freedom to work and be a parent on my own terms, thus keeping my hand in the world of business yet having total control over my time with the children.  Therefore, yes, I am proud to call myself a Mumpreneur. It would be lovely to think that I could enjoy a fraction of the success of JK Rowling, but for now I am very happy helping others achieves their goals in business with my work as a Sales Coach and one to one sales trainer for small businesses.

In relation to the Mumpreneurs Networking Club, the word is used to define our core members but it also means the above and a whole lot more. As a networking club with eleven groups running across Sussex and London, we aim to reach women who are out there ‘doing it for themselves’ as well as enabling men and women who might not be micro businesses themselves to reach these ladies to offer their products and services. So if you are working within an accountancy firm or a design agency, then these are services that would prove very useful to a Mumpreneur looking at going it alone.

The purpose of a networking group is not to create a clique of people who meet on a regular basis to chat business, but to create a comfortable and safe environment for likeminded people to swap experiences, ideas, skills and of course referrals. Did you know it can take up to seven times for someone to meet you in a networking environment in order for them to trust you enough to do business? Networking is not a one-hit-wonder, and you really have to commit yourself going on a regular basis. Look for the right group for your particular needs and business/services as one size certainly does not fit all in networking. That’s why there’s so many to choose from! Each group has it’s own style and format, and even huge differences in the time of the day they meet. Some meetings are held very early morning and referred to as ‘breakfast’ meetings which are great for the people who can squeeze in some valuable networking before heading off to work, but not so terrific if for instance you are a Mumpreneur (or Dadpreneur) who still has the school run to do before settling down to some work. My local Chichester Branch of The Mumpreneurs Networking Club meets at a very family friendly time of 10am until 11.30am at the Chichester Premier Inn, Chichester Gate. I carefully selected this venue because it has a lovely restaurant area which they give us exclusive use of, it is very central, lots of free parking and we have lots of members from other groups such as Worthing, Arundel and Brighton who leave their cars at home and hop on the train. The venue is a few minutes’ walk from the train station making it very accessible.

We have such a varied attendee profile – from Virtual Assistants (VA’S) to Bookkeepers, and social media experts to personal trainers. All networking and swapping contacts and cards! If this sounds like something you would like to become involved with, then we welcome first timers to come along as a guest to try it before committing to membership. All the details can be found on www.agoodgossip.co.uk

Stepping out of your comfort zone!

Just occasionally it's good to put yourself firmly out of your comfort zone, otherwise, how will you ever learn from new experiences? Last week, I placed myself so firmly out of mine, that it caused hot sweats, palpitations and even a sleepless night. You know when you sit bolt upright in bed and ask yourself 'what was I thinking agreeing to that?’ Well for me, this year has been intentionally a year of 'challenge the comfort zone'! 2011 was to be the year I turned 40 and I intended to make it one to remember. In January I decided that with three months until my birthday - I was planning a big vintage themed bash of course - I wanted to lose weight and go from a size 18 to a size 12/14. This involved entering a serious discomfort zone of intensive personal training and sensible eating. This discomfort zone became more and more comfortable, dare I say it rather enjoyable after a few weeks and I managed to break some really bad habits that were going to lead to a future of Ill health and unhappiness. I’m thrilled to report that the hard work paid off, and thanks to Lucy Rodmell of Starfish Personal Training www.starfish-pt.com I continued the good work and have made permanent life changes and feel better than I had done throughout all of my thirties!
The next comfort zone to be tackled head on was my job. I had enjoyed eight  very happy years with ABC Magazine and I still class Rachel, the editor as a good friend and I respect her and the ABC Magazine Empire enormously www.abcmag.co.uk . However, I had to address the urge I'd had for a few months of trying something new. I've always been in sales in one capacity or another and with my new 'extra' role as a Manager with the Mumpreneurs Networking Club (Chichester branch) www.agoodgossip.co.uk I had been mixing with lots of inspirational men and women who are all out there 'doing it for themselves'. Inspired by them, I decided to step out of my 'regular income' comfort zone and into the unknown, and with the total support of my husband, I decided to take the leap of faith, and immediately picked up clients for my new 'Dawn Gracie Sales Coaching' business. It seemed that my skills and knowledge were in demand and my new comfort zone was feeling very comfortable indeed.
Helping others in the quest to make their discomfort zones a more comfortable place is fantastic, I work one-to-one to identify areas of weakness in people’s sales processes and techniques and help individuals to overcome them in order to achieve better incomes for themselves. This however requires my clients to be prepared to admit to, and tackle their discomfort zones head on. Stepping out of a stagnant sales comfort zone and into a wonderful, challenging, exhilarating discomfort zone where growth and success can blossom and your business can become all you dreamt of.

Are you still wondering what I challenged myself with last week that led me to have a sleepless night and palpitations? Put it this way, it was nothing that a good photographer, a skilled makeup artist and good lighting couldn’t put right! Enough said.

The bits you didn't know behind Sunday Best at Goodwood Revival

Well my head has been spinning since Goodwood Revival on Sunday! What started out as a pretty dismal day given that I hadn't slept much that night thanks to a dodgy piece of chicken (the restraunt shall remain nameless) turned out to be my absolute favourite day of the year!
In between stomach cramps and yawns big enough to engluf my entire collection of vintage clothing, I battled through just hoping the Immodium would kick in quick enough to enable me to at least get some false eyelashes on! And true to it's promise, the 'quick action' really was quick, and I was feeling much better in no time at all! So began the backcombing, the spraying, the clipping, the backcombing and more spraying! My bedroom was sheer chaos with four frenzied females all vying for mirror time, and so to calm us down and 'get us in the mood' I plugged in the ipod and put on some Bruno Mars - never fails to cheer me up and calm me down. Approx two hours later, we were ready for the off, and one last look in the mirror, not to mention the lost shoe, the missing eyelash and the broken umbrella, we departed looking truly fabulous to my favourite event of the year! Goodwood Revival.
As ususal, the traffic was slow but to us ladies, that meant extra time to preen and curl, courtesy of my portable curling tongs (what did I ever do without them?!). Arriving at Goodwood, I was busy taking note of where we'd parked when we were approached my a 'lady cab' asking if us 'ladies' would like a courtesy lift to the gates, to 'save our heels'... now this really captures the essence of the Revival! WHEN would that EVER happen in real life?
For those of you who have never been to the Revival, it has been set in the magnificent Goodwood historic motor circuit since 1998 when the current Earl of March, restored it to its former glory as a racetrack as it was during the late 40's-early 60's. Combine vintage cars, motorbikes, aeorplanes and clothing representing these eras and put it all together in a 'recreation' situaton, and you have the Revival. It's like stepping back into a variety of times and enjoying them all at once. It's a feast for the eyes and ears in every respect.
So we did the usual procedure of men in one direction (cars) and women/children in the other (clothes/shopping) and agreed to meet later on for something to eat. The next few hours were spent wandering around taking photos, having photos taken, saying hello to people and congratulating the very well dressed for looking so authentic. I would say approx 80% of people are dressed in costumes from 1940-'s-50's with the minority in 1960's-70's... and even the children dress up!
Every time I caught myself in the mirror, I cringed somewhat at the white sheen that covered my hair - I would advise spraying dry shampoo BEFORE hairspray to add volume to victory rolls as mine gave the impresson I had far more grey hair than I actually did! Honest!
However, the short rain showers we had did me a favour by softening the effect and washing away some of the powder making me look less like Bram Stoker's Dracula aka Gary Oldman!
As we were wandering around the paddocks, we were approached by a dapper chap, asking us to go and have a photo taken for the Best Dressed competition. We approached the little studio that had been set up in a cute vintage open sided van, and quickly had a shot taken, and were asked to return to the main marquee at 4pm for the results. As we wandered away, we giggled at the fact that he hadn't taken our names or any details and so we assumed we would just return at 4pm as crowd fodder. A few hours passed and we watched the incredible Spitfire fly over, and took a peek in the brilliant Tescos shop that had been recreated (stock on the shelves too!) with a vintage feel - even the staff had polyester checked overcoat dresses on and looked brilliant!
As we were sheltering from the second shower of the day, at the vintage tea rooms, we realised that we only had a few minutes to get to the marquee! So we raced over and sheltered next to the Veuve Cliquot bar (resisted buying half a bottle as it was £45 and we were only carrying half a shilling!). The compere called for all participants to move closer to the stage and a crowd of around 80 took their place, as we watched the host bring up a variety of well dressed chaps in their de-mob suits and race gear. The chap who won looked so dashing in his bright yellow race shirt and fully authentic accessories. During this, I was approached by someone and given a rosette to put on my wrist... I couldn't work out if it was a nuber 7 or 1 so I quickly borrowed some lipstick and checked my victory rolls just in case I was called up!
All ten female rosette holders were called up to stage and the compere asked a few of them to explain their outfits, which ranged from 1940's to 1970's and one very beautiful lady even had a ball gown on and looked incredible. As third place was called (the 1970's lady), my cheeks began to quiver and quite unlike me, I began to feel a little stage fright as I've NEVER been in a contest like this and could feel people with a million eyes judging me and whispering comments to each other. As second palce was called (dapper lady in plus fours and tweed ensemble) I looked for my family in the audience, and considered how to place my facial expression when someone else was called as the winner as I knew there would be cameras firing as soon as the announcement was made and I needed to look happy for them - which of course I would be!
As number 7 was called... I waited for a split second to see where the compere looked (was I number 7 or 1?) and behold it was me! I think anyone there would vouch for the fact that I was genuinely shocked and amazed that the lady in the ball gown didn't win!
When asked about my outfit, I found myself announcing that I'd waited FIVE years to get into this dress and had lost three stone to achieve it! This went down very well with the audience and was greeted with whoops of appreciation from most of the ladies in the room! I resisted the temptation of thanking Immodium for making it all possible etc etc and just posed for the camera with a knowing smile!

On a last note, I must tell you waht my second favourite day of the year so far has been... it was my vintage themed 40th birthday party in March where i had three costume changes! Now that's another story!

Well here it is! At last, after months and months of promising I would do this, I have finally sorted a blog! I was advised by 70% of the people I asked, to blog via Wordpress... but even with the help of my technically adept husband, I decided to plump for Blogger. It really did only take about 5 minutes and here I am!

It has been a hell of a week with Global Mumpreneurs Networking day on Tuesday at The Grand Hotel in Brighton, which included a live link-up with business women in Uganda and lots of our own members and visitors gathering together for some great networking. We really are a force to be reckoned with! The biscuits didn't stand a chance!

Today I wrote an article titled 'Proud to be a Mumpreneur' and have submitted it to The Chichester Observer in the hope that it will appear in the paper ahead of my first Chichester networking meeting of the new term on Septemebr 29th. It was great fun to write and it was whilst writing it, that I decided to finally get this blog sorted!

So here it is, and I can't wait to give you a regular glimpse of my life as a Mumpreneur.

Check out our club www.agoodgossip.co.uk