When Many Heads are Better than One

Mary Whelan of the creativethinkingnetwork in action at SWIBN/ March 30th 2010. Photographs Frances Muldoon

The last 12 months has proved one thing. Members get real value from meeting and sharing ideas. It's not surprising given that many of us work on our own and have limited opportunity to bounce ideas around. Feedback consistently highlights this 'positive group effect'. We invited Mary to run a short workshop to build our skills around 'idea generation' and in so doing, help us to profit from our network's biggest asset.

Mary ran 3 distinct exercises and here's what you liked:

• Her Seekers/Finders game. Beneficial and value for money
• Workshop was inspiring, practical and fun
• Got the brain going - take all ideas (even the wild ones) on board
• Ideas came from people in different businesses
• Got one great idea from our speed dating
• Mary's techniques are new in themselves - would love to work with her again

Could your business benefit from being blitzed by ideas? Mary says it's simple and anyone can do it. The key is to have an open mind and the right attitude - as Henry Ford famously said " whether you think you can or you can't, you're right".

From the newly re-named Sligo Women in Business Creative Network (SWBCN)!

Napkin Sketches and Networking

Networking in person is all about good conversation but sometimes in that critical moment when we get to say what our business does, we struggle to find a meaningful explanation.

For our February event, in addition to re-running the elevator pitch workshop, we decided to reach for napkins. This time we began to draw out what we do, by sketching. And after that, we used the pictures to get talking - here is Ursula Schweiger at work.

Members' described their understandable fear of drawing " I'm embarrassed to show my results" but this was the only real negative. On the plus side, comments illustrated that informal sketching can help to:

• focus and make you think clearly about your business
• be specific, less general
  
• made talking more relaxed
  
• more fun
• more creative
• more associative (a trigger for new ideas)
• helps simplify technical processes

Memory: perhaps most important of all, when members were asked what they remember about each other, images it seems, are easier to recall than words.

We'll post a gallery of sketches so that you too can see the range of specialist business operating from Sligo in the North West of Ireland - each drawn on one side of a napkin.

Record attendance kick-starts 2010 for network

Enough of hearing from outside speakers! Members of the network made it clear they wanted to hear from each other this month.

19 members with just 90 seconds, a slide and a prop proved that being concise is key to getting your message across. Businesses ranged from the traditional - family locksmiths, Alison Smith to the brand new. Bua Marketing was presented for the first time by the talented Aoife Porter.

Did it work? Feedback was overwhelmingly positive "an excellent format and great way to hear about, as well as to promote business". So we've decided to do a re-run in February, with 20 more women business owners competing to get noticed in 90 seconds (that's not long - it's probably taken you just half that to read this blog)

Christmas Cocktail Night with BPW

23 exhibitors share an evening with Sligo BPW.

Here is what you told us afterwards

What did you like about it?

I loved the whole concept. It was great to be able to actually see what other members of SWIBN did. I feel that it was also a fantastic networking evening for everyone concerned. I really enjoyed the fact that we didn't all disappear off afterwards, most people seemed to stay and socialise

What did you not like about it?

I’m not sure whether much was sold. I know we didn’t sell much but I think that the format probably wasn’t great for selling wine (who’s going to carry it around afterwards)

If we were to run it again, what could be improved/made better?

(1) get everyone to invite 2 people. Offer them something free (nibbles etc) to get a crowd (2)advertise externallly or (3) get hotel staff to tell all guests on that day or day before to come down and look.

Thanks to everyone who was involved, let's take ideas forward for the next time

by Amanda Scott facilitator

Suzanne Kelly talks 'survival' to Sligo's self-employed women

Sligo Women in Business met on Tuesday 24th November. 37 members came to the Glasshouse hotel to hear guest speaker Suzanne Kelly.

Leading taxation barrister, broadcaster and lecturer, Suzanne offered practical advice - highlighting the essentials for surviving in business in the next 12 months.

"Cash is king, or possibly Queen, considering my audience tonight" she said

In terms of policy, Suzanne presented a 3 point recovery plan. Here is the key point which relates to small business owners (i.e. us):

The self-employed are currently the underdogs of the irish economy. They are denied State benefits accorded to others. Benefits such as pay-related social welfare, optical and dental subsidies and Family Income Supplement are refused to the self-employed. An entitlement to the equivalent amount of annual PAYE credit of €1830 is also declined.

The self-employed number about 220,000 and they are not a powerful lobby group. There are about 120,000 owner-controlled companies, usually a small or family-owned business. Again there is a denial of the PAYE credit to the directors of these companies who are PAYE taxpayers, where the credit can make a big difference to the tax bill on an annual income of 35,000.

Were you with us on the night and have a view you'd like to share? Please feel free to let us have your thoughts. As small business owners how do you think we can build our lobbying muscle? If you have ideas, get in touch.

Thank you to photographer and member Frances Muldoon (071 9177962).

by Amanda Scott Facilitator