According to the University of Illinois, the mild rabble of a crowd – or even a radio – can inspire creative types to think “out-of-the-box”. Anything much louder could easily become a distraction.

Business professor Ravi Mehta called the effect the “Goldilocks principle”, whereby volumes of around 70 decibels mark the “sweet spot.

“What we found is that there’s an inverted-U relationship between noise level and creativity,” the professor told sci-news.com. “It turns out that around 70 decibels is the sweet spot. If you go beyond that, it’s too loud, and the noise starts to negatively affect creativity. It’s the Goldilocks principle – the middle is just right.”

Citing other examples of applicable noise levels, dailymail.co.uk revealed that a single car driving past equates to around 70 decibels, as does a radio – or pub chatter. Beeping lorry horns and a stream of traffic meanwhile are far too loud (85 – 110 decibels), while the rabble of a nearby dinner table is too quiet (60 decibels).

Professor Mehta concluded that those struggling to be creative in a quiet environment might therefore benefit from moving to an area that is slightly noisier.

“Our findings imply that instead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking outside of one’s comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment like a café may actually trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas,” he concluded.

Specifically this has been achieved by the 150 finalists for the Ernst & Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year title, each of whom have been recognised for their ability to prosper ‘despite the ongoing economic turbulence’. 

From 2009 – 2011, these companies are said to have increased headcount by 23 per cent; equating to 63,618 jobs.

The findings have shown that entrepreneurs – whether running a small family business, working from home, taking on freelance jobs or a mumpreneur – are playing a crucial part in boosting the UK’s economy.

A survey discovered that 21 per cent of the finalists were hoping to expand into international markets, while 28 per cent intended to build on existing domestic markets for growth.

Despite the impressive statistics, particularly in terms of employment, the finalists did cite some concerns. Almost a third of respondents said their ‘key challenge’ was slow economic recovery, while a quarter were worried about the inability to find skilled workers. 

Commenting about the finalists, Stuart Watson, UK Entrepreneur of the Year leader, told freshbusinessthinking.com: “Dynamic businesses, led by entrepreneurs with the energy and insight to drive their business forward, have demonstrated that they are a major factor in rejuvenating the UK economy.

“However, there is a sense that they are achieving these results despite serious issues around talents and skills shortages which need to be tackled.”

To succeed as a woman in business is tough. The ‘glass ceiling’ is there to be broken and there are some real external barriers to female progression:

• Women make many sacrifices and tradeoffs while moving up the pipeline;
• Women cannot commit in the same way as male equivalents;
• Women have less opportunity for social networking with business contacts; and
• Women are often in an environment that can discourage them from advancing because they are male dominated.

Little wonder that there are fewer women in senior positions and women are under-represented in the boardroom.

I’m not disputing that there are some real external barriers that can prevent or slow down women’s progression, and there are organisations who get it right and support women’s career progression, by creating more opportunities to be mentored, more flexible working options, rotational job assignments, to name a few.

However, I also think we need to be very honest with ourselves and consider how we can ‘get out of our own way’. As Timothy Galway, author of the Inner Game of Work (also wrote Inner Game of Tennis & Golf) says, ‘Get out of your own way to let your best game emerge’.

From my experience of working with women and men, in most of the cases, it is an imposed glass ceiling that women and men put on themselves, our own ‘inner ceiling’. The ceiling can be a series of limiting assumptions we make about ourselves, our place in the business, our skills etc. How can we learn to get out of our own way and be the high achievers in our careers?

1. Take command of yourself;
2. Have a strong sense of identity and high self esteem; and
3. Be a role model in your organisation.

1.  TAKE COMMAND OF YOURSELF

Start by taking command of your state and thoughts and learn to focus your energy on controlling the things you can control, such as what we think and feel about things and other people, and what we say and do.

We have little or no control over the stock market, our government, and we cannot determine what other people think, do or say – especially what they think and say about us. Everyone has their own map of the world, perceptions and beliefs, all of which are really out of our control. Focus on what you can do, as Stephen Covey writes, ‘focusing on what you can do is proactive and empowering – be part of the solution not part of the problem.’

The people who do this are victors of circumstance and are the people we wish to have as role models, those who cut their own paths. The people who stick to the status quo tend to be externally directed and can become victims of circumstance. You can choose whether to live as a victim or victor of circumstance. As you go through your career there will be choices to make along the way. Go into your choices consciously.

“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” (Eleanor Roosevelt, American First Lady, Columnist, Lecturer)

Secondly, ask yourself better reflective questions and always check on how it makes you feel. Looking at this in relation to your career, ask yourself how much time you spend planning the month and year ahead and then reflect. Ask yourself, ‘What do I really enjoy about my work? How does it make me feel?’.

2.  HAVE A STRONG SENSE OF IDENTITY AND HIGH SELF ESTEEM

One of the characteristics of successful women is that of authenticity – being true to who you are. A lot of the work I do with women, and specifically women transitioning from maternity, is to help them to get closer to their true self-image and begin to express who they really are. This then helps them to deal with the challenges of perception at work and comments made by colleagues about women leaving on time in a ‘long hours’ culture. You have to be strong and know that you are doing a good job.

Start to measure success according to what feels right for you and stop chasing down everyone else’s definition of success. You can start by having a look at how you have valued yourself over the years:

• Reflect on the times in your life when the people and events around you, and the things you were doing gave you high levels of confidence. What does this tell you about you?

• Also reflect on when, where and with whom you felt most comfortable. When you are out of your comfort zone, what happens to you – physically (where do you feel tension), mentally (what happens to the clarity or optimism of your thinking) and emotionally (how do you feel about yourself, the other people and the situation).

What tends to hold women back in their careers, again and again, is a lack of confidence. Work-life balance is also an issue but this tends to be tied up with confidence. Women with lower confidence sometimes find it hard to take advantage of opportunities to get a better work-life balance. This is particularly true of women who are returning to work from maternity who find it difficult to stand up for what they want in their work and life and to manage the expectations of their boss and their own expectations.

3.  BE A ROLE MODEL

Be the one who takes command of yourself and becomes more aware of your own assumptions. When interacting with your team and others, start to reveal your assumptions and inquire into others’ reasoning.

An example of this is when leading or working as part of a team on a project that is facing some client difficulties, look inside yourself and examine your own role in the difficulties and encourage each other to question each other’s assumptions. This is instead of looking entirely outside yourself and the team and seeing the client as ‘a bad client to work for’. Use these skills to mentor others and listen and help them with the challenges they face in their work and life.

SUMMARY

1. The biggest barrier in our path is the one that we have placed there. ‘Get out of your own way’ by taking command of your state and thoughts and choosing to be the victor of circumstance and not the victim;
2. Be true to who are you by having a strong sense of identity; and
3. Be the role model to your teams.

Kate Adey
Business Consultant & Coach

If you need specific help with achieving your goals, Kate can be contacted via her website at kateadey.co.uk.  Do also keep posted for her forthcoming webinar with Mary Cummings on “How to grow your business through collaborations and joint ventures”

Give it a go and ask other people for help and advice. Although people are busy, the majority will take the time to respond

Name of Business:  Mama To Me

Founder:  Kerry Lister and Amanda Waring

Children: Kerri is mum of a four year old, and Amanda has two boys aged 4 and 2

1. What was the inspiration behind you founding MamaToMe?

My business partner Amanda Waring and I originally met at a conference and quickly struck up a friendship and supported each other weekly on a phone call and often on emails and as we both have products in the nursery industry (Tidy Trays high chair covers for me, and Mama Jewels for Amanda) and we realised that word of mouth is so important in getting the word out there on new products and we conceived the idea of Mama To Me.

Mama To Me sells new parent inspired baby products through account managers, not only do we support the mum and dad inventors, we supports mums and dads who want to earn extra money around their lives with children.

2. Were there any challenges in starting up?

The biggest challenge I would say was distance, we live 150 miles away so we met up half way in between us a few times and worked a lot on Skype and on the phone, but we found this pretty easy, although not perfect.

We used a lot of the contacts we already had in the business, and used lessons we had already learnt with our businesses to not make the same mistakes again

3. How did you fund your business, and what advice would you give to others about funding?

We started the business on a very small budget but we accomplished this by designing and building our own website, which is often the biggest expense for a start-up.

I would say try everything yourself, we based our website on a free piece of software, we use social media and have not had to outsource anything as yet. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost you time, but you do get an amazing sense of achievement and save pennies in the bank!

4. What would you say is the ‘secret’ to maintaining a good work life balance?

I don’t think we know the secret and don’t think we have achieved it, but working in a partnership is something neither of us have done before, so we concentrate on parts of the business which fit our skills. We both have days off when we don’t work (although smartphones mean you can always check your emails). I tend to catch up when my son is at school or in bed, its Friday at 10pm when I am writing this!

5. What projects are you working on now/ have you worked on recently?

I also run BuyStudentArt.co.uk which is an online art gallery and Tidy Trays. I also organise the free Surrey Business Mums networking event, which takes place monrhlyt in Addlestone. Amanda owns Mama Jewels and runs the Nottingham Mums Club

6. Who or what inspires you?

My inspiration is the late Anita Roddick, I read about her when I was in my teens and I saw how someone who was a mum could also be an empowered business woman, who literally started at her kitchen table.

7. What do you hope to be doing in five years’ time?

I would like to be doing what I am now, loving my job and having a bigger team to work with me. I am a control freak and have to learn how to delegate better!

8. What advice would you give other mums thinking of starting a business?

• To give it a go and ask other people for help and advice. Although people are busy, if you ask the right questions then the majority of people will take the time to respond.
• Have a go at everything and if you fail then outsource, but shop about and ask for personal recommendations
• Don’t believe everything people say there is often a lot of “false information” that people broadcast about themselves and their companies, just worry about yourself!
• Network when you can, see if you can find a local group, like Surrey Business Mums which runs at a Sure Start Centre so children are more than welcome, its nice to find people in the same situation as you; if you cant get to a networking event, then network online at places like www.mumsclub.co.uk
• Barter your skills, if you need professional headshots then trade something you can do in exchange, baby sitting or a birthday cake? I trade some of my printing with baby sitting for our local printer!
• Enter awards, as soon as you are up and running find awards to enter. If you get through to the final then this can be amazing PR and free. It raises the profile of your company and many of them are free to enter.

Frances Strickley, Thomas Eggar LLP

Research recently released by the MWB Business Exchange revealed that a third of City of London firms have made no contingency plans for the Olympics, and only one in 10 are planning to allow staff flexible working facilities such as being able to work from home.

Frances Strickley, Associate at leading law firm Thomas Eggar LLP believes City of London firms must prepare now for the Olympics to maintain good employee relations and ensure that disruption to business is kept to a minimum.

Frances provides her top 3 tips for City employers and HR managers in preparing for this summer’s Olympics.

1. Be flexible and consistent

Employers will be facing holiday requests from volunteers and employees who want to watch the Games at home or in person, as well as the usual peak holiday season requests.

Employers do have a right to decline requests, however refusals must be fair and consistent in order to preserve good relations and avoid discrimination allegations. Acas, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, has issued helpful guidance on how to avoid employee absence during the Games, reiterating the importance of being clear and honest with employees and to try and be as flexible as possible. (http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3392)

2. Watching the Games and flexible working

Inevitably, some employees will be arriving late for work and/or wanting to leave early. To minimise the impact of this, employers may want to consider the following:-

• Providing facilities to watch the Games at work, or allowing employees internet access at certain points to watch events online;
• Introducing a flexible working policy on the condition that employees still work their core hours and are available when required would reduce the risk of punctuality issues; or
• Agreeing temporary changes to the terms and conditions of employment to enable them to work from home or commute outside the busiest travel times.

3. Temporary workers: Plan ahead

Employers are likely to need a number of temporary staff to meet the increased demand in business and cover absent employees’ shifts.

Plan ahead and book in temporary staff now to ensure you have consistent staffing levels and are not left without adequate cover during the Games.

And what if you are an employee wanting time off for the games to volunteer?  Hopefully most employers will be lenient during the games, but be aware that they are not obliged to give you time off.  ACAS has the following tips which you might find useful:

• If you are a volunteer “Games Maker” at the Olympics but your boss won’t let you have the time off.  There is no legal right to time off to volunteer. Your employer will need to look at their business needs when allocating time off. Check with your line manager if the company has a policy on volunteering. You may be able to reach a compromise – in terms of taking annual leave or unpaid leave for some of the days.
• If you don’t have enough holiday left to take, discuss this with your employer, they may have a policy for employees wishing to volunteer as many businesses now actively encourage employees to get involved in community or charitable projects. Your employer may allow you time off, either unpaid or paid, or even match your annual leave with special leave.

The key is to plan ahead and get your request in as early as possible!

At least, that’s the conclusion drawn from a new Forum of Private Business (FPB) report, which examined which was the best place in the UK to run a small business. Overall, three-quarters of those polled felt that they were working from an ‘ideal’ spot with services that met their needs.

Apparently, 78 per cent of business owners in the North West are ‘satisfied’ with their location and the same proportion of South West entrepreneurs claimed they are ‘happy’ where their work location. This is in contrast with those operating from Scotland – just 65 per cent thought their base was ‘effective’.

London scored somewhere in between at 74 per cent, despite boasting what might be generally perceived as the country’s best transport links, telecommunications and access to amenities.

According to buildersmerchantsnews.co.uk, proximity to road links are the most important factor for small business owners, no doubt especially for those that work from home. Centrality and footfall were cited as other top considerations. 

However, reliability of broadband and telecommunications was deemed the most vital factor in terms of growth. 80 per cent of respondents said that this was important and a problem for those in rural areas.

Flexible working featured in the Queen’s speech on May 9th 2012.  Under the Children and Families Bill, parental leave, speedier adoptions and a shake-up of support for children with special educational needs were announced.

Under the plans,

• Mothers could share their maternity leave with fathers.
• Parents will be given access to flexible leave to allowing greater sharing of caring responsibilities.
• Families will get more choice on education for pupils with special educational needs, as well as benefiting from a simplifid SEN statement process, which will extend to young people up to the age of 25 in further education.
• On family law, there will be a six month deadline to complete care cases and if families break up, the law will be strengthened to make sure children continue to have a relationship with both parents if it’s in their best interests.

Many have welcomed the flexible working plans.  Iain McMath, managing director of Sodexo Motivation Solutions, the leading provider of childcare vouchers in the UK, said:

“In these tough economic times, we absolutely welcome any support for struggling working families.  Most companies are not currently offering pay rises so flexible working hours can be a great way of financially supporting employees and enabling them to spend time with their families. We have all seen that the cost of childcare can have a crippling effect on family finance. Today’s announcement will go some way to providing families with added options over parental leave which will enable them to manage their childcare needs in a more economically viable way.”

However, some fear that the new flexible working plans could be cumbersome to administer.   Leon Deakin, an employment associate at leading law firm Thomas Eggar, commented:

“The government’s plans could be extremely difficult to operate. Moving to a system where parents can take ‘chunks’ of leave a few weeks at a time and/or take the time off together will be extremely cumbersome and is unlikely to sit neatly with providing a consistent and reliable service.

“More importantly, to avoid abuse or human error employers will need to keep a close eye on things to verify what dates individuals become eligible for their rights, as well as what leave has been taken when and by whom.

“Indeed the employer will not just need to know what leave their own employee has actually taken but also what leave and when the other individual in the relationship has benefitted from. In most cases that individual will be employed elsewhere, which complicates matters further as the employer will either need to contact the other employer directly or rely on information being relayed to them.  If both parents have the same employer this may reduce the administration element but what happens if they choose to take time off together? This could be disastrous for small businesses.”

For more information on this bill, please see source article on BBC News Education and Family

Software development company, Condaal Ltd, has created the ‘Small Business Software Accelerator Competition’ to provide assistance to a small business which, simply, has ‘great ideas’. It is being kicked off at the Business Startup Exhibition which takes place at the ExCeL in London on 17 – 18 May.

Whether a mumpreneur running a business from home or a freelancer wanting to create a company, the competition is open to all that meet criteria prescribed on the firm’s website. The winner will receive guidance and bespoke software without any upfront costs.

Co-founder, Simon Conway explained the unique offer as a way to help a small business reach its potential, citing the economy as a barrier to “the sort of software development that is required to drive business success”.

The successful start-up will be rewarded with the right software solutions to drive its business forward. Applications should be received by 14 May, when feedback can be obtained from Condaal Ltd at the Business Startup Exhibition.

The Exhibition, aimed at those who are considering starting or expanding a business, will offer advice and guidance via a range of seminars, from the 350 exhibitors and one to one sessions with industry experts, bstartup.com says.

The event also features some impressive keynote speakers, including ex-’Dragon’ James Caan, small business minister, Mark Prisk and author/entrepreneur, Shaa Wasmund. 

All joking aside, I’m probably not alone in having neglected writing projects sitting in word documents, unloved without a home to go to like an abandoned kitty!

On my ever growing TO DO list was to put some of my work onto Kindle. As I have also dabbled in publishing I have various projects that I know are worth revisiting and discussing with associates/clients as what better platform exists than to re-publish on Kindle?

Having spent a great few days with my best friend and journalist Debbie Durbin rummaging through my various training manuals and business articles, she encouraged me to think seriously about utilising all my material into a Kindle book.

Tester Book

In my eagerness I thought perhaps I should quickly put something together as a publishing tester for my more serious project. I spent a day re-visiting a few previously published poetry books in one of my pen names Evelyn King, I added a few more and hey presto a little tester book was born. ‘Keep Scratching’ an anthology of cat poems.

Getting started

The Kindle self-publishing service is really user friendly with step by step processes. First off I visited their site https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help? for guide lines on preparing your word document. It is important to avoid too much whitespace for reproducing on Kindle, and soon my document was ready to upload. In my excitement I hadn’t provided a cover, though Kindle will provide a temporary one.

It couldn’t be easier, you just have to set up an account, then add titles to the Bookshelf and provide relevant book details, distribution rights and royalties. Amazon allocates your book a reference, but I included my own publishing ISBN no too. Amazingly it only takes 36-72 hours -but if you change anything you have to wait a day for those to be implemented. kdp-support@amazon.com offer great backup.

There is also their author page facility where you can write your bio and a bit about the book.

Designing a cover –use a professional

My book already on the system I returned my attention to getting a visual for my book cover. It is not often the case that writers are also designers or illustrators so don’t skimp employ the services of somebody who can do your book justice. As we all know the first thing that readers will see is the front cover and may well be an encouraging factor in buying your book…. this applies to Kindle readers too.

Choosing the right visual

Fortunately for me I have a talented graphic designer in the family and had already commissioned Paul Manning (my nephew) in advance to produce artwork for the serious business project. I asked if he fancied doing the honours for my Cat Poetry book too. Initially I sent across a black and white photo of one of my cats and he soon came back advising the quality was not good enough to use for him to produce something of a sufficient standard and he would source me an image of suitable quality and resolution to meet Kindle’s requirements.

Paul Manning Graphic Designer said:-

‘The saying goes “You should never judge a book by its cover” but a book’s cover is actually very important.  Whether in a bookstore or online, it is the first thing that catches your eye and often engages your interest. Although an unappealing cover may not reflect a book’s content, it could be enough to repel the interest of perusing eyes.

Later that day I received a JPEG with a supurrrb book cover which was ideal. Not only had he included all the information, it was in exactly the right style for cat lovers. He had even managed to have a visual of a cat scratching to go with the title. Within minutes I had uploaded this onto my Bookshelf on Kindle and only moments later the visual appeared on my Amazon page.

Acknowledgements –being careful

As an ex- Trade Mark lass I take copyright very seriously and updated my Publisher’s page to include and acknowledge Paul’s work (why shouldn’t he receive credit?) and of course on his own bequest, his source for visual.  This meant I had to re-upload the amended word document: Cover designed by www.p-manning.com Imagery courtesy of Shutterstock.com.

Kindle Successes

I stopped working for my client to have a quick coffee and read September’s issue of ‘Writing Magazine/Writers News’ which had just arrived. I read with interest the two articles written by famous writers about their experiences of Kindle publishing and quickly decided I needed to go back and reduce the price of my book taking on board their sound advice.

As a writer I have been reading and utilising advice from my ‘Writers News’ magazine for near-on twenty-five years. As our Editor Mary and I have discussed this morning this magazine always has the up to the minute advice for writers exploring different avenues to reach a new or larger audience.

I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination the cat poetry book will make me a millionaire but watch this space?

Annie Manning

Annie is also author of “Circle of Success – a 30 minute read on customer engagement” available on Amazon Kindle

Speaking to journalism.co.uk, technology writer Huw Kidwell described how he gets to cover all sorts of different events and news stories as a freelance journalist, adding that “it’s never boring or repetitive”.

As well as never feeling bored, the other part of freelance jobs he enjoys is being his own boss, as it allows him the flexibility to be hands-on with his children; for instance, helping out with the school run.

Reflecting on the funniest experiences in his career, he said: “I was once commissioned by a company to conduct some industry telephone interviews. Another client contacted me asking if I could lead a telephone interview for them … turns out I was the one asking the questions, and answering them!”

Peculiar experiences are commonplace among more adventurous writers. One freelance journalist who recently pursued an unusual project that turned into a book is Lizzie Stark, author of ‘Leaving Mundania’. She spent 18 months taking part in live action role play games in New York state in the US, according to bbc.co.uk.

Ms Stark, who ended up travelling to Scandinavia to complete her research into this type of game, played ‘Knight Realms’ – a game that has reportedly been going on for years. She described it as being like playing a part in a video game, but in real life.