Karen Skidmore is a marketing consultant and business growth advisor who helps business owners create simpler, smarter, more profitable businesses. We asked her to share a glimpse into her life and work…

What do you do?

I’ve been running my own coaching business for the past 15 years. I left my corporate career as a director for a FTSE100 recruitment group when my eldest child started school and initially started a term-time only business, enjoying the flexibility of being mum alongside my speaking, coaching and online courses.

Today, I help coaches, trainers and spiritual leaders grow their businesses with simple, powerful planning, revenue streams and marketing systems. Working mainly from home, I spend my time running group programmes, strategy planning with clients and writing my second book, True Profit Business.

What’s your “big why”?

Entrepreneurial burnout is rife.

The growing pressure of trying to keep up with the latest digital marketing trends, being taught to see being busy as a sign of success, and social media feeds fuelling a false reality of what entrepreneurial life looks like, have dangerously pushed thousands into working hard on the wrong projects and using the wrong energy.

Having experienced business and physical burnout first hand, I want to put a stop to this alpha culture and give small business owners a simpler and more connected path to business growth.

I don’t believe digital is the way forward for everyone and with the right business model, processes and systems in place, more people can create a business that is playful, purposeful and profitable.

What’s your daily routine like?

My children are full grown teenagers, with one on a GAP year and the other at 6th Form College, so morning routines are fairly relaxed compared to 10 years ago.

I start my day early, once my husband has left for work at 6.30am, with quiet time, either journalling or writing. A few days a month, you’ll find me spending a day with a client, running a one-day training or mastermind day or speaking at a conference, but most of my time I am working from home, with my client calls and programmes being run via video conference.

This means I am free to dog walk and make the most of the stunning National Trust land that is on our doorstep every day.

What demands do you balance every day in conjunction with your work?

My husband is out 12 hours a day, with a long commute so the day-to-day running of the household falls on my shoulders. I have a cleaner who comes once a week and I outsource my ironing so the regular demands I have to balance is to run the family taxi service and ensure my family are well fed (I always cook suppers from scratch during the week).

How do you feel about women’s “lot” these days?

I used to feel there was a lot to deal with. When our children were younger, there was far more ferrying around to be done, waiting in various car parks until their after school activities where finished.

But because I felt I was the one who had to deal with it, I rarely asked for help and got very stressed and angry at times that it was all down to me.

I wish I had known about SoftPower types and triggers back then as I am sure I would have enjoyed my mum-life far more!

How does femininity and Soft Power feature in your business/ career? What does it look like?

Soft Power has revolutionised the way that I work, every day.

I spent the first 20 years of my professional career in Superwoman mode; I can see that now.

I was part of the alpha culture of individual goals and believing that working harder was the only way to get better results. Today, I feel in flow with my business and spend a lot of time looking after my health and day-to-day energy.

The biggest contribution SoftPower makes to me right now is to be able to tune into my natural rhythms; my menstrual cycles, my energy flow throughout the day as well as taking note of the moon and seasonal patterns.

Knowing that I can call on different SoftPower Types to help me in different work situations has helped me tune more into my intuition to make decisions, be less stressed and avoid being triggered.

What is the most common emotion you feel on a day-to day basis?

On a good day, my most common emotion is calm and knowing. However, on bad days, I can worry a lot and anxiety rears its head. I still do far too much thinking and my brain can work overtime on these kinds of days.

How important do you think vulnerability is in life and career? And have you ever been vulnerable in an uncomfortable (or usually unacceptable) situation?

Very! Particularly in our careers. The more open I believe we are about how we feel about decisions or opportunities in our careers and business, the better outcomes we will get. It’s been easy for me to do what I think I should be doing or let my ego make my decisions, but this rarely helps in the long term.

I have learnt that I can open without being rude or brash, too. I think there is a difference between being opinionated and not caring what others may think of your choices, and being considerate and respectful of others.

What do you do for SoftPlay? How do you look after yourself?

I’m not so good at SoftPlay, I’ll be honest. I’ve been on weekly art classes – I really enjoyed those but got out of the habit – and I’ve been in a choir in the past. The one thing I do every week is Nia Dance; this is my weekly exercise that is more for my soul, than my body and I love the free spiritedness of dancing barefoot to great music.

Who do you look up to as a woman?

I love Brene Brown and Michelle Obama right now. And Mary Portas is a real role model to me because of the way she’s recognised how much she was being alpha-type and has now moved more into being herself, showing up as a woman.

Where do you look for hope? (What are your sources of inspirations?)

My children; they are on the cusp of adulthood and I love how they view the world, ready to fly and take risks.

What do you tell yourself when times are tough (What’s your mantra)?

All will be good. This is really important to remember, that no matter how much shit is hitting the fan, it always get cleaned at some point. Ready for the next piece of shit to come flying through 🙂

What’s the soundtrack of inspiration for you?

This is Me is the ultimate track from The Greatest Showman. But something less predictable is Let’s Go Crazy by Prince – this was the track that saved me from going mad when I was doing my A Levels. Turn up the volume and dance!

About Karen

Business Catalyst | Barefoot dancer | Burnout Banisher

A business coach, author and speaker Karen helps struggling professionals & creatives create simpler, smarter, more strategic businesses making profit on their terms.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/karenskidmoreltd
Twitter: @karenskidmore
Website: www.karenskidmore.com

If you find yourself watching the news or reading articles about current events, and wanting to be a part of the change the world needs, you’re not alone. But it can be tough to work out not only what careers make a difference in the world, but how you can have the impact you want.  

Of course there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to making a difference. But if it’s time for a change there are some important things to bear in mind when considering how you can have your biggest impact.

If you’ve found yourself considering a change of career so that you can be part of the future you want to see, here are 4 things to bear in mind.

1. You won’t make a difference if you’re burnt out

“First, replenish yourself” is one of our fundamental principles here at One of many and it’s especially relevant when it comes to considering a big question like how you can best make a difference in the world.

If you’re in a period of transition, start by making sure you’re energised and well resourced, so you’re in the best position to make thoughtful decisions. You’ll need to be able to trust your instincts – and if you’re utterly worn out and fed up, they’ll simply be telling you to STOP.

It’s easy to make rash choices when you’re coming from a place of panic or overwhelm. Give yourself time to recover from burnout, and get to a place where – at the very least – your basic needs are taken care of, before you start looking at the big picture of how you can contribute to the world.

The causes you want to contribute to will benefit far more from you at your best and most resilient, than if you take a leap to support them only to find yourself floundering.

2. Leaders need followers

A lot of us assume that to make a difference we need to start a movement or come up with a groundbreaking, world-changing idea. But not everyone is cut out to be a leader, and that doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference.

Derek Sivers first gave a name to something he calls “first follower theory”, pointing out that the first people to follow leaders are arguably just as important as the leaders themselves. In fact, the first followers are vital because they “give permission” to others to join a cause.

Perhaps you’re passionate about ending poverty, or bringing creativity back into the curriculum, or promoting flexible working for mums so they can be there for their kids as well as contributing to society through their work.

You could think of your own ways to solve those problems. But you could also look for people who already have good ideas for how to solve them, and see what support they need.

3. Build on your strengths

Whether you decide you want to start something new, or join a cause or organization who are making the difference you want to, knowing your own strengths and how you can best build on them is a huge asset.

Your Women’s PowerTypes Profile is a great place to start when it comes to understanding what makes you tick on a deeper level. Whether as a leader, freelancer or as part of a team, when you understand the patterns of behaviour you tend to adopt you’ll be able to make sure you have the impact you’re capable of, and that you do so from a place of power – without burning out.

If you don’t know your PowerTypes Profile, click here to get your report.

4. Work isn’t the only way to make a difference

When considering what careers make a difference in the world, remember that work is only one part of what makes up your contribution to the world. Perhaps you’ve spent decades building up a rewarding career that’s well paid, but doesn’t feel as though it really has a direct impact on a cause that’s close to your heart. There are lots of ways you can have an impact withput having to give up a career you love:

• You might find that there’s a local organization looking for volunteers to help with beach cleans and raise awareness of the perils of single use plastic.
• Or a campaigning group who could really do with your editing skills on their website.
• Maybe you can help a local school raise awareness, and empower a younger generation to campaign for change.

If you’re happy with what you’re doing and are looking for more impact, you don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. How can you use the skills you already have to make the difference you crave?

You can make a difference

It’s a time of huge global challenge, and women are key to finding the solutions to those big problems. Every single one of us can have an impact, and we’re committed to helping empower one million grassroots women leaders to start creating the change we want to see. You are one of them!

If you’d like to have a chat with one of the team about how we can support you to make the difference you’re called to, get in touch by clicking here – and we’ll arrange a time to talk.

Our intention is simple. To support professional women to handle the day-to-day so they can unleash the bigger impact they feel called to make in the world.

We believe real leadership is less about skill, and more about having a well of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual strength to draw on. Every week we support thousands of grassroots leaders globally with our free articles, videos and online trainings with powerful tools and methodologies created BY women FOR women.

Become One of many™ women creating strong, meaningful connections in our community.

For years, the first few days back after a holiday were total write-offs for me.

I’d come back from some really lovely time off, rested and excited to dive back in, only to find that for some reason, I just couldn’t get any momentum going.

What I finally figured out after years of going through this myself and talking to loads of other women is that this is because periods of time away from your normal routine tend to be times of very deep reflection and change. When you can set aside all of the things that you “have to do” on a daily basis, you can really dive deep into your ultimate purpose and your life values.

But when you fail to account for all this internal shifting when you start to get back into the swing of things, it makes it very hard to build up any momentum. There are four areas that you should particularly watch out for:

Attitude

If your attitude towards work is one of obligation — you know, that “Arg, I’ve got to get back to work” feeling — you’re setting yourself up for a really rubbish first day back before you even begin. This kind of attitude can creep in even if you really love what you do, usually out of habit or because of cultural paradigms about work, so make sure that you really keep an eye on your conscious and unconscious attitude towards getting back to work.

Similarly, if you’ve had some really exciting planning and dreaming time on your break, you might find that you have an attitude of wanting it all to happen, and wanting it all to happen very easily. While it’s great to dream big, if you come back to work with the expectation that everything is just going to fall together instantly, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

So remember, good things do take a bit of effort sometimes. Think of your projects like a garden — it’s going to take some fertilising, planting of seeds, watering, and patience before you’ll see results.

Energy

It’s really common to have an “energy hangover” when you come back to your professional life after a holiday. You’ve been in this energy of replenishment and relaxation, this very yin energy, for a while, and you tend to bring this back into your work. While you do want to keep the effects of this energy going, you need to make some time to consciously shift your energy to get it in sync with the work you’ll be doing, otherwise you’ll just feel off and out of alignment.

Planning

If you come back from a holiday expecting that you’ll just be able to pick up where you left off and treat your first day back like it’s any other day, you’ll run into trouble. It’s really important to give yourself plenty of time to incorporate all of the new perspectives, ideas, and energies that have come up during the holidays, so make sure to set aside some time in your schedule either while you’re on holiday or the first day back to accommodate this. (More on this next week!)

Awareness

Holidays are often times of reflection and introspection, times when we sort of unconsciously sum up how our professional life is actually rating with our life values and what’s important to us at that level. If you end up finding a misalignment with your work and your life values during your time away, you’ll definitely struggle to get started again, because you’ll be trying to do something that your mind and body doesn’t want you to be doing.

Any of these sound familiar to you? You’re definitely not alone — why not share your best tips for working around these “trouble spots” in the comments below?

Louise George: One of Many Women

I always look forward to our wednesday women! So this week I would love you to meet the delightful Louise George. Louise attended the March One Woman Conference, and has become one of our powerful women in our Voices Forum.

It was Louise’s interest in the Emma Watson #heforshe campaign that caught my eye, so I asked her if I could have a little virtual “get to know you”…here’s our chat, so you can get to know her too!

What do you do?

I’m an actor, presenter and the founder of bodhibabes.com – a blog dedicated to celebrating and supporting women. Through Bodhi Babes I lead Desire Map Workshops and 1-1 sessions: guiding women to uncover their core desired feelings, enabling them to make more powerful decisions and to feel good more often.

Give us the big “why” you do what you do?

Freedom! Every being deserves that.

Give us a daily routine (or a normal day in the life of you)…

My days vary quite a lot, depending on where I am and what I’m working on (acting/ coaching/ workshops). When I don’t have clients, castings or acting work booked in I work from home.

My morning routine is important to me, as the way we start our days has a knock on effect. It’s usually:

• 6am up
• Write my ‘morning pages’
• Write my day plan and my core desired feelings in my Desire Map journal
• Drink of warm water and lemon
• Then 30 mins- 1 hr of exercise: run/ yoga/ niketraining.com, depending on how I’m feeling
• Walk my dog ‘Troy’ if my partner is out early.

 How does femininity and Soft Power feature in your business?

Femininity and soft power are at the forefront of my business and career. My business, Bodhi Babes, is all about celebrating & supporting women, through Desire Map workshops, coaching and my blog. I can be a bit of a tomboy and am quite athletic but I am generally very feminine and lead with soft power in my business and work. Although, my most dominate character archetype is that of a warrioress, so I do flow between yin and yang energies. I am also an actress, so have lots of fun playing with different character archetypes and feminine energy. I am fascinated by non-verbal communication and how our body language can change the way we feel about ourselves and literally changes our biochemistry- how amazing is that!

What is the most common emotion you feel as a woman on a day-to day basis?

Love.

Although my ego can be quite loud, so self doubt and fear can pop up from time to time. I am getting better every day at noticing and silencing those fears. It’s a daily practice, which has become more habitual.

 What’s the most common emotion you think the man that is closest to you  feels each day?

I would’ve said my partner feels optimistic. He is always so calm, upbeat and positive. Nothing really fazes him and he takes most things in his stride. I cheated a bit on this question and asked him and he said “excited”!

How do you think tapping into your femininity (playing to your strengths as a woman), impacts your relationships with men?

I first really noticed how much femininity impacts my relationships with men in my mid 20’s. I had lost a lot of weight around that time and really grown into being a softer, more feminine woman, after years of being more of a tom-boy and neglecting my femininity. Men (and women) began responding to me differently. If I’m honest, it completely knocked my confidence… I knew how to interact with men as ‘one of the boys’. It took me years to understand exactly who I was and to find my confidence again. I had spent most of my life behaving in a way people expected me to behave, without really getting to know myself. Then due to my loss in confidence I began suffering from depression and I was forced to question my place in the world and get to know who I really was. I learned to love myself no matter what. Learning to get comfortable with my femininity and how to use my feminine power has taken time and will continue to evolve during the different stages of my life. I am now comfortable in my own skin and I love being a woman. The key to being able to play to our strengths as women, regardless of how we look and who we are; is having love and respect for ourselves first. When you can do that, people mirror those feelings. People generally reflect back to you what you feel in yourself.

Do you think you people around you (on social media, and face to face) understand who you authentically are?

Yes, I pretty much wear my heart on my sleeve and if anything, I share too much. I try and stay true to myself and am honest with the people around me. I am very confident when I have a ‘role’ and with people I know well but I am naturally quite shy and I can be a bit quiet in a new group of people or if I feel uncomfortable.

 How important do you think vulnerability is in life and career?

I believe vulnerability is extremely important. We learn the most about ourselves and grow the most when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and put ourselves outside our comfort zone. Our vulnerability is what makes us human, it is what connects us and when we are vulnerable it gives others ‘permission’ to also be vulnerable and we are all more authentic. I pretty much live my life in a state of vulnerability, perhaps too much. I am rarely in my comfort zone, as I navigate my way through business and as an actress, to live a life of purpose and aligned with my core-desired feelings.

How do you juggle your relationship and business?

That’s actually been one of the most difficult parts of my life in the last 8 years. My partner and I are both self-employed business owners and have also worked together a lot. It can be difficult to draw the line between business and our personal relationship and we’ve certainly had our ups and downs. It’s important to have quality time together, as well as separate and with friends. Finding that balance is key to maintaining a healthy, intimate relationship. It’s not always easy and it takes work from both sides to keep the love alive. It’s helpful to agree on set boundaries around work and family time and to keep the lines of communication open.

What’s one “breakthrough” you have had in your life, that shifted the way you saw things?

Uncovering my core desired feelings and understanding why: knowing how we want to feel is so important, was a game changer for me. My whole life has changed since I’ve known how I want to feel. Knowing my core desired feelings: gives me inner clarity, which I can match to my external goals, to ensure I am setting them for the right reasons. This has enabled me to make more powerful decisions, with clarity and focus. I am now clear on my “why” and helping others to find theirs through workshops and coaching. I now also feel the way I want to feel more often and don’t chase external things to bring me joy- that comes from within… it really does! It’s so liberating. I have become a much calmer person and stay more in my softer feminine energies. All of my relationships have improved as a result as I can now be more ‘present’, without constant distraction of decisions to make and white noise of comparison…. We are all unique and desire different things from life but in striving to meet other people’s expectations we can lose ourselves.

 Who have you listened to lately that motivated you to take action on something, anything? And why?

I recently went to a Q&A with Emma Watson on the #HeForShe campaign and she’s inspired me to get more involved with the movement towards equality and working more towards helping women rise into their power.

What are you doing to help elevate the women of developing nations?

I have a meeting this week with Action Aid to see how I/ Bodhi Babes can help support them with their work on women’s rights worldwide.

Who do you look up to as a woman?

There are so many women I look up to and who inspire me. I have some incredible friends, who support me in all my crazy ideas and adventures and who are out there making a real difference in this world. Most of all I look up to my Mum! My parents are my biggest fans and have always supported and encouraged me in all I do. My Mum is such an inspiration to me, her work ethic is incredible and she always managed to create flow with work, home and family life and make it all look so effortless. I wouldn’t be doing what I do now without my Mum instilling in me from an early age that: I could be whoever I wanted to be.

Where do you look for inspiration?

I have become more spiritual in recent years and get inspiration from many places. Nature inspires me most of all and as I mentioned above, I need to retreat to ‘the wild’ often to re-charge. I meditate regularly, which brings me peace and clarity and I spend a lot of time on personal-development. I have an amazing ‘tribe’ of friends who inspire me daily, many of whom are coaches and very spiritual themselves. I also take inspiration from amazing women like:

Danielle La Porte (creator of The Desire Map), Gabrielle Bernstein, Marie Forleo, Kris Carr, Rachel MacDonald from In Spaces Between and Tara Bliss- they’re all out there living life on purpose, with love and inspiring others to do the same.

What do you tell yourself when times are tough (what’s your mantra)?

I am Brave, I am Bold, I am Beautiful.

Who’s voice do you think we need to hear in the One of Many Community?

Ebonie Allard – The Entrepreneur Enabler

You can learn more about Louise and her voice here:

Twitter handle: @bodhibabes / @louisetgeorge

Facebook page: facebook.com/bodhibabes

Website: www.bodhibabes.com / http://www.louise-george.com

This morning, as with so many mornings, I am doing three things at once and thinking about five more. So I thought it would be a good time to talk about multi-tasking. That’s what we’re good at, right? Women are known for their ability to spin several different plates at once. I would love it if we started being proud of that, instead of constantly thinking in terms of ‘spreading ourselves too thin.’

As women we can be super self-critical. Right now there’s a little voice telling me that either my family or my business deserves 100% of my attention, and that by blending the two I am somehow failing them both. But there’s another voice, a softer more compassionate voice that says: You know what? You are totally capable of writing a blog post and watching a small child playing with LEGO at the same time.

I like to think of this voice as coming from the source of my soft power. Not only does the voice tell me I am capable of multi-tasking but also reminds me to be grateful for the flexibility in my schedule that allows me to blend my family life and my career. After all, I have designed this life for exactly that purpose. My family is part of the reason I work from home. What’s the point in convenience if you don’t take advantage?

Sure, every so often my family or my business need 100% of my attention if they are to thrive but not every hour of every day needs to be portioned up so neatly. Sometimes it can’t be.

And that’s okay.

That’s more than okay. It’s awesome.

Dr Joanna Martin: Founder, oneofmany.co.uk.| Author| Women’s Speaker| Entrepreneur| Ex-doctor| Loud Sister| Baby Wrangler = No professional training but do a fine job nonetheless!