Members of Venus Howick,  from left:  Jane Moody (Bathurst Brown Design), Louise Ratcliffe (Hello Contractors), Faieka Prime (Inspire Coaching Ltd), Anjali Patel (Nandish Chiropractic), Laurinda Sanders (Stewart & Co Ltd), Marion Jackson (My Virtual Assistant), Kirsty Salisbury (The Publishing Launchpad).

Inspiration Squad – Passionate and successful women leaders inspiring and adding value to each other.

Sometimes it’s difficult to keep head above water as a Leader.

You work hard on a project, spend many hours pouring your heart and soul into your project. Some days you feel like you want to give up, you wonder is it all worth it! You have this vision, but some days you just don’t know if you’re fulling this vision you have.

It’s not easy to start a business, it’s not easy to build a business, it’s not easy to grow a business. Self-employment comes with it’s own set of crazy challenges. As Leaders and Business Owners we are not immune to tiredness, burnout, lack of confidence, communication struggles, dealing with conflict. We are also not removed in a professional capacity from our personal selves. We cannot have a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde persona and swap personalities between professional and personal lives. As much as we try to leave our professional lives at work when doing things personally, we do find as the Business Owner or Leader, those professional challenges we have bothers us even when we step into our personal lives.

There are a myriad of things you can do to help yourself deal with burnout, lack of confidence, communication struggles, conflict and then some. But one of the ways we can help ourselves is through our squad, our tribe, our network! Yes, we’ve heard this “network” word and “building relationships” phrases many times, but it does hold true in that often inspiration is all around you. On condition of course you build your squad.

I have an AMAZING network of like-minded Women that I know has my back no matter what! What do these wonderful Women do for me in my network you may think? So let’s list it here:

  • Business Leadership – That means they wear a leadership hat like having a group of directors each with their own superpowers and who want me to succeed! The difference is they can be far more objective coming from a logical perspective as they are not personally and thus, emotionally attached to my business
  • Knowledge in technical skills that varies from Website Developer, Graphic Designer, Accountant, Chiropractor, Recruiter, Editorial Services, Marketer, Solicitor, Realtor and they are ALL my top salespeople
  • Ideas ideas ideas – They come up with some real pragmatic ideas
  • Emotional Intelligence – Whilst these amazing women have some fabulous Technical Skills, they also have some kick-ass EQ! Yes they “get me” and they get my business – they help build confidence levels, communication skills, empathy and understanding
  • Celebration – They celebrate success
  • Fun – you need a network that can help you laugh as a business owner! Brings about happiness an happiness brings about success

How lucky am I being a business owner with a such a wealth of knowledge around me.

Often we get stuck in a rut, trying to find inspiration and sometimes it can’t come from within, don’t look too far, if you surround yourself with Inspiration, you won’t have far to go when you find your stumbling block! Those within your squad will be right there with the right inspiration for what you’re needing.

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said: ‘We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.’

Who do you choose to spend your time with? Who will you let into your squad? Who will you turn to for some inspiration?

I know I choose an amazing bunch of passion, successful women leaders that won’t think twice to add value to my business.