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The muses of March

On International Women’s Day Ann Bonnett, Jacqui Dodds and I took ourselves off to Nottingham to attend the East Midlands Women in Business Conference. We had been inspired by speakers such as Anita Roddick and Polly Toynbee last year and had met an interesting group of women. This year the line up of guest speakers looked interesting and the workshops worthwhile but I wasn’t sure they would stand up to comparison with Anita Roddick!

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Diane Louise Jordan, Colleen Nolan, Sue Cook and Clarissa Dickson-Wright were fantastic. An odd mix of speakers – maybe, an odd mix of talents and careers – certainly, but they all had one thing in common.They had followed their dreams, what inspired them, what they loved doing and most of all what they were good at. They had all allowed fate to play a part in their careers, they had all had low and hard times. But by being focussed on their own talents and abilities they have all been ultimately successful – in their own terms.

Our March event was truly fantastic. If you thought a retail focussed event wasn’t for you that is understandable but you missed a real treat. I don’t just mean the chance to try perfume from Boudoir Femme or dream cream from Lush. The real treat was to share with Pippa the ups and downs of setting up her shop in King’s Street. Her love for her business shone through and once again I was so impressed with her drive to run the business she had dreamed of.

If you have walked past the Lush shop and been put off entering by the bright and smelly displays I’d urge you to look again. Louise Bourguignon gave an overview of Lush and while the growth of the business and its ethical working was impressive even more impressive was the attitude of Verity and Rachel, manager and trainee manager of the Lion Yard shop. They love their jobs and are clearly successful. They know their products and their customers. What a treat!

Finally I attended a workshop to see if it would be appropriate for CBN to gain Prowess Flagship status. Everyone else there was from the public support sector and we had a most interesting discussion about the drive to support women entrepreneurs and what makes a successful businesswoman. Government definitions abound but are these arbitrary standards relevant?

Our conclusions? A successful businesswoman uses her own unique talents and continues to develop them in her business. She loves her work and defines her success by her own parameters.

So for me the message from March was do what you love, do it well, don’t be afraid of fate and be proud of your success!

Elizabeth Ingle