Making It

Many women have great dreams about owning their own business, yet sadly, it often remains just a dream. The reason? All too often it's simply lack of confidence and self belief that lets them down and a feeling of being too far removed from the famous women entrepreneurs of today and unable to compete on that level. In truth though, there are thousands of women out there who are just like them, but who do own a business and are living their dreams on a scale they choose, successfully mixing home lives with a business and feeling fulfilled.

Making It is a compilation of inspirational women's start-up stories that lets you share their accounts of how the businesses came to 'be' as well as the highs and lows that came along the way. Packed full of hints and tips from the real life experts, this book is guaranteed to inspire anyone towards achieving their goal, and with the powerful NLP exercises included you'll be able locate your strengths and weaknesses and build up exactly the right attitude for success.

Acknowledgements and Permissions List xi

List of Contributors xiii

Foreword xix

Introduction 1

1 Accentuate the positive 3
Steph Cutler, Open Eyed

2 Total belief 31
Josephine LaVey, LaVey Corsetry & Clothing

3 Trust 61
Sarah Pharo, Pharo Communications

4 Innovative 86
Dawn Gibbins, Flowcrete Group plc

5 To aim high 107
Perween Warsi, S & A Foods

6 Unstoppable 123
Deirdre Bounds, i-to-i

7 Determined 145
Fiona Oxley and Karen Wilbourn, Lello

8 Enthusiasm 163
Lynne Franks, SEED Women’s Enterprise Programme

Epilogue 185

Recommended reading 187

Index 191

"... a compilation of inspirational women's start-up stories." (Making Money, January 2009)

Louise Gimson is an experienced business advisor with Business Link and the Learning & Skills Council, working with businesses of all types and sizes. She specialises in bringing pre-start women entrepreneur's business dreams to reality and is an accomplished mentor and inspirational speaker. Lou is a founder member of the charity foundation Dream Buddies, which helps individuals to reach their full potential and achieve their dreams. As a fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, Lou is researching female entrepreneurship in the USA.

Allison Mitchell is an inspirational coach and trainer. She has spent her entire career in Human Development and is now a pioneer in the field of ExecuMum and Mumpreneur Coaching. Based on her vast experience, she's developed her own inimitable style of coaching and training which transforms the attitudes and lives of her international client base. Allison is an NLP Master Practitioner and NLP Coach, a certified Success Factor Modeller and a graduate of the US based 'Advanced Parent as a Coach Academy.' She holds a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management and a first degree in Management Science. She is the founder of Mums and Dads an innovative mum coaching company, to find out more visit: www.mumsanddads.biz. She believes that with the right attitude anything is possible.