So, after posting yesterday about my fabby little system for overcoming overwhelm, I just want to make the point that this won’t necessarily transport you to a household of Zen Frequencies and Serene Water Feature Style Families.

Reality is … kids are still kids.

Rewind to Friday in my house.

Man-Cub aka Bruce Banner (17 months old) hurtles around with his pushalong-trolley-that-sings-songs-and-takes-out-ankles-and-skirting-boards-with-equal-force.

Teen Chickette (mid-pubescent and Egg-Shelly) mooches through lounge, shouting over shoulder about it being someone else’s turn to feed the cats.

Roo-Choo (pre-pubescent but swinging into the realms of teen grump) calls Man-Cub in his Cutest High Pitch But Eardrum Piercing Tones, whilst sending cars skidding over the coffee table in lounge towards Teen Chickette’s knee caps.

White Cat prances in front of my face and slides her tail across my tightly shut mouth as I try to make packed lunches and nudge her off the side. Black Cat Sidling relentlessly head butts cat flap from outside even though it isn’t locked.

This is usual.

But today it is All Okay.

Because I am Zen

And … (I knew she would come early because she is an Angel) … there’s a knock at the door.

“Mum. You’re early!” (Feigned surprise).

I hug/waltz Mum in through the door, pirouette her into the kitchen and spin her towards Man Cub.  “This is good, really good,” I chime, “because … I have to go …er …” (Swallow guiltily) “…early.”

Then I prance out of the door, jump in car and drive directly to Ads’ deli where I sit for 45 whole minutes, drinking Americanos and freshly squeezed apple juice, whilst gassing with Sam-The-Hairdresser about vitally unimportant things just like I used to before I had millions of children and demanding pets arrived.

I then slope off to my car and drive along whilst singing my head off to some cheesy radio station.

And this ALL comes under the fringe of the Wu-hurrr-hurK label.

Yep.

The life of the workers, hey?

Dreadful.

Anyway, under my Very Serious Throat Clearing Heading of Work, I attend my date with a wonderful community space called Aspire which is in (did you guess?) a very large, rambling, surprisingly non-damp or echoey converted church.

This gorgeous space houses everything from Yoga classes to kids clubs to men’s “shed clubs” where they swop tools and do Gravelly Voiced Man Things. There is a grotto for pop-up restaurants, a garden area and too much more to mention.

Meanwhile the – ahem – VERY SERIOUS UNENJOYABLE WORK THING involves attending an Unltd Spark Event set up by my inspiring and dynamic friend, Dr Kim Brown of Nature Therapy CIC. A few years ago she had been part of a group called ACE, in which you pay top dollar to hang out around a table with other high calibre entrepreneurial brain-boxes, watch amazing speakers and support each other with any challenges that are being faced in the work-zone.

“I want to set up a similar group for local entrepreneurs or people looking to set up social enterprises on the island,” Kim explained to me a while ago. “The idea is that it will teach people how to set up and structure a group; show them how to deliver pitches for funding bids and also give them the opportunity to share their expertise with each other.”

With a little help from the lovely people at Unltd, that is what Kim did and despite already being several years into my social enterprise journey, I am deeply excited about connecting up with some other Like-Minders. Indeed, I have the pleasure of joining other interesting, visionary, professional strangers and by the end of the three hour session, they feel like friends.

During the session I scribble down some visual notes as the workshop progresses so I can share them and so, should you feel the calling, you can also create and run your own small groups of Gorgeousness.

HOW TO CREATE YOUR GROUP OF GORGEOUSNESS

(OR THE BOARD YOU CAN’T AFFORD …. ACCORDING TO ACE)

BEGIN WITH YOUR OVERVIEW

Kim introduced the session by explaining the idea of the event … to create a support network based on the ACE (The Board You Can’t Afford) model.

This would involve guest speakers talking about all sorts of stuff, from equine therapy to dowsing, to v.e.r.y. serious esoteric business ramblings. If someone presented a problem to the group, everyone there would contribute some brain power to help find a solution.

NEXT EXPLAIN BACKGROUND / SET CONTEXT FOR GROUP

Next Kim talked about her own business, Nature Therapy CIC. She explained that in order to secure funding for her projects, she needed to have some sort of financial history but as a new business she didn’t have any …. She then applied for an Unltd Grant. This was a real leg up for her because a) it showed that a prestigious and v cool funding bod believe in your cause and b) you can then apply for match funding elsewhere.

Unltd have also been wonderful in supporting me with the Gorgeousness Programme. If anyone is ACE, it’s those dudes.

KIM’S TOP TIP was to bring in someone to do your financial admin as it can be a bit of a headache if you have multiple funding streams and being a good entrepreneur means out sourcing to Admin Angels and other Angels) when needed.

SET GROUND RULES FOR YOUR GROUP

Kim’s ground rules were as follows: No criticism of people’s ideas, only constructive ideas to enable and support ….. Go wild with ideas and think BIG ….. Don’t underestimate the power of your imagination ….. Try to stick with the core of what you are here to do and don’t get pulled off track … Write your ideas down …. And finally, don’t “fixate on an end product but instead on who you want to be as a person”.

I like this last one.

It needs further exploration and then I shall report back.

SPARK THE CONVERSATION (AND HAVE THE CONVERSATION)

After an ice-breaker, the conversation was naturally steered towards the theme of being an entrepreneur and what this means. We each discussed our current projects and ideas for what we wanted to do next. The main thing that came out of this for me was the importance of creating a strong team, either within your business or by out-sourcing to others …. But either way, knowing your strengths and weaknesses (and getting appropriate help from outside) is essential.

EXERCISE/ACTIVITY

Our task was to visualise ourselves as 100 years old and imagine what we would like to have achieved in our lives and finally to create a vision board.

So, there you have it.

How easy is it to create a group?

It doesn’t have to be themed around business or social enterprise, but could be a little World Changer/Community Changer group. It could be a well-being, personal development or inspirational group. It could be a “How The Hell Are We Going To Help Humanity Love Each Other More & Stop Parading Missiles To Demonstrate How Peaceful We Are” group.

By the time I went home connections were forged, ideas were offered and belief was built in projects and possibilities. It was a gorgeous morning in a gorgeous space and then I got to go and pick up my gorgeous babies and get home in time for the Tesco delivery and some more hurtling round the house with a pushalong-trolley-that-sings-songs-and-takes-out-ankles-and-skirting-boards.

Work/Life balance at its best!

XXX