International Women’s Day – As a female business owner and entrepreneur

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As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges that women still face in the business world. Despite progress towards gender equality, only one in three entrepreneurs in the UK are female. Additionally, research shows that female-led businesses are, on average, around 25% smaller than those led by men.

However, it’s also important to recognise the potential for positive change. Research conducted by McKinsey & Co has found that companies with greater diversity in their executive teams are more likely to outperform their peers on profitability and create superior value. This highlights the importance of ensuring that women have equal opportunities and representation in leadership positions.

As a female business owner and entrepreneur, I know first-hand the dedication and challenging work required to sustain a business. I’m sharing some of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt (sometimes I’ve had to learn the hard way) that have really helped me. I hope they help any female business owners, entrepreneurs or those aspiring to be too.

• Believe in yourself: Work on your mindset and your confidence in your abilities and believe that you can achieve your dreams. Don’t let self-doubt hold you back.

• Seek out mentors: Find mentors who can offer guidance and support as you navigate the business world. Look for women who have experience in your industry and can offer advice and help you make connections.

• Build a strong network: Attend events, join groups and organisations, and connect with other women in your industry.

• Embrace failure: Failure is part of the journey to success. Don’t be afraid to take risks and learn from your mistakes.

• Prioritise self-care: Running a business can be stressful and demanding. It’s important to prioritise self-care to avoid burnout and maintain your physical and mental health.

• Advocate for yourself: Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself and ask for what you deserve. Whether it’s negotiating a contract or asking for funding, advocating for yourself is essential to achieving your dreams and goals.

On this International Women’s Day, let us celebrate the achievements of women, but also continue to work towards a more equitable and inclusive future for all.

Lema Redjep | Founder / Head of Wellbeing / Internal Coach

 

Hiring in a Recession: 5 Tips to do it Successfully

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We can all agree that times are tough. The last few years have had a massive knock on effect on the economy and businesses. The word ‘recession’ is terrifying and creates a lot of doubt for companies.
What will the future hold for the business?

Should we be hiring new staff when we don’t know what is around the corner?

During these times, many businesses choose to gain control of their budgets by putting recruitment on hold. Yet doing this delays growth, causes undue strain to the current employees and resources and could limit the ability to be flexible, which is essential to surviving a recession.
The better choice, is to implement a recession-proof hiring strategy, that keeps the long-term vision front and centre.

Define your hiring needs
Before you start looking for candidates, you should define the specific roles and skills that you need for your business. This will help you to avoid wasting time and resources on irrelevant applications.

Use multiple recruitment channels
Don’t limit your search to just one recruitment channel. Consider using job boards, social media, employee referrals, and recruitment agencies to find the best candidates.

Focus on candidates with transferable skills
In a recession, many people may be looking to change industries or job roles. Look for candidates who have transferable skills that can be applied to your business.

Look for potential, not just experience
In a recession, many talented candidates may be out of work due to circumstances beyond their control. Consider hiring candidates based on their potential, not just their experience.

Consider offering temporary or part-time work
In a recession, some candidates may be more open to temporary or part-time work. This can be a great way to get to know a candidate before making a permanent hiring decision.

Be transparent about your company’s situation
Let candidates know that your company is operating in a difficult economic environment. Be transparent about your financial situation and your plans for the future. This will help you to build trust with candidates and ensure that they are committed to your business.

Prioritise diversity and inclusion
Don’t let a recession lead to a lack of diversity in your workforce. Prioritise diversity and inclusion in your hiring process to ensure that you are building a team that represents a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.

Overall, hiring in a recession requires a flexible and open-minded approach. By focusing on the needs of your business and being open to new candidates, you can find talented employees who can help your business grow and succeed.

Investing in People

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As a business owner, you’ll often be confronted with where to invest for the most significant impact on your bottom line. Often your attention will be on enhancing or expanding the essence of your business.
While business owners regularly consider scaling their workforce in anticipation of growth, they may overlook investing in their current workforce.
As long as you’ve got engaged employees, expanding your workforce may not actually be necessary. High performers can do the work of two, three, and sometimes even four employees.

Why You Should Invest in People
Sometimes the aspects lacking in your business have less to do with processes and more to do with those performing the tasks.

Increase Productivity
Disengaged employees cost British businesses £150 billion annually, and small businesses will experience the severity of that most profoundly

Enhance Your Retention Rates
British businesses lose approximately £5 billion a year in unplanned churn. Investing in employees is the best way to avoid being part of this statistic.

Improve Profit and Performance
Your profit is, of course, linked to how well your team performs. Creative thinking, personal problem-solving and accountability can reduce wasteful expenditure.

How to Invest in People
There are several ways to invest in your workforce and you can use any combination of these methods based on your goals and budget.

Provide Mental Health Resources
Often employees’ performance takes a significant knock when they’re feeling stressed, burnt out, or dealing with other mental health issues.

Prioritize Professional Development
When employees have the opportunity to grow within their organization, they are incentivised to be more engaged and perform better. Also, consider offering “senior” roles within the company to offer vertical growth.

Respect Life Outside the Office
One thing business owners may not realize is how often they infringe on their employees’ lives beyond the office. Unlike C-suite executives and upper management, lower-level employees often don’t expect their lives to be overtaken by their jobs.
Use overtime sparingly, allow employees to come in later during emergencies, and avoid punishing during more challenging times.

Offer Bonuses and Rewards
Bonuses are an excellent way to reward good work and loyalty. Even if it’s not a four or five-figure bonus, the additional cash is the kind of thank you most employees will appreciate.

Encourage Feedback
Workers can quickly disengage when they feel ignored. Make them feel valued by encouraging feedback and implementing their ideas.

Often those at the helm may ask if they should invest in people first. In most circumstances, the simple answer is yes. Once you have these processes in place, recycling them ensures you’re constantly investing in people and improving your business

Proptech’s Impact on the Real Estate Sector

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Until 2020, managing real estate had remained unchanged for decades, despite the technological advancements engulfing every other aspect of personal and professional lives.
Then the global pandemic hit, and the adoption of proptech was accelerated, predominantly due to necessity given the need for intelligent systems to replace older ones to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Since then, proptech has become an industry staple.

What Changes Can You Expect Proptech to Make in the Real Estate Sector
The real estate sector will be impacted by prop-tech in four critical segments: client relations, strategy development, recruitment, and employee wellbeing.

For Client Relations: Virtual Tours and Renderings Will Be Enhanced by VR and AR
Virtual and augmented reality will change how clients interact with listings. For example, virtual reality will allow clients to immerse themselves in virtual tours to ascertain whether the space is right for them without needing to physically tour the property. This gives rise to sight-unseen purchases and improves resilience.
Augmented reality will change the way developers sell new builds and architects pitch to clients as it will enable clients to interact with a rendering as if they were taking a physical tour.

For Strategy Creation: Forecasts Will be Made on Big Data
The real estate sector will benefit from big data, telling developers, agents, and architects what the next trends will be with precision. Big data is the gathering and analysing of millions — in some cases billions — of data points and sets to create patterns from which to forecast.

For Recruitment: Skills Will Be Acquired Based on Data Analysis
Rather than determine the right fit based on a gut feeling, the real estate sector’s survival will be based on acquiring employees and agents with the right skills.
Data analysis tools will help recruiters ascertain the personality types and skillets best suited to a specific role and team, reducing churn and increasing employee job satisfaction.

For Employees: Wellbeing Will Be Improved Through AI and Machine Learning
Employees in the real estate sector will be assisted through autonomous applications that operate on AI and machine learning, enabling them to focus on the essential components of their jobs. This will reduce burnout and create more productive agencies.

New Year’s Resolutions don’t work. Try this instead

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A great way to do this is to either visualise the life you want to create for yourself in the coming year. Get really detailed about everything that matters to you—from your relationships to your health, career, lifestyle, and finances. Or, if you prefer, you can write it all out instead.

Once you have your vision, you can set specific goals in the areas of your life that are most important to you. Then ask yourself: What are the most important actions that I need to accomplish in each of these areas to make this vision real?

So, for example, if you have decided you want to save more money in 2023, think about why. What will those additional savings provide for you? Maybe it will give you security, which may be one of your values. Maybe it’s to travel to see family abroad more often —which helps support values like family and connection. Whatever your motivation is, it’s never just about the money itself.  The underlying priorities, like in this case, being able to feel more secure, or being able to spend more time with family can keep you motivated to take the steps you need—like reducing your spending, or taking on additional work for extra income—to be able to set more money aside.

  1. Create an action plan

One reason that resolutions often fail is because they’re too vague or aren’t accompanied by a specific timeline or an action plan to achieve them.

Use a SMART goal-setting approach that is: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

So, for example, instead of just resolving to lose weight, set a specific and realistic weight loss goal over a certain period of time. Or break it down into smaller targets like pounds lost per month and then outline the actions you’ll take to reach them—whether it’s committing to exercising daily or making specific changes to your diet, or both.

Also, look at what’s already working and then build on that.  So, for example, if you’ve already started taking regular walks, increasing their duration or frequency is an easy way to burn more calories and help you reach a weight loss goal.

  1. Get yourself an accountability partner

Various studies show that having someone who will help hold you accountable can make a significant difference. So, ask a friend, or family member if you can share your weekly progress.

  1. Celebrate small wins

Finally, don’t forget to celebrate any small wins or victories.  The journey to accomplishing our goals is not always an easy one and it can be easy to focus on all the things that aren’t going well when we’re having an off day which can lead to feeling down and demotivated.

Celebrating small wins can help give you more energy, boost motivation, and may also give you more confidence and help with coping during tough times.

Hopefully, this has given you some motivation to look at new year’s resolutions and goal setting differently. I’d love to know whether you’ll be implementing any of these tips.

For additional support, feel free to get in contact to find out the many ways you can work with me.

Top 5 Interview Tips For Candidates In 2022

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As we all know, the interview process has had to change in recent years. To ensure your interview gives you the best chance of getting that dream job, make sure to implement these five interview tips that will help you navigate a competitive job market!

Conduct Research on the Employer

This might sound obvious, and it is, but it’s amazing how many people don’t do their research and then get caught out in an interview!

Researching an employer helps control the flow of conversation. It shows an employer that you are interested in — and passionate about — working at their company, rather than simply going through the motions to find another job.

Another benefit of researching a company is that it helps you to develop a dialogue that allows you to showcase your confidence and skills in a way that is relevant to the role that you are applying for.

When conducting your research, the best places to look are the company’s blog, about us, and team pages on the company’s website. You can also read press releases and interviews with senior executives. The blog page is my favourite, as it often gives the most personal insight into life at the company and what their culture is like, as well as their views on industry news and trends.

Prepare Your Remote Work Setup

Many employers are still conducting remote interviews in the first instance. This means that it is absolutely vital that you have a remote setup that is professional and gives a good first impression – we all know how important those are!

Your internet connection should be the first thing you test to ensure the connection is strong and you won’t be cutting out during the interview. Then, find a well-lit area that doesn’t have anything offensive or distracting in the background. A plain, undecorated wall should do, but a bookshelf or a few paintings shouldn’t be too distracting. Make sure that you have somewhere to sit and a surface to place your device on – a laptop on your lap so that you’re hunched over it, or a phone moving about as you hold it up isn’t going to look professional or like you’ve put much effort into preparing for the interview.

Familiarize Yourself with Emotional Intelligence

An employer won’t only be assessing your skills and expertise, but also your ability to fit into the company culture and team. Knowing how to convey your personal values and show some of your personality will really help you to connect with the interviewer and to stand out from other candidates.

I’m a firm believer that how you say something can be more important than what you’re saying (within reason!), so don’t get so caught up in saying exactly the ‘right’ thing that you forget to be yourself!

You can also lean on tests like the Myers-Briggs indicators and Positive Intelligence to better help understand and describe your emotional strengths.

Practice Storytelling

One of the most asked questions in a job interview is “Tell me about yourself?” This opener places the onus on you to carry the conversation but has the benefit of allowing you to express aspects of your expertise and professional accomplishments that can shape the rest of the interview. This question can really put you on the spot if you’re not prepared, so practice talking about yourself positively as much as you can before an interview.

Follow Up

Don’t be ashamed to follow up. A day or two later, send a thank you note via email. In a week or two after the interview, call to enquire about the position. When you do this, be polite and enthusiastic about the role, but don’t sound desperate!