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Women's Business News

Empowering women to succeed in business

Celebrating Three Years Of MAXIMISE Women’s Business Magazine

Issue #1 January 2015

Our magazine started by accident, we didn’t set out to produce a magazine at all in fact. The original idea was to allow six businesses to advertise on the back of our A6 promotion card for a small fee thereby funding our own marketing initiative whilst supporting some of our member’s businesses at the same time. The end result of this idea was our very first twenty-page magazine! We started with us on the cover, why not? It was so exciting to see myself, our creative director Lorah-Kelly Beard and one of our franchisees, Natalie Bell on the cover. Our members, as well as our team, loved the magazine so much and decided to make it a ‘thing’. And so our Women’s Business Magazine was born on 6th January 2015.

Featured Article: Kayleigh Purser Therapies

Holistic therapy is not a job; it is a passion, a vocation, a drive.

I found out I was a natural born healer before I even started school. My mum was working night shifts and struggling to sleep when she was getting home in the mornings. I used to gently stroke her back and shoulders until she fell asleep.

As a teenager I started getting panic attacks when surrounded by a lot of people. I could never understand what I was fearful of, I just used to get overwhelmed by emotions that didn’t feel like mine. I later found out that I was experiencing energy transferences and that I was picking up on other people’s negative emotions and taking them on as my own.

I was introduced to massage therapy by a family friend, who used a mixture of sports massage and kinesiology to treat me for severe shoulder tension. I was immediately hooked and knew there and then that I wanted to heal people, both physically and psychologically.

I started training as soon as I left school and have never looked back.

I feel it’s so important to continue learning about different therapies and methods of holistic healing, I have become the perpetual therapy student with a passion to help and heal.

Read the full article here

Issue #2 April 2015

We very quickly realised that having our own magazine opened doors for us and our members so we got bold and asked well-knownbusiness women if we could interview them. Issue 2 saw Laura Tenison on the cover with her dog. We had a fantastic time with her at the JoJo Maman Bébé headquarters in London and learned so much from this inspiring woman. The bug had bitten and the Women’s Business Magazine was going to be a collection of inspirational stories along with expert articles and Lorah-Kelly and I were going to travel the country interviewing amazing businesswomen.

Featured Article: Shires Chiropractic

A staggering 64% of women are wearing the wrong bra size!

This figure is according to a study by Swiss lingerie company Triumph. They found that globally nearly a third of women had never had a proper bra fitting before, and us Brits were among one of the worst countries!

If you aren’t wearing the correct sized bra it could be putting unnecessary strain on your back, affecting your posture and causing joint and muscle pain. In 2008 the Chiropractic Association (BCA) first looked at this issue. A survey was carried out among women who had claimed to have suffered back pain at some point in their life, 47% of the women said that they believed that their breast size was a factor.

In addition to back pain, wearing the wrong bra size can lead to a number of problems, including, restricted breathing, abrasions, breast pain and poor posture. Bras that don’t fit well will affect the shoulders and chest, and will almost certainly cause back pain as you get older. When a bra isn’t fully supporting the breasts the strain is often felt through the mid back and around the rib cage, which can cause a curved back. If a woman is bending forward because of insufficient breast support, muscles in the the upper back and neck over stretches and this, over time, can lead to headaches. A well-engineered, well fitted bra is essential to ensure your shoulders don’t end up doing all the work.

Most bras don’t stay the same size with repeated wear and washing, and are expected to stretch up to as much as four inches over time. In addition, the right size for you from one manufacturer may not be the same for all brands so always try on before you purchase.

Firstly you need to look closely in the mirror for the tell tale signs that you’re wearing the wrong size bra.

Read more in Issue #2 www.womensbusiness.club/shop

Issue #3 July 2015

Issue 3 took us back to London, over to Stroud and across to the Forest of Dean for more inspiring stories and articles. The magazine had grown into a nice chunky 68-pages and we introduced a lovely new perfect bound spine. It was very quickly becoming obvious that our magazine was not only great for inspirational stories but also expert content. We realised that this content had to be catalogued and made available to the public for quick reference, so we started posting our articles on our website too and shared them through our social media channels giving the magazine a much greater reach for all to benefit from.

Featured Article: Malt House Miracle

Miraculous is the only word that I can use to describe Helen Tweddle’s story of the explosion of her business. The Malt House Emporium, located on the A46 near Stroud, was built in 1822 on the Manor of Painswick, owned by William Bliss since 1439. Back then it was used as a malt house but today, nearly 200 years later, Helen turned it into the majestic emporium that it has become.

The sheer size of the building is impressive but as you walk inside you are blown away by how many beautiful vintage things are available to feast the eyes on. A superb collection of Antiques, Retro, Vintage large and small pieces all available under one roof. I had already picked up a gorgeous little Fortnum & Mason basket on my way up the steps before I even entered the building and I knew that I could easily furnish my entire home with the lovely pieces big and small in the Malt House Emporium.

Helen’s story started less than a year ago when she had come from the corporate world in the big city to retire and enjoy country life. After three weeks she got bored and began trading in antiques just for fun. She very quickly took on a little bay in Gloucester but still wasn’t satisfied.

So on 19th November 2014 after a quick turn around with estate agents, she opened the doors to the Malt House with 9 dealers. Within four months she has sold out all of the available space in the two story 14,500 square foot building and will have turned over in the region of £1,000,000 by the end of her first year of trading.

Trying to find the catch I dug a little deeper to find out how Helen did it. Helen simply replied that she did some Facebook promotion and got in touch with some traders that she met along the way. That’s it!

So I tried to dig because this still didn’t make sense, so I asked about her struggles to which Helen replied, “There haven’t been any, everything has gone smoothly.”

 

The next steps for this amazing business woman is to open a grand, fully licensed restaurant by the end of the year. Workshop space is also available for £100 per day so that people can teach their trade to others. Events, fayres, live Jazz and much more is in the pipeline and if you really want to spend some money, Helen will even open the Malt House Emporium for private shopping in the evening by arrangement.

Issue #4 October 2015

Well known celebrity, movie start and property businesswomen, Fiona Fuller, made the cover of the next issue of our magazine. Lorah-Kelly and I completely overstayed our welcome at her home as what was supposed to be a quick interview and photo shoot turned into a fascinating few hours with this incredible and very humble woman. It was difficult to tear ourselves away and leave but of course, we had to in the end!

Featured Article: Charlotte Poole Graham: Will you really be ready for retirement?

This year’s new ‘pension freedoms’ have attracted a great deal of interest, but as a nation we remain seriously underprepared for retirement. A recent survey by insurers Aegon UK found that only 7% of the population is on track for retirement – meaning that they have realistic expectations about their pension and are saving enough to achieve them.

The last 12 months have been momentous for pensions, which have enjoyed the most radical overhaul in nearly a century. Anyone over the age of 55 can now take their workplace or personal pensions as cash if they choose, and they are no longer obliged to buy an annuity. For many, these savings represent their second-biggest asset after their home, and there will be significant tax implications for lump-sum withdrawals above a certain level. This is likely to cause more people to seek advice, as they consider their options.

Pension freedoms, however, will have no effect on exactly what is inside peoples’ pension pots and whether this is sufficient for a comfortable retirement. If people have not saved enough then, quite simply, the freedom to take benefits is of little material value.

Automatic enrolment means that more now have a pension through their employer – an additional five million since the programme began two years ago. However, the Aegon study suggests that, whether they have a workplace or a private pension, many are not fully engaged with it. It shows, for example, that more than half of people in the UK (55%) have never checked the value of their pension savings. Two in five do not know how much they are paying into their pension pot, and three out of five do not know how much their employer is contributing.

 

Issue #5 January 2016

Lorah-Kelly and I continued driving around the UK visiting and interviewing amazing women such as this issue’s cover ladies, Cynthia and Jan from SoSensational, but the trip for Issue 5 had to be our final road trip together as Lorah-Kelly was pregnant and expecting her first baby! How exciting, but also, this magazine’s trip was exhausting and we realised that it wasn’t sustainable physically but also was not a financially viable way to run the magazine. The road trips sadly came to an end and we agreed to stop travelling as much and conduct the interviews electronically where possible.

Featured Article: Women’s Business Club and Safe From Slavery Unite Against Modern Day Slavery.

Women’s Business Club is pleased to support several charities in 2016, including Safe From Slavery, a local charity with international outreach whose aim is to fight modern day slavery and protect, heal and restore victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

WBC Regional Coordinator, Angela De Souza and SFS Chief Executive, Sue Carter met at Maximise Conference in 2015 and discussed the potential of a strong collective of business women using their intelligence, ingenuity and business savvy to help the fight against the injustice and exploitation of people trapped in slavery.

Human Trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world. According to the United Nations statistics on Human Trafficking and Slavery there are more than 32 million victims of modern day slavery. Sex trafficking is commonly controlled by devious organised criminal gangs who prey on vulnerable women. While victims’ stories are varied, the common element used by traffickers is one of violence and death threats to victims and their families to force compliance. Every day vulnerable British and foreign women are trafficked for repeated sexual exploitation. Safe From Slavery’s advocacy informs, influences and helps to raise awareness of the devastation of slavery to victims and their families, as well as working with law enforcement, social services and medical providers to help vulnerable women who have escaped or been rescued from slavery.

Issue #6 April 2016

Something interesting started to unfold in our magazine and that was Jen Hall’s journey unfolding right before our eyes. Little did we know that we were watching history unfold right before our eyes in our little magazine! Previous issues had featured her as The Spirit Sanctuary and this issue sees her with her new brand, The Life Buddy, but keep reading to see what happens next. Our little magazine was proving to be an important record of some of our member’s journeys.

Featured Article: Step by Step: Manage your critic – Manage your life

Do you have a little voice in your head that is constantly criticising you? Perhaps your critic is someone you love?

Are you left with self-doubt about your business? Do you wonder if you are ever going to make a pro t?

Would you like to know how to manage your critic, gain clarity of what you want and leave with absolute confidence in your next step?

Then I would like to share with you my journey as a self-employed business owner who then separated from her ex-husband only to find I still lacked confidence even though he was no longer nagging me, then my mum died and I discovered I still didn’t like myself that much and she was no longer around nagging me and lastly when my own daughter started self-harming unable to communicate how she felt I found myself on the phone to parent line crying and asking.

“How come I can help my clients to be more successful in business and I can help them communicate better at home but I can’t help my own daughter?”

The young man on the phone said “What would you tell your clients to do?”

That day changed my life forever.

Read more in Issue #6

Issue #7 July 2016

As the Women’s Business Club grew so did our magazine. More and more clubs were being launched which means we automatically had more and more readers as well as content to choose from and members stories to capture. We made an important decision, we decided to keep adverting costs affordable for all business sizes so that small business would always have a place to be seen in a lovely glossy print magazine. Our magazine was fixed at £2.99 and our advertising rates would remain affordable and available to small businesses as well as companies with large marketing budgets.

Featured Article: Fiona Jones: The Woman Behind The Business

Fiona Jones is a talented jewellery designer living and working in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. She has overcome many obstacles to get to where she is today, and is happy to share her journey through ME and a career change into the business world.

What made you make the leap into business?

I developed a chronic condition. It is known as ME (Myalgic Encephalopathy), CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome),PVFS (PostViralFatigueSyndrome), CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) and now SEID (systemic exertion intolerance disease). It meant that working at a high level on a day in, day out basis, was out for me. It affects every system including temperature and breathing, not just muscle pain or tiredness, so it is really annoying!

I lost my job and ended up on benefits, trying to live in a house with a mortgage and no way to be able to prevent it being repossessed in the future. For a few years I could only do a small amount each day and needed to rest both morning and afternoon after doing a bit. Gradually, as my energy

 

increased I was able to match it with my desire to return to the working world and the need to find money to pay o my mortgage. I looked at what I was able to do and chose to use my creative skills. I put part of my redundancy pay into buying gemstones and silver so I can make higher class jewellery, rather than wood or glass, as I did when I was a student or a child. Then I practiced selling around to friends and then beyond.

Issue #8 October 2016

Siobhan Freegard was to be our keynote speaker at our Maximise Conference so we decided it would be fun to feature her in our magazine ahead of the big day and get people excited about meeting her in person. It was a great idea and we hoped it would become something we could keep up for future Autumn issues. We are so grateful for businesswomen like Siobhan who are willing to give up their time chatting to us and inspire businesswomen across the country.

Featured Article: How to get the most out of your magazine adverts

Advertising in magazines is something that hasn’t changed over the years. They are there to help keep the cost of the magazine itself down and are the reason some are free. But how often do you look at the ads? Do you look at all of them? What is it about those ads that you end up paying attention to? And, most importantly, how can I get my ad seen?

Most ads in a magazine end up being just a small bit of information about the business, its logo and some colour. This ends up being just another block in a sea of other boring blocks. If you are paying for ad space, why not make the most of it? There is potential there that very few businesses are taking advantage of. Here are a few tips for advertising your business in a magazine.

Read more in Issue #8

Issue #9 January 2017

It was time for a sudden general election after the Brexit vote shook the nation. Although we did try to get an interview with Theresa May she was understandable busy at that time, however, Justine Greening did us the honour of allowing us to add a little bit of politics into our magazine. We are passionate about our role in this nation’s politics as businesswomen. We carry influence and a responsibility to be a part of making the UK the best possible place to live and work. We don’t complain about our government but ask what we can do to be a part of the solution.

We also saw a major change in our branding and magazine layout with many new features introduces and a new name – Maximise Business Magazine and black and gold colour scheme to make it more gender neutral.

Featured Article: Which Legal Framework Best Suits Your Business?

Sally McFadden is Head of Commercial Property in the Business Services Department of Thomson & Bancks, o ering packages to both start-up and established businesses to help them manage their legal a airs more efficiently.

Here, Sally provides us with her advice on choosing the legal structure for your start-up.

• Sole Trader
• Partnership
• Limited Company
• Limited Liability Partnership
• Community Interest Company

Read more in Issue #9 

Issue #10 April 2017

A strong theme of tragedy to success dominated this issue of the magazine, it was encouraging to hear from women who had faced life-threatening situations and used them to change their life for the better. We also introduced the Author Hub, a place for authors to share their work and stories. Lorah-Kelly introduced her new section under her brand, Mother Duck, it was great to see how she was learning to juggle a new baby and business. I am sure many mothers were eagerly watching what she would do next too as the story unfolded.

Featured Article: Mother Duck: A New Mummy in Business

I have been a mummy to Baby Duck a whole year and three months this April. It has been my first time navigating the world of motherhood and parenting and honestly, I have loved it! Not to say it hasn’t been hard, because it truly has. But the reason for going through these challenges and life altering events is all for the most amazing little person, who I have the joy and privilege to call my own.

Before this wonderful adventure began, I ran my own business with my husband. In fact, I have run a few businesses in the past, as it is something I love and something that our family has always encouraged. I took the necessary maternity leave from working in my business but found I never really came back in the same way I had left of. Things were different. I didn’t have the concentration, the time or the headspace to continue doing what I was doing. Although I loved my business, I felt a shift.

My priorities had changed, of course they had! I was a mother, responsible for keeping an actual person alive, happy, loved and thriving. I loved my business, but I loved my baby more.

Read more in Issue #10 

Issue #11 July 2017

The new branding wasn’t working, I didn’t feel good about it and many members said that they didn’t relate to it! Oh well, you have to try things out, don’t you? We reverted back to a Women’s Business Club branded magazine but retained the name Maximise as it worked well and everyone was much happier. We were back on track and focused on what we wanted to achieve with the magazine and who it was for. It was and is a Women’s Business Magazine by women and for women but as always men are always welcome to join in. The magazine exists as part of our overall vision and that is to connect, support and empower UK businesswomen. Our cover lady was Jade Lisseman, not a celebrity but one of our very own members.

Featured Article: How Brand Ambassadors Can Help You

First of all let’s start with who a brand ambassador is.

Your biggest fan. Someone who will “big up” your business and brand.

A genuine user of your product who spreads the joy of your company via word of mouth, social media and blogs.

An employee who is loyal, totally involved in the business and the brand and shares love. You, the business owner. 24/7 you represent your brand.

Read more in Issue #11 

Issue #12 October 2017

We were happy and settled with our magazine at this point and happy to continue the journey in pink, and since this magazine was by us and for us we decided to run an extended feature on the fast approaching Maximise Conference & Awards. It was a fantastic issue where everyone had a little feature of some sort and the general feel of the magazine was starting to feel like a family photo album with good quality business content in between. I hoped many copies would be kept for posterity as they really were becoming collector’s pieces.

Featured Article: How To Care For Your New Kitten

Every loving home should have a British Shorthair kitten. We believe that a house is not really a home until you have one. Therefore, we wrote this guide as a starting point for you and your kitten to enjoy a happy and healthy life.

• Diet

• Cat litter and tray

• Grooming

Read more in Issue #12

And that’s it! We do hope you’ve enjoyed reading through our journey, and that you continue to support and enjoy the magazine in the upcoming year!

All 12 past issues can be purchased on our website and downloaded. The most recent issue as well as upcoming issue can be purchased in print or digital format. www.womensbusiness.club/shop

In 2018 we have decided to go fully digital to get our news further faster. Get your story or advert to us or have a read over at www.womensbusiness.club/news

By Women's Business Club

Women's Business Club empowers women to succeed in business through awards, conferences, business support membership, and news. Find out more at www.womensbusiness.club or send your press release [email protected]. Articles and adverts are chargeable, see media pack at www.womensbusiness.club/media-pack