Making conversations about capacity count!

When you listen to John you just know there is a bigger story to this guy as his accent gives it away! John has successfully built a business network and community to help people fill spare capacity and exchange services. It is a brilliant concept and if you’ve not come across it before yet in touch with Wendy and she'll tell you more. 

In this episode the pivotal moment is closely linked to a light bulb moment after a clever question which leads John on a lifelong journey…you’ll have to listen to find out more.

Find out more about John's company, BBX here - 

https://bbxuk.com/ 

Making conversations about mental wealth count!

Meet Amelia Thorpe, founder of Wellbeing 360, who talks to Wendy about how important it is to give equal priority to our mental and physical health. Listening to Amelia’s story will bring a beacon of hope that we can all take charge of our own conversations which will give us back the control that slips sometimes when times are tough.

Amelia’s whole life journey changed after she was asked one question. Listen to find out more…

Connect with Amelia here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/360-wellbeing/

https://www.wellbeing-360.com/

Making conversations about social selling count!

When you connect with what your next life move is going to be from a church pew it becomes a serious and real driver. Kim Walsh Phillips has had her fair share of adversity in business over the last 20+ years. Honing her craft to become, in our opinion, the number one Social Selling Strategist fueled by faith, love and lots of coffee.

Kim knows better than anyone that there is no such thing as overnight success and the only true route is by serving people. A work ethic we applaud!

Kim owns Powerful Professionals, a business that helps empower entrepreneurs to turn clicks into cash and identifying the super powers in others so they can fly high.

In Kim’s episode Wendy uncovers her pivotal moment…

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimwalshphillips/

https://powerfulprofessionals.com/

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 

Making Conversations Count - Episode 10 

January 4th 2021 

Wendy Harris & Kim Walsh-Phillips, Powerful Professionals

Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction

00:00:33: Making your business grow

00:02:19: Shizzle

00:03:42: Mess becoming the message

00:04:37: Kim's pivotal moment

00:06:59: Do it 119 times

00:08:18: Their passion feeds you.

00:10:10: Final thoughts

Wendy Harris: Welcome to making conversations count, the Podcast that brings you business leaders sharing their pivotal moments; a story and a conversation that has really been a turning point in their lives.  Today, I have the very delicious Kim Walsh Phillips.  Hello, Kim, thank you for joining us.

Kim Walsh Phillips:  Thank you so much for having me, this is such a pleasure.

Wendy Harris: I was so excited when I got the confirmation that you went, "Yeah, I'd love to do this".  So, Kim, tell everybody what you do now and how you serve.

Kim Walsh Phillips:  I work with entrepreneurs who have great businesses, but they are tired of relying upon word of mouth and referrals in order to grow and they want to take growth of their business into their own hands, but technology totally freaks them out.  So, they know they need to use social media to get out there and get the word out, but they're not quite sure how.  I help show them exactly how they can do it so they can be empowered to do it themselves.

Wendy Harris: Well, that's brilliant because certainly now more than ever, we can't go and do the face-to-face meetings.  Networking has gone online, hasn't it?  We've got to be able to reach people in new ways, more than ever before, whether we like it or not.  So, it's great that you do that.  Is it course content; do they get you?  How does it work for them to be able to learn that?

Kim Walsh Phillips:  We have free content, we have courses, we have coaching programmes and we have virtual events, so it's a variety.  It goes all the way from learning completely on your own to us doing it with you.  So, it's a wide range of levels but typically people will come in, either from having read one of my books or heard me speak somewhere or clicking on one of my adds, and then they will get a free piece of content, and then will end up enrolling in a course.  Then they go on to a coaching...

Making conversations about digital marketing count!

When the Pandemic hit in early 2020, Henny Maltby turned to her husband as they both realised their business was going to change forever. Offering online marketing to large corporate businesses who cut budgets left a hole to fill. By opening the conversation up with local businesses, it was obvious what the next chapter would be for them at Pink Elephant Media.

Henny shares her pivotal moment with us and it is a great question for all business owners to consider…

Connect with Henny here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/henny-maltby/

https://www.pinkelephantmedia.co.uk/

Making Conversations Count - Episode 9 

Wendy Harris & Henny Maltby, Pink Elephant Media

December 17th 2020

Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction

00:00:47: We share pink!

00:01:13: Linking up on LinkedIn

00:03:13: Exciting time for small businesses

00:05:02: Titanic big businesses

00:07:00: Have a little cry.

00:08:34: Kindness to small businesses

00:12:48: Henny's pivotal moment

00:18:39: You can't break it

00:19:42: Scared to phone marketing companies?

00:21:57: Final thoughts

Wendy Harris: Welcome to Making Conversations Count, the Podcast that brings business leaders to you, so that you can hear about their pivotal moments; a turning point in their career or life that really has had an impact and they tell us more about how that has impacted on their life following that pivotal moment.

So, today I have with me the lovely Henny Maltby from Pink Elephant Media.  Henny, it's so great to have you here.  The last time we had a conversation we could have carried on for hours.

Henny Maltby:  I know I'm a chatterbox.

Wendy Harris: Something that we share.  Introduce yourself to everybody, Henny.

Henny Maltby:  I'm Henny.  I'm from Pink Elephant Media; we are a web development and marketing agency, based in Tetbury in Gloucestershire.

Wendy Harris: We share pink colours.

Henny Maltby:  We do, almost identical, which is amazing.

Wendy Harris: It's like we're twins.

Henny Maltby:  I know, my husband banned me from having pink, so I made all my logo pink on purpose.

Wendy Harris: Of course, your love for elephants, my love for hippos.

Henny Maltby:  Practically, we should just join together now and be done with it.

Wendy Harris: So, Henny, tell the listeners how we first met?

Henny Maltby:  On LinkedIn.  You'd made a comment, Wendy, about something to do with marketing, which I thought was absolutely spot on.  So, I decided to connect with you and find out a little bit more about what you did.  Although we do very different areas of marketing and business, there is a lot of cross-over between us which I thought would be really interesting to explore.  So, we sort of connected on the phone, all during the pandemic, which has been brilliant, because it's great to make connections at this time.

Wendy Harris: That one conversation, that one comment, led to a connection, led to a conversation and has now

Making conversations about copywriting count!

Joining Wendy in this episode is copywriter James Daniel. He describes himself as ‘That old guy who writes copy – you know, the beardy one with glasses.’ We should point out there could be other old guys with beards and glasses out there! It’s easy to like James style of writing because he’s a conversationalist who realises that people don’t speak geek or tech. He doesn’t talk jargon when he explains great copy.

Talking with James’ about his pivotal moment peels back some interesting layers that some would shy away from...

Connect with James here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdcopywriter/

Grab his latest book ‘Before you JFDI’ for FREE here:

https://www.jamesthecopywriter.co.uk/

Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction 00:01:30: The power of conversational emails 00:02:19: "Do you talk like that at home?" 00:04:00: Maintaining a natural voice in conversation 00:05:13: Meritocracy 00:07:28: James's pivotal moment 00:14:40: The value of initiative 00:15:15: From journalism to sales 00:18:22: A (sneaky) second pivotal moment!

00:20:37: Final thoughts

Making Conversations Count - Episode 8 

Wendy Harris & James Daniel 

December 10th 2020

Wendy Harris: Welcome to Making Conversations Count, the podcast where we have business leaders share their pivotal moments to help aspiring entrepreneurs on their journey.  Today in the studio, I am joined with James Daniel.  He is EarthMonkey Media and does copywriting.  So, James, it's good to have you here.  Tell everybody how we met.

James Daniel: Thanks, Wendy, it's great to be here, thank you.  The first sort of contact that we had, I think, was via LinkedIn, wasn't it?  You'd been reading some emails that I send out every week with copywriting tips and marketing ideas, and I heard from you and I know you were particularly taken with one email that had some totally bizarre suggestions about a hippopotamus, I think, wasn't it?

Wendy Harris: Yes, I remember that clearly!  It certainly made me read the email when I saw hippopotamus in the text, which meant I had to reach out.  I actually thought, that's really clever, since I post generally on a weekly basis about hippos somewhere along the line; I squeeze my love of hippopotamuses in for everybody to share with me and I thought you'd written it especially for me.

James Daniel: I had, yeah!  No, it's a funny thing, that injecting a little bit of humour and some vague stuff that doesn't really seem to naturally fit with business, it just gets people reading, so you draw them into your content.  That's how I like to write emails.  But, yeah, that was our first contact of course and since then, we've just been chatting and thought it would be a good idea to have this talk about how I sort of got to where I'm at now in my copywriting career.

Wendy Harris: It's purely that conversational style over that email.  I'd seen some of your posts, which is why I'd subscribed in the first place, because I thought, here's somebody who really gets it, who understands that having a conversation through copy is the way to build relationships; so, I subscribed and I've just been a lurker of those emails really. 

When that one was just for me, I know because it...

How are you on your sense of self belief?

Do you wake up with pride about what a true rock star you are?

Do you do your daily affirmations?

If you answered any of these questions with, "no", you might want to listen to this episode!

We're making conversations about self belief count!

A true diamond, Buckso is very much aligned with herself and the many facets of her own personality. As an actor, speaker and coach, her mission in life is to help people connect with their higher self. Conversations are a huge part of what she does. Being aligned with yourself on a spiritual, physical and emotional level allows you to shine brighter in everything you touch.

Buckso Dhillon-Whooley is a well known actress, who has appeared in Disney's recent remake of Aladdin and is a frequent visitor to the cobbled streets of Coronation Street.

You will soon realise that Buckso’s pivotal moment was not so much about who she had it with…

https://www.instagram.com/justbuckso/

https://www.bucksodw.com/

00:00:00: Introduction

00:01:01: Your higher self

00:02:20: The lockdown - a blessing 00:04:29: The importance of conversation to Buckso 00:05:13: Exposing your vulnerability 00:06:43: Irrelevant conversation 00:07:34: Being Buckso 00:10:58: Surrounding yourself with the right people 00:13:18: The background to Buckso's pivotal moment 00:16:43: The diamond within 00:18:50: First wave immigrants 00:21:58: The influence of your parents 00:25:05: Final thoughts

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 

Making Conversations Count - Episode 7 

3rd December 2020

Wendy Harris & Buckso Dhillon-Wooley

Wendy Harris: Welcome to Making Conversations Count, the podcast that introduces you to business leaders who share their pivotal moment with you, aspiring entrepreneurs.  These pivotal moments really can create turning points in your life and career and today, I have Buckso Dhillon-Wooley, an actor, a speaker, a coach to your higher self.  I've known Buckso for a while; please introduce yourself Buckso?

Buckso Dhillon-Wooley: I connect with your higher self and our coaching sessions go via that avenue.  There are a whole myriad of other things that I bring to the table as well, a little bit like the magician of the tarot card; they have a veritable banquet of tools that they use in their trade, and I too do that.  I never limit myself by saying one thing that I do for people; it's a myriad of things; it's a holistic approach.

Wendy Harris: I think that perfectly sums you up, because not everybody needs one thing to help them?

Buckso Dhillon-Wooley: Nobody needs that one thing; it's always a myriad of things.  If only people realised that a bit more and were more open to that fact, that it isn't one thing that needs to be fixed in our life, it's a combination of things.

Wendy Harris: And I think sometimes, because you do think about it, it's not an alignment to other things that are going on, that what you think is the problem isn't always the root problem either?

Buckso Dhillon-Wooley: Correct, and that's where you find that you continually come across obstacles.  And, it's just not getting it right, "And I've followed this and I know it's that and I know it's that and I'm just not getting it right"; it's because it's not that thing that you think it is and a requirement to be more open and allow less control and

Making conversations about sales personality count!

Nicky Pattinson speaks the Truth in all she does! A northern lass who traded on the markets at the beginning of her career, similarly to your host. Now, Nicky has a best-selling book “Email: Don’t Get Deleted” and her own YouTube channel NICKYPTV.

Nicky is entertaining and magnetic in character! Working with the biggest brand names out there, she’s seen, well, pretty much everything.

Nicky is able to quickly connect with an audience and understand what makes them tick, leading to expert advise in sales and inspirational speaking to drive success for your business. Her down-to-earth attitude and sense of humour is captivating. 

Find and connect with Nicky here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickypattinson/

http://www.youtube.com/user/HiyaItsNicky1#p/a/u/1/D3uE5uUoPko

[email protected]

Sit back and listen to Nicky explain why she is grateful she Danced with the Devil…

Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction 00:01:45: From shoe shops to market stalls 00:06:30: Trance-phraseology 00:09:27: Making instant connections 00:11:04: Be someone, not everyone, especially on social media 00:12:37: Nicky's pivotal moment 00:21:55: Final thoughts

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 

Making Conversations Count - Episode 6 

26th November 2020 

Wendy Harris & Nicky Pattinson

Wendy Harris: Welcome to Making Conversations Count, the podcast where I bring you business leaders that share with me and you, the listeners, a pivotal moment that really has created a turning point in their life.  I am so excited, because today I have Nicky Pattinson; hi, Nicky!

Nicky Pattinson: Hi, it's marvellous to be here.  Thank you for even thinking about me.

Wendy Harris: We have to thank you wonderful Louise Jones, a good friend of mine and fan of yours, so I'm sure she'll be downloading it on every platform that she can. 

Nicky, I know from looking at some of the interviews that you've done, you are what I would class as a "WYSIWYG", what you see is what you get, and you're not scared of having difficult conversations and bringing it to the fore for people to think about.

Nicky Pattinson: Yeah.  What you see is what you get; that's who I am.  And, it's got me into a lot of trouble over the years, but it's also got its graces.  And I think it is me.  I can't play games.  You know, when I first started speaking all those years ago, people said, "Oh, crikey, that accent!  She swears a bit", etc; don't we all? 

People kept saying, "You've got to change, you've got to calm it down", but calm it down to what; somebody that isn't real?  Those people are ten a penny, so yeah, absolutely, not everybody likes it but some people do, and you are what you are.  I just am very grateful for anybody that listens and likes what I say.

Wendy Harris: I've liked everything that I've heard so far and I'm just thrilled to be chatting with you today, you know, somebody who likes to communicate.  You get up on stage and you present to people.  What do you talk about in your presentations, Nicky?

Nicky Pattinson: It used to be all about sales; long story.  At 16, my first job was in a shoe shop.  I sold more shoes in one day than anybody else could sell in a week.  Wendy, I had no clue how I was doing it, I just knew it happened.  Now, I can tell you every wink of the eye, every wave of...

Making conversations about team development count!

Wendy is joined by Andrew Deighton today, who helps build and develop high performing teams through strategy and processes in today’s remote working world.

Wendy has worked with Andrew in a second business through mentoring and knows firsthand how his advice relates to many aspects of running a business. Andrew shares his time at Rolls Royce which leads to his pivotal moment.

This conversation discusses different opportunities and how they can positively affect your business, work/life balance and your family. 

When Andrew was offered a promotion, that was perfect for him, it led to some interesting conversations and thinking about what opportunity looks like in reality…

Connect with Andrew:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewdeighton/

https://www.awddevelopmentsolutions.com/

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT 

Making Conversations Count – Episode 5

November 19th 2020

Wendy Harris & Andrew Deighton, AWD Development Solutions Ltd

Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction 00:01:08: How Andrew and Wendy met 00:01:47: The new world of online conversations 00:02:33: Video meetings expanding the global reach 00:03:32: Some useful tips for hosting zoom meetings 00:04:56: Andrew’s feedback from his online sessions 00:07:42: Andrew’s pivotal moment 00:11:53: Memories of Singapore 00:14:06: How the children coped as expats 00:17:04: The typical day of an expat worker

00:18:23: Final thoughts

Wendy Harris: Welcome to Making Conversations Count, the podcast that shares business leaders’ pivotal moments to help aspiring entrepreneurs.  Today, I’m excited because I have Andrew Deighton here with me.  I met Andrew about three years ago, and he has actually helped me in my business, so I know that I’ve had a couple of pivotal moments just off the back of meeting Andrew; so, it was great to be able to ask him to come on the show and share his with you too.

So, Andrew, welcome to the show.  Thank you so much for joining us.

Andrew Deighton: Thank you, thanks for asking me.

Wendy Harris: I know that we’ve known each other for a while.  Tell each other what you do and how we first met.

Andrew Deighton: I run a training and development business now, so particularly focussing on helping businesses to build high-performing teams; and now, the situation we’re in, remote high-performing teams.  And, I also help businesses who may be a bit bigger who need some outsourced training and development support, so putting strategies and processes in place around developing their people and their teams and their organisation.

So, we first met when I volunteered to do some work with Staffordshire Chamber as a mentor, and they introduced me to you and Colette and we started having a few business mentoring sessions.

Wendy Harris: Absolutely.

Andrew Deighton: The Holiday Inn in Burton!

Wendy Harris: The Holiday Inn and their cappuccinos, yes, because Colette is also known as my work wife for the sales and marketing workshops that we were delivering.  We’ve not delivered

Making conversations about marketing for introverts count!

Let us introduce you to Jenny Procter, a marketing consultant and self-proclaimed introvert. Jenny writes PR and communications for B2B clients and has her own podcast show, and she discusses issues around running her own business as an entrepreneur. 

Jenny says she much prefers to be host than guest but, in this episode, Jenny shares her love for conversation and how powerful it can be with connecting to your audience.

In Jenny’s pivotal moment we hear an age-old dilemma – Should I? Should she what…?!

Listen and connect with Jenny here: https://bondfieldmarketing.co.uk/category/podcast/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyprocter/

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT 

Making Conversations Count - Episode 4

November 11th 2020

Wendy Harris & Jenny Procter, Bondfield Marketing

Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction 00:01:29: Wendy's and Jenny's shared values 00:02:27: The importance of conversation in Jenny's work 00:03:36: Conversational communications 00:05:28: Jenny's pivotal moment 00:08:48: Working for yourself - the initial challenges 00:10:34: A difficult year!

00:13:01: Final thoughts

Wendy Harris: Welcome to another episode of Making Conversations Count.  Today, I have the lovely Jenny Procter with me.

Jenny Procter: Hello, Wendy, how are you?

Wendy Harris: I'm fine thank you.  Tell us a little bit about who you are and how we first met?

Jenny Procter: Well, I am a marketing consultant.  I run Bondfield Marketing and I've done that for about eight years; and we met, I think, initially through a conversation on LinkedIn.  So, I was building my business; I was thinking I really need to be getting out to more networking events; I'd spent a period kind of juggling home and family; and, I was ready to move my business on a little bit.

There was an event going on quite close to me and I thought, I don't know anybody who's going to that event, and I think you'd said you were going to the same event; and it turned out, didn't it, that we lived about two minutes' walk from each other?  So, you were doing your thing in your end of the village and I was doing my thing and my end of the village, and we arranged to go to the event together.  And, I think you picked me up; I was stood on the street corner, which is a little dodgier than it sounds!

Wendy Harris: Yes!  How bizarre that there was a fellow marketeer of sorts literally two minutes' walk from me and that because of the safety of the village that we lived in, that we could say, "Oh, I'll just meet you on the corner and I'll be in my little black car; if I beep the horn to you, you'll know it's me!"

Jenny Procter: And you did, and we went from there.  And, in about the 10/15 minutes it took us to get to the event, I think we realised that we were going to get on, didn't we?

Wendy Harris: Absolutely.  And, it's just those first impressions, isn't it, that always count and they stay with you?  To think that I would be talking to you about picking you up on a street corner on a podcast; if we'd have said that two years ago, we would have thought we were both completely bonkers.

That conversation, then going to the networking, we came away with fairly similar opinions on how that network was run and I don't think either of us really returned.  But, that sort of cemented the values that we shared?

Making conversations about tax count! Wendy is joined by Managing Partner, Azam Mamujee a tax specialist with a voice of velvet. Azam agrees that conversations count however he explains how numbers can tell a much more powerful story. He has a catch phrase “Give Azam the facts, I’ll save you the Tax”.

We know you will find Azam’s pivotal moment a beautiful story and will resonate with…listen to find out!

Azam offers a wealth of resources for free and invites you to connect with him:

https://www.m-cubed.org/resources

https://www.linkedin.com/in/azam-mamujee/

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT 

Making Conversations Count - Episode 3

November 5th 2020

Wendy Harris & Azam Mamujee, Managing Partner M Cubed.

Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction

00:01:26: The tree of comfort

00:03:32: Finding the right path on your journey

00:05:21: How numbers can tell their own story

00:08:45: Azam's pivotal moment

00:14:23: When children become their own person

00:15:01: Your business is like your child

00:15:25: A Chicken-licken moment!

00:16:54: Final thoughts

Wendy Harris: Welcome to Making Conversations Count.  This is the podcast that business leaders share their pivotal moments, a conversation that was a turning point in their life and business.  Today's guest is the wonderful Azam Mamujee.  Thank you for joining me, Azam.

Azam Mamujee: I'm really grateful to be here in this autumn time.  It is the first podcast I'm doing and I'm feeling a little bit vulnerable.

Wendy Harris: Well, don't worry, Azam, I will look after you.  With every guest that comes on the show, we'll share a little bit about how we met, and I've never heard your pivotal moment before; that's the beauty of the concept of it, is that hopefully our listeners will take something from your story and it will resonate with them and it will blend out into the ether to help those people that are listening.

I'm honoured that it's your first podcast.  I've been on the other side.  This is my first podcast show, so it's fantastic to be able to invite people like yourself, who I see as a peer in your industry.  So, Azam, tell the listeners, how did we meet?

Azam Mamujee: Virtually, so online.  It wasn't a dating website, but it was another website for business networking.  And, I did see you across a room, but across a Zoom room.  It was great when we had a one-to-one and we connected.

Wendy Harris: I seem to remember talking about a tree outside of your window?

Azam Mamujee: Yeah.  And I'm really grateful; there are some beautiful, old, big trees outside my window and whatever the day I'm having, there's one tree, a pine tree, which is over 100 years old, by how it is, and it always looks down on me and smiles a little and says, "Well, you know, however your day's been, I've seen all the seasons and I've seen them come and go and I still provide shelter for people.  And I've seen the winds and I've seen that everything is temporary".  And, it's quite a comforting thing that that tree does to me.

And, sometimes I'm in a meeting and I will look out to the side and it waves it branch and I will take comfort from that.