The Cost of Kindness.

Last night, whilst I was out hunting Pokemon, a friend and I came across a little old lady on a mobility scooter. the battery had run flat out so we pushed her home. It would have been so easy just to keep walking. A few more steps and we’d have been out of sight and I would have got the PokeStop i’d been walking towards. A few more steps and that lady could have been sitting around for ages. Now i’m not looking for a medal or a standing ovation. I’m just asking that we all think about how truly blessed we are. I’m sure we all have battles to deal with in our daily lives but 10 minutes of kindness doesn’t cost a thing. 

A few years back someone said to me “Be kind, then, you’ll be rich”. I didn’t understand what was meant and, at the time, i wasn’t that bothered. A few years later a friend and I embarked on a little adventure where we were to face adversity. We decided to get a better understanding of homelessness by becoming ‘homeless’ for 24 hours in our home town of London. You can read the full adventure HERE.

One of the main things that sticks out from, what turned out to be one of the hardest 24hours of my life, was that people who have less seem to have more to give and ask for nothing in return but your time. Whilst out, we decided to buy sandwiches and go to meet a few people. We met a man outside a very prestigious hotel and offered him some sandwiches. He accepted but declined a second. This played on my mind. He had no guarantee when his next meal would come along yet he was still thinking about others. I can almost guarantee that I would have taken two. Hell, if you offered me free food in my current comfortable situation I would still take it! 

A little further down the road we met another man and his lovely dog. He was an ex soldier. Just that alone, broke my heart. He explained that Pret A Manger, the popular coffee chain, offer all their end of day food to the homeless and he was waiting for them. 

It turned out this was true and the staff from Pret done their good deed. This man didn’t have a bean but refused our help  knowing full well he was going to get dinner that night and our goods could help someone else. We ended up spending a bit of time with him. Letting him talk. Us listening. Thats all he wanted. He just wanted a companion for a while. That night changed me. I no longer see homeless people as bums. The people we met were some of the nicest people i’d ever met. So humble and kind. 

I vowed that I would try to give back in my life. It didn’t have to be daily, weekly or monthly. Just when I could, when the opportunity arose. I was going to try to be a kinder person. 

Please don’t see this as me judging anyone. As I said, up until I had my experience, I was blind to what was happening in the world. All I ask is that we all try and do something small this week to make a big difference in someone else’s world. 

So ask yourself this - At what point of having everything, did you have nothing to give? 

Until next time.

Much Love

Miss Make It Happen

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Step Outside Your Comfort Zone. It's Where Your Confidence Is Hiding.

If you were to meet me on the street you’d think i’m confident. I’m good, no, i’m GREAT at playing the part. You’d think i’m a social butterfly who has no trouble networking a room, talking in front of strangers or just being myself. The truth is. I find all that ‘stuff’ hard work and somewhat exhausting. 

In todays society, confidence is a must have accessory for every man, woman and child. If you’re not naturally confident you have to pretend you are. If that isn’t hard enough then the same society is telling you you need to eat less, eat more, wear make up, look natural, dress your age, eat this, don’t eat that, speak up, don’t have an opinion, be slim, have curves. Phew! I’m exhausted just thinking about that list.   

I’m an only child so I naturally spent a lot of my time alone growing up. I have grown to love being alone. It’s ME time, it’s quiet and I don’t have to worry about entertaining people or wondering what they think of my ice cream stained PJs as i’m stretched out on the sofa reading a book.   

Over the years my confidence has taken some hefty knocks. People telling me I’m fat, ugly, not good enough. We’ve all been there. This is not a sob story but more of an awakening. I started dating Mike in April. He's literally turned my world upside down. He treats me like an absolute princess and never fails to tell me how beautiful I look, how proud he is of me or just simply that he loves me. Over the last few months my self confidence has changed.  Yes, yes, I know. I shouldn’t let someone else control the way I feel. Blah blah blah. But do you know what. This isn’t about him controlling my emotions but more helping me fix my broken bits. By handing me all the shards and fragments of my previously shattered confidence, he’s given me a platform to rebuild myself from the inside out. A platform I have complete control over. I'm very grateful for that. 

As my confidence grew, I got back in contact with a photographer who has been talking about shooting me for a few years. I took the plunge and agreed to the shoot. We started off with some fun and business like poses and then I became adventurous. Next thing I know, I’ve agreed to a boudoir shoot. My confidence was literally exploding from all the fun and excitement. I wouldn’t have dreamed doing this before and at the same time I hadn’t felt so liberated or beautiful in such a long time. I went from corsets, tutus and heels to butt naked wrapped in a sheet. 

I’ve since named Mikaela Morgan the OFFICIAL photographer for MMIH and we’ve done a really great podcast explaining about how these kinds of shoots can really help people with their self confidence. The woman is an absolute magician with a camera and i’m so happy that I finally stepped outside my comfort zone and let her work her magic. 

I’ve been able to draw a line under the past and i’m looking forward to a future full of Love, Laughter and REAL confidence. 

You should give yourself that opportunity too. What have you got to lose?

Until next time.

Much Love

Miss Make It Happen

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(Pictures owned by M Morgan and D Atkins)

The Only Way Is Up...

... down, left, right, loop the loop.

In life, nothing is straight forward. You'll hardly ever get from A to B in a straight line.

I recently took on one of the hardest challenges of my life. Mount Snowdon. I've written a 2 part blog for Yahoo and HERE is Part 1. The Ascent!

I hope you enjoy reading it :)

Until next time.
Much Love
Miss Make It Happen
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Kindness Costs Nothing

Thanks to the kindness of people, It's been a good week here at MMIH HQ.

I've had so much help, love and support recently that I wanted to write some thing  to let people know that it hasn't gone un-notice. I'm a massive believer in karma. Business karma, life karma, love karma. You get what you deserve. Put out in to the world what you want to receive etc etc. Never underestimate the power of a thank you, a "would you like help", a hug. To you they may seem insignificant but to that person, who may be going through their own hell, it could mean the world. 

People, however strong they think they are, need support sometimes. A cheerful hug I received last week meant so much more. It was just a normal friendly hug but to me it was just what I needed at that time. It made me feel safe. Safe is not a place I visit often. I paid that hug forward to my mum the following day. 

I've been on twitter for a few years now, I jump from account to account creating tweets, building brands and playing my alter egos. From the MMIH account, to my DJ account, client accounts... I become a difference person. I'm what the account needs me to be. AND I LOVE IT! 

I slipped up recently, I forgot that everyone hadn't been on twitter for as long as me, they didn't have the large interaction circle, they didn't know the ropes. So when someone said "twitter is sh*t, I don't know why you bother" not only was I shocked, I didn't get it! Then I remembered my first months on twitter. It can be a scary place. 

"Will they mind if I follow them?" "Will they mind if I interrupt the conversation" "who should I follow?" 

The truth is, we're brought up to behave, be quiet, don't interrupt conversations, speak when you're spoken to. Twitter throws all those rules out of the window. You need to be assertive, confident and get your point across. SEND THE PIC OF THE HAMSTER DEEP THROATING A BANANA - Do it, be brave. 

The more you use twitter, the better the experience. Yeah, you'll come across some serious neg heads but that's what is so great about the 'block' button. As a whole, twitter is a great platform for personal and business growth. 

Well I'm keeping it short but sweet this time around... I'm not even sure how I got from kindness to twitter to a deep throating hamster. 

Do something selfless this week... Be there for someone, even if they don't ask you to be.

Until next time.
Much Love
Miss Make It Happen
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Opportunity knocks.

Knock Knock!

We all know that opportunity usually comes with change. If what you have been offered isn't new then what's the point in trying it? You might as well stick at what you're already doing if you're not going to change something with the new opportunity.

Recently I've made some choices that led to changes in my life. At the time they felt risky and I wasn't sure I wanted to disrupt the status quo but so far it's turned ok.

As I've mentioned before, I attended BradCamp Be A Better Speaker, earlier this year on the hope of improving my speaking skills and one day headlining at The Business Show. Truth is, I realised that when I attended BradCamp that I didn't actually want to be a speaker after all. But I did want people to know what I had to say. One of the ideas that I got from BradCamp was to start a podcast. I wasn't sure where to start or what I was doing but I knew I'd figure it out. I always do.

3 months on, I have a podcast that I am proud of, am honoured to interview some of the great minds of the SME world and I love what i'm doing. I'm also in talks with several companies to produce their podcasts. A small idea at a development day has given me the opportunity to not only get my voice out there but to also increase my client base. I'm glad I took that opportunity.

Believe me when I say I know how scary opportunities are and how change is a tough cookie to digest but sometimes the only reason we don't take up an opportunity is because of self doubt.  We think  don't deserve what we're being offered or we're not talented enough. Truth is, if you're being offered the opportunity it's because someone else has seen your potential. Someone else has seen how hard you've worked. Some one else thinks that you're the right person for the job.

Weigh up the pros and cons and give it a go. You cannot grow if you refuse to change. Look at the caterpillar and the butterfly. If the caterpillar didn't make the change, he'd never have grown wings and been able to fly .

Release your inner butterfly. The door of opportunity looks exactly like the door to failure. You need to open them to find out which is which. or you could just stay locked in the same room.

Until next time.
Much Love
Miss Make It Happen
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Vultures

I get my hosting package and emails from 123-reg. I have done for years. All in all, they're pretty good for what I need. They're easy to work out, their customer services reps are good at what they do and I've not had any major issues with them.

Don't get me wrong i've been without emails a few times over the years but I was kept up to date with the problem via social media and all was well. No one died.

Earlier this month, my emails were wiped out for quite a while during the busiest couple of days of the year. It was The Business Show at London ExCel and I'm a little disgruntled. I couldn't access 123-regs site to ask what was going on so i sent them a tweet. Within minutes, I had a response. They knew there was a problem and I was assured they were on the case. 20 minutes later, I had my emails back.

As far as I was concerned the job was done, I was happy. After all, show me a perfect person or business and i'll show you a liar. None of us are perfect and we need to forgive little mistakes in life and business.

So whilst all this is going on, the vultures have started circling. Other "competitors" wanting my business. To take me away from my current supplier because of a hiccup. I wasn't impressed. I worked in the recruitment industry for YEARS so I know cut throat sales but I hate it. It will not work on me. If you or your staff are selling this way you should be ashamed of yourself.

Sales is a long game, just like networking, and business in general. By sending people "We can offer you a better service" tweets without - 1) Whats going on, and 2) What service I already have you're only going to get one response from me. A shaming live on twitter. If you're lucky i'll throw in a few tips and send you to a networking event.

Just don't be a sales vulture. There is no need for it and you'll just look like a mug. (<Proper East London term for you there)



Much Love
Miss Make It Happen
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Creative Constipation

Brain Freeze, Writers Block, Creative Constipation - we all get times when we just can't get the ideas from brain to paper.

It's all perfectly normal.

But how do we get passed these situations without becoming demotivated and getting caught in a circle of never ending negativity and being unproductive?

Well, first, you have to give yourself a break. You're not some massive failure, you probably just have too much on your mind and need to relax and get that in to order first. If you're in the UK, the weather is finally getting warm enough to go out side and have a walk. Go grab some fresh air and clear out the cobwebs. It'll do you the world of good. Trust me.

Another way to stop all of the above is stop leaving things to the last minute. Unless you're one of these lucky people who thrives under pressure then leaving your tasks to the last minute will not make it any easier for you. It needs to be done so get it out of the way now.

My final piece of advice, especially when it comes to writing content is write down all the ideas you have throughout the day. If you have a lightbulb moment then WRITE IT DOWN! You will not remember it, however good the idea and you'll be kicking yourself later when you need ideas and you need them quick!

Well that's it for this week.

Hope you all have a fabulous week and remember ... It's going to be ok.

Much Love
Miss Make It Happen
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