Blackpool Council, businesses, faith groups and the local community have joined together to make sure children and young people inBlackpoolhave an extra special Christmas this year.

With many families struggling to make ends meet, the Give a little…help a lot campaign aims to make sure children and young people receive special gifts this year. Blackpool BID has kick started the campaign with £200 worth of toys and a number of other fundraising activities are being planned.

Backing the campaign is local newspaper the Blackpool Gazette along with many faith groups and churches throughout the borough.

Councillor Simon Blackburn, Leader of the Council said: “There are families all overBlackpoolwho are really struggling. For them the reality is that Christmas won’t be a case of whether they can afford an Xbox, mobile phone or the latest must have gift for their children…the reality is it will be whether to pay for an electricity top up card or to put food on the table. That is why I have asked officers and members at the Town Hall to get behind this campaign and make a difference to young lives this Christmas and I want to thank everyone who has come on board to date especially Blackpool Gazette.”

The campaign is being led by Blackpool Council’s deputy leader, Cllr Fred Jackson, he said: “My wife Pam had the idea that we should do something really proactive to try and make things better for children this Christmas. We are also using the campaign to raise the profile of existing fundraising and donations that already happen all overBlackpool. The Salvation Army and many churches already take cash and food donations for families, and we hope that by raising this issue in the media and with our staff and partners everyone will feel moved to making donations for our children and young people in need and discover the true meaning of Christmas.”

Supporting the appeal are members of StayBlackpool. Their president Claire Smith, said: “Our member hoteliers are really proud to be involved with ”Give a Little – Help a Lot.”  It’s our chance to make a real difference to those local families who need our help the most at a very difficult time.  So, why don’t you help too and it’s just as it says you only need to give a little to make a huge difference.  Buy an extra present or something extra at the supermarket and help us to help others this Christmas.”

 And Blackpool Gazette Editor David Helliwell said the newspaper was proud to be supporting the appeal. He added: “We’re delighted to partner Blackpool Council in this very worthwhile appeal and hope the people of the town will want to support it.

“While many families really look forward to their Christmas time together, it’s not such a happy story for all. This is a great way to celebrate this traditional time of giving by doing something that will really benefit someone less fortunate in our community.”

Further info:  Give a little…help a lot…what can you do?

Collection points for new gifts for children aged 0 to 19 and none perishable food items have been set up at various locations across the borough. The gifts should be new and unwrapped and food should be in tins or pre-wrapped. Donations can be left at:

 Blackpool Council,

MunicipalBuildings,Corporation Street

Progress House,Clifton Road

Lee House,Plymouth Road

Solaris Centre, New South Promenade

EnterpriseCentre,Lytham Road

Blackpool Gazette

Avroe Crescent,BlackpoolBusinessPark.

 Cash donations:

Cash donations and cheques made payable to Blackpool Council, can be handed in or posted to Give a little campaign, Blackpool Council, Municipal Buildings,Corporation Street,BlackpoolFY1 1NF

 Food donations will be passed to existing collections in the borough that target families in need.

Last year we started our Networking and Shopping Event. It was a great way to come together on a social occasion to network across our groups and buy some Christmas goodies from local retailers. It was also nice to do our bit for those children who spend their Christmas in hospital. We raised money via a raffle of prizes that had been kindly donated by our members. We asked the hospitals what would be the most useful gifts to donate and every penny raised was spent on a shopping dash to purchases toys and DVD’s.

The nurses on the wards, children and families were extremely grateful of the gifts and that we had been thinking about them at what is traditionally such a fun family time for children. So the event is repeated again this year and we will come together at Cotton Court in Preston on 18^th November to enjoy networking shopping and raising some funds for the toys again.

This year’s event has been sponsored by Ribby Hall “Events and Banqueting”, who wanted to show their support to the event and donate our star prize of a six person Cottage at Ribby Hall Holiday Village.

We also have prizes donated by: Jeanette’s Florist, Holistic Harmony, Pampered Chef, Rowan Handbags, Caci Clinic, Excel Coaching, Design Fix, Aikido Shudokan , Mary Kay Cosmetics, Aggie McGuiness Photography, Cheiron Chiropractic, Canal Boat Cruise, Sweet Salsa, Ezi Pezi Online and Lancashire Wine School.  We would like to say a huge thank you to the generosity of all these local businesses for their kind donations and all of the Pink Link Ladies who have purchased Raffle tickets or who are participating in the event.

How can you help?

We would like to spread the word of how we celebrate Christmas with other businesses and spread a bit of cheer to the children. We have a Complimentary Family Ticket for the Dungeons, one of the best things to do in Blackpool. These tickets have been donated to celebrate the opening of the dungeons at Blackpool Tower please use these links to view this fantastic attraction.

It admits 2 adults and 2 children. Please RT this blog link so that other people will be encouraged to do something for the children in their local towns this Christmas. We will enter all RT’s into an exclusive Twitter draw tomorrow night and the winner will receive the tickets in the post.

Help us to spread some cheer this Christmas

Thanks

Coral Horn, Pink Link Ladies

Allison Timmins

Referral Institute Cumbria Lancaster Morecambe

Networking & Sex…….It’s not what you think!!

Firstly we are talking about gender networking! There is definitely something different about the way Men & Women do thing. Apart from all the nuances that make us different personally it might seem no surprise that we also go about business networking differently too. You may have heard of the “Men are from Mars & Women are from Venus” book written by John Gray,which holds all the secrets of why the male species behaves differently to the female one! Well there may just be something in that as Ivan Misner, Hazel Walker & Frank De Raeffle have uncovered in their new book due for release in January 2012, “Networking & Sex….It’s not what you think”!!So how might that apply to networking? Women are typically great conversation starters & generally happy to be engaged or engaging when conversing with others. Men, however, often prefer to get to the point & find a purpose when communicating, rather than engage in “small talk”.

In Business relationships doesbeing direct &purposefulreally lead to profitable outcomes? Can women & men get the same thing out of relationships despite their differences?

If we understood the process of relationships, we might notice that there are different phases that they pass through before success is reached &profit added to any business. First there is a visible phase, where recognition is often made through branding, PR&advertising.The more visible we are then the greater the chance is of acceptance of our brand & who we represent. A credibility phase follows next &which is really the art of getting to know each other as being worthy of confidence. Here webuild confidence in each other which does involve a level of engaging & conversing so we can refer or buy with confidence from each other. Often this phase takes the most time as it requires moving the relationship into some depth. It is quite possibly the most critical phase where we really decide if we want to go further & refer the person on or buy from them. If we are visible with excellent credibility then the final phase of profitability can happen making the relationship high value on many levels including financially

 How do Men & Women fair through this model? For Women the visible & credible phases have much emphasis as the building of the relationship comes very naturally to them.  However there is a  tendency to have many relationships stuck in credibility with few of them reaching true profitability. Men on the other hand like to pass from visibility straightinto profitability&often bypass the credible phase which is where the relationship is actually built. By spending time here there is a relationship to go back to time after time which is key for referral s. The challenge for women is to take their credible relationships into profitability to fulfil their efforts spent building the credible phase. Being highly credible is a great foundation for the flow of consistent referrals.

So Men & women really do do it differently when it comes to networking & we can certainly learn lots from each other when it comes to building successful relationships where both parties gain mutual satisfaction. Real success comes through understanding Networking & Sex & knowing what phases you are in with & with whom!

Allison Timmins is a Referral Institute Consultant Trainer & Coach running programmes & consultancy in Networking & Referral Marketing Strategies. These programmes focus specifically on bringing profit in people’s businesses through the process of Referral Marketing strategies & Networking Time Management programmes

Blog

I first experienced Pink Link in Blackpool after starting my mobile spray tan business.  Amazingly, I came away from the first meeting with two bookings.  I found a lot of interesting and supportive people within the group.

My background had mainly been in finance and banking so it was a bit of a leap of faith to start spraying people.  It came about because I have never had a natural tan and was looking on line to see if there was a way of spraying myself before going on holiday.  I came across a course and decided to go on it.  What I found was that it isn’t possible to spray yourself but I did have an ability to spray others.

Spray Tanning isn’t my only business; I also saw the opportunity to build a large residual income through Utility Warehouse so when Coral and Rae decided to start a group in Chorley I joined as a peer member.  It’s alarming how quickly time seems to pass – it’s already 10 months since the launch.  I found a quite different group but equally interesting and supportive.  I’ve been able to place business with quite a few of the members.  I think I must be a serial networker because I also joined the Burnley group as it launched.

Networking has become very important to me in my businesses and unlike my skills around ‘social media’ I think I’m pretty good at it.  As long as you remember that you have to put something in before you can expect to get something out you can do well.

You can’t expect to turn up occasionally and have people fall over themselves to give you business.  It’s about building relationships and trust with others in the group and finding out what makes them and their business tick.  That’s why I am an advocate of ‘one to ones’ where you can find out more about each other.  What I like is to ask what their ideal client/customer would be and what their unique selling points are so I can make a particular effort to find business for them.  How’s this for a concept, being the one to give first!

It’s not all business though, I have enjoyed some of the social events that help you get to know people a little better and let your hair down.

Twitter, Isaac Newton, Aikido and Life

Twitter teaches me a lesson

I had idly been aware that for the last several days (or weeks) that my number of twitter followers had remained roughly the same. Now one day I saw a follower and looked at his followers and found several that I would like to follow so I did! What happened next was that many of those I had just followed followed me back and my follower’s number increased! Amazing, you might say but you see this made me think; simple thing is, that by performing an action something that had not been happening – happened.

Isaac Newton did not have twitter but knew how to get followers

Anyone who did O level physics knows that it was Isaac Newton who said every action has an equal and opposite reaction and I think this is a lesson for us all to learn outside of it’s obvious application to physical laws. You see, I was not get new followers because I was not doing anything to get them. By taking action I started a reaction that brought me new followers. Brilliant! Now I am sure this simple lesson can be applied to many things? In business, how many companies or small businesses sit around moaning that here is no trade when maybe they should be taking some action in order to get the reaction that will bring them that trade?

Aikido is no different

In our training we often find that we have periods where little or no progress is perceived and we regularly look to find reasons or excuses as to why this might be. Rarely do we look to apply the Newtonian law and take some action to bring about the reaction we are looking for. Applying more effort, really listening to everything the instructor says or just getting the right mind set for a class are all actions that might just bring the reaction we are looking for.

A final word

Just a thought, but I wonder if this also works if we go about our daily life being polite, respectful and kind. Would this action lead to others being polite respectful and kind to  us?  Only one way to find out!!

 My larder and lifestyle

Mmmmmm just finished a wonderful lunch of mushrooms with garlic on wholemeal bread after a busy morning spent expanding my thinking with the help of Greg an inspiring individual who is helping me to see the potential in myself and my business.

OK you might be wondering what this has got to do with the Arriba wellness clubs and weight loss challenges that I run.

Well firstly in my WLC classes I ask people to stop thinking “diet” and start thinking, wonderful food, fantastic lifestyle, great choices, return to real food, goal setting and planning for success. This is often a huge attitude and thinking shift from the can’t have, shouldn’t do, denial of pleasure state of mind of many weight loss programs.

Secondly I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something that I don’t do myself on a daily basis, so today you get an insight into my wonderful and very privileged life.

I am very lucky in that I live in a beautiful part of this world, have fields outside my door, animals to learn from and seasons to watch unfolding their wisdom to me, opening up their larder and nourishing me with what is right to keep me well.

Today I rose early and had a smoothie for breakfast with, fresh fruit and formula 1 (a food supplement) before checking and feeding my animals, putting in the washing and off out at 8.30am to a meeting, on my return I walked across the fields to check on my sheep and whilst doing so picked up the new season field mushrooms who appeared over night with the warmth of summer and light rain we have had over the past few days. On the way back I cut across the orchard to collect my still warm eggs and as I passed through the garden took a courgette that seemed to have grown 3 inches since yesterday.

Idyllic, unfair, it’s alright for you, I hear you thinking. Well yes you could be right but I spend up to 6 months of every year doing this alone, bringing up 3 children and running a business by myself, for 3 months in winter I stay up very late and get up very early often with little sleep during lambing time, I worry about too much rain or not enough to grow the crops to feed the stock over winter. This afternoon I’ll do some office work, write on my blog, run a class, make a family meal, probably utilising the eggs and courgettes I collected earlier, and then out for an evening walk around the animals with my dogs before bed and a good book.

This life I might add did not happen by accident, it was dreamed about, planned and worked hard for. I always wanted to live on a farm and be a farmers wife, I wanted to help people, I love teaching maybe that’s how I attracted my husband who made all this possible, I found a business that allowed me to work in communities helping people make fundamental changes to their diet and lifestyle to help them achieve wellbeing

Dreams/goals, plan, action, A wise man once said “For things to change you have to change”, he also said “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” Jim Rohn.

The problem is many of us are stuck in a groove and it’s hard to jump out, break the habits, to do so we have to change our thinking and our beliefs, this isn’t as easy as you might think, you have to be pro active, read new books, do things differently, spend time in different places around different people, take a class and learn from others who have first done it successfully themselves.

So yes I read books on self development, successful people, attend courses and take classes and I share my knowledge and enthusiasm with others.

Would you like to know more and share in this life by design, join me on a course in August where I will be sharing the basics of healthy living
“Feel Good Food For Life

This might be your first lesson in Practical Astrology, and it’s ok to fasten your seat belt if it will make you feel more secure.

Even ordinary new information can seem quite strange, but these ideas might help you during the next few weeks, allowing you to laugh at some little annoyances or even avert a business calamity. So here goes.

Those of you who have read my book, Learning Without Tears, have discovered that the planet Mercury represents our mental dynamics: thinking, learning, writing, emailing communicating, remembering, forgetting, teaching, reading, in short everything to do with information transfer. Do you remember the ancient (but always youthful) god by the same name, Mercury, the messenger of the gods? Ok so far?

Well, here is a real zinger: the planet Mercury spends a few weeks every year appearing to move backwards in the sky! It does not really travel backwards, if it did, well good-bye solar system. This is a matter of the relative speeds of Earth and Mercury. It’s like riding on a train which overtakes a slower moving train on the next track. The slower moving train appears to be going backwards. Earth is playing the role of the faster moving train, while Mercury is the slower – just now.

And here’s another way to view this situation. Imagine that the archetypal god of communication is jogging merrily along the path, right along side you, and together you are heading down the track toward the start of an exciting new project, a new purchase, a new sale, investment or event.. But your trusted companion slackens his pace, turns around and runs off in the other direction. Oh, great!

Here are the facts. For about three weeks, three times each year, Mercury is ‘retrograde’ in the sky. Against the backdrop of the fixed stars, Mercury appears to be moving backwards. Will this signify potential problems in communication? You bet!

Research proves that some mental activities are very well suited to these periods and others are not. For example, starting new activities, posting a grant application, listing a property for sale, ordering or purchasing a new car, mobile phone or computer, sending out invitations to or actually having your business launch party, or spending your entire advertising budget are not good ideas just now. However, these three week periods are fantastic for reviewing, rereading, editing, reassessing policies and practices, reworking your website, but not uploading the new one, having another look at a contract, but not signing it. Do you get the drift? The review process will invariably bring forward something you missed the first time around, something important. But, moving forward and making decisions during the retrograde period is like an uphill battle. The decisions are apt to be reversed later on, sometimes for the good, but not usually. The appliance purchased during the retrograde never works quite right. The builders who arrive on-site during the retrograde period will mysteriously vanish without having completed the job – until some other retrograde period, off in the future.

Here are the next three periods of Mercury Retrograde:

30th March at 9:48 PM until 23rd April at 11:04 AM

3rd August at 4:50 AM until 26th August at 11:03 PM

24th November at 7:21 AM until 14th December at 1:43 AM

Do some research of your own. Allow a few extra days for post to be delivered. If your car breaks down, the problem may be much smaller than it looks. Misunderstandings abound! Consider the learning style of the other person before you speak.

Reread Learning Without Tears.

With best wishes Helyn Connerr Astro Innovation

astroinnovation@aol.com

How did that happen?

In a time of recession …… and whilst I’ve been laid up with this dreaded sciatica,our Birthday has arrived.

This year has absolutely flown by, Chorleycake was officially incorporated on 19th February 2010 and we have no idea where the last year went. We would like to thank all the local people who have supported us throughout this time, and there are many ….. we particularly wish to thank Brian Taylor of K-Construction www.k-construction.co.uk who gave us out was very first sale …….. since then we have built many, many websites, some for our Pink Link family, and we continue to do so ….. look out over the next couple of weeks as we put live www.wigstudio.co.uk – Kim Kirkham will help you every step of the way if you are looking for hairpieces or wigs, and is NHS approved. Also www.castalia-designs.co.uk – Christine Saint has a great portfolio to show of her interior design challenges, and, Maria Calderbank and her team are Lancashire’s best kept secret, based in Coppull, for fences, drainage and so much more …… they’ve even impressed, and completed a huge project at the new Wembley Stadium …. www.fenceandrain.co.uk. Remember the sites are currently being re-designed by Chorleycake so take a look now and then again in a couple of weeks for the WOW factor!!

Our mentor Michael O’Flaherty, who has www.rapporcoaching.co.uk, and whom I intend to bring along to one of the future Mr and Mrs Events.

We should also say a very big thanks to Martin Horton, of Rivington Accounts, the whole team at McVerry’s Printers and Chris Hatton, formerly of Fusion – sincere big thanks!

Can I also, on a personal note thank the very kind Pink Link Ladies, who have taken the time to call and visit me during this horrific illness, Sheila Parker, Eve Austin, Susan Ainscough, and Gilly Guest and I apologies now for those I have forgotten ….. I will blame it on the medication! I am due to have an epidural on 1st March, yes I am actually really looking forward to it, and, fingers crossed, will see you at the March Chorley meeting.

We’re just off to blow out the candle – Thanks again! Susan, Jason and the team at Chorleycake

I am on a marketing mission…..

I have spent the past few years listening to small business owners get their knickers in a twist about getting their message out there to the whole world.

“But I haven’t got enough budget! But nobody seems interested! But where do I begin!!” Too many buts I say, so enough is enough!

That is why I am conducting free webinars and presentations this month to help small business owners take a step back and really review who they are marketing to. Less truly is more and the good news is once you focus on a smaller more defined target, marketing becomes much more simple. more focused and it costs less. It also takes less brain power and most importantly …..drum roll please…..it works better too.

You see most people panic that they need the world to know about them. Not true. Unless you are coca cola, you need fewer people than you think to know about you. But you do need the really hot targets for your niche to know about you so the first step is to decide who they are. Forget the people who are not hot targets and just focus on a small manageable group to begin with. Then deliver great results, services and products to them. Simple but it works.

So will you join me on my mission to help businesses get a bit more strategic with their marketing and in the process simplify things? No more guess work? Get more predictable results?

First step is to define who you should be marketing to and be as specific as possible. It would take me ages here to go into more detail but if your appetite for more focused marketing has been whetted (?!) sign up for free marketing tips at www.coomarketing.co.uk and more will be revealed.

See you soon, Claire xx

by Coral Horn
Director at Pink Link Ladies

Well I blinked and the festive season was over, no more lazy sleep ins and movies, but to be honest I was ready to get back to the full thrust of things and in usual Pink Link style we had a full on return on the 4^th Jan.

We moved in to offices. Yes at last we have taken the plunge and moved out of the home offices and we have been busy moving and organising everything.  I didn’t realise how much Pink stuff I had, until it had to be loaded up and ferried back and fourth on numerous occasions, which is still ongoing.

I suppose for many new enterprises there comes a time when you have to decide whether to make the financial commitment that office space means. Pink Link has grown and with five local groups over the last 18 months and to meet the demands for local networks we need more bodies to realise this growth. So we have also been busy interviewing for an admin assistant and I am sure you will be seeing a new member of our team by the end of this month.

We have also been sitting with potential Pink Agents who are ladies who would like to run groups in their local areas. These agents will be the first to work independently running groups and we shall be supporting them as they learn the ropes. This means you should see some new networks hopefully being launched in your local areas over the next few months.

We now have a new Events Booking section within the website and this year we will be offering more social events as well as training that you will find beneficial to you and your business.

We are working on more Pink Link products and you will soon see an online member’s products area.

We are also launching a Coaching Club where our Pink Link Coach will coach members from all geographical areas with telephone coaching, which will offer you some professional help at your fingertips.

The new gallery is now on view and features pictures form members attending our events and even some videos. We are looking for ladies who would like to video or photograph our events and invite you to contact us.

As always we welcome your feedback and if you there are things that you would like to see then please get in touch.

So we have plenty to keep us busy in 2011…………..how many days until Christmas?