Are You Just Brilliant?

Posted by Dawn Baird, Partner on Dec 3, 2007 in entrepreneurship, news and events, personal development | 0 comments

Last Thursday, I attended a networking event, Castle Leslie - A Business Built on Branding Brilliance which was hosted by several Northern Ireland women’s networking organisations, including one that we belong to, Women on the Move.

The speaker, Sammy Leslie, a direct descendent of those who originally owned Castle Leslie in County Monaghan, was speaking about how she took on the branding of her family’s business – from leaking buckets in the attic, to the successful, niche, think-twice, decadent weekend-break, wedding venue, private members’ club and tourist destination it is today.  Phew!

Three key points I took from her presentation were:

1. Sheer Grit – the motto of Castle Leslie is grip fast.  How refreshingly simple!  It takes sheer grit to start any business and keep going, through the thick and thin times.
2. Passion – no-one will win beforehand (our motto) without passion.  You must live and breathe your business.  We spoke recently to an beauty consultant, who was adamant that the right image can transform someone’s confidence, following an illness for example.   She totally believed in her ability to make that happen.
3. Knowing your strengths and sticking to them.  Recently we were asked ‘Why combine training, coaching, writing and consultancy?  Well, at a basic level, because that’s where our experience and qualifications lie.  But much more than that.  We love to meet with clients to identify their business problems and design a product to suit them.  We love to sink our teeth into a training session, or get to grips with what a customer wants to be conveyed about his product through written material.  That strength of conviction is what we sell.

What about you?  Do you have sheet grit?  Does your passion drive you?  Are you incommand of your strengths?

Our coaching programmes deal with those very issues.  Do you know your strengths?  What drives you?  What is your goal in business, in life?  Have you a plan?  If you’d like to find out and develop a strategy for getting there, contact us for a free consultation.