Being invited to go along to the Business Ladies Lunch event today at Picolinos in Sheffield was a fun thing to do. Having never gone to one of these events before I plucked up the courage to go. If you see me regularly you will know I practically live in my trainers as I struggle with my feet, I always like to be comfy and well my trainers just cover all bases for me. So to get my smart clothes on and my nice posh pumps, flat of course as I just can’t do heels very well I headed off to see what it was all about.

Set up by the fabulous Nicola Smith who I have met a few times now, she showed me to my seat. Nicola is a seriously charismatic, dynamic business woman. She has compassion and wit, mixed with humour and enthusiasm all thrown into the mix. Nicola is the founder of SimplyNKS and serves the role of Business Growth Accelerator. Having a natural ability to help and encourage others, she shined in the role of working with law firms assisting on a variety of projects. Creating a business designed to offer consultation and marketing along with her skill set of a legal career, means she knows the way business works helping many law firms and different types of business achieve success.

Being honest like I am I thought this was going to be a very corporate event. All ideas running through my mind of me being sat with professionals that might not get what I do, or what my focus in business is. What I actually found was Nicola being so smart (boy she could give Harvey Spectre a run for his money) had invited a whole array of women who worked in many fields. I sat and talked to an Artist, a Chocolatier, a Finance Manager, a Macmillan Cancer Support Manager, even a Nutritional Therapist and found that having such a wide mix of people really worked.

Nicola stood up and gave a speech about how she wanted a whole mix of different type of women there. We were given a glass of Prosecco, then we had two speakers who gave a speech about what they wanted to share with us before our lunch arrived. First up was Paula The Macmillan Support Manager who talked to us about an event being held at Wentworth Woodhouse. On the 23rd June is a Mindfulness day, a whole experience where you meet someone who was trained by a Tibetan monk and will give us an experience of how to breathe, how to relax and be mindful in our everyday lives. Paula told us a story about how she went to her first session very pessimistic, very negative about what she might achieve on this course. By the end of her time there she was converted, it helped in her personal life, so much so that Paula has since campaigned to bring this on board on the NHS. If you would like to book on this course for a mind blowing day out including lunch at the fabulous big house please contact Nicola by emailing [email protected].

I honestly think this would help me so much because I do have anxiety and my heart races. I worry so much about so many things and If what Paula says is true, then I should get unbelievable benefits from this course. I hope I get a chance to come back and attend this fabulous day!

The Second lady that stood up and spoke to the group was Frances Day the founder of Bird Board. Imagine an all-female support group full of gifted, experienced and understanding business women who help each other. A group who listen to your problem you may have with a business idea, or decision you have to make. These ladies will give you their wisdom, their ideas, and their compassion to help you achieve that goal, but the fact that everyone signs a confidentiality agreement means everything said is confidential. Well, that’s what Bird Board is all about. Bird Board is for all kinds of Business women who might head up a department or be a self-employed owner of a company. Might work for herself or be at the top level of a large organisation. Having a maximum of 12 members per board means that everyone gets to have their say and the group isn’t too large. Based across the whole of Yorkshire and holding a meeting once a month, allows for availability so it doesn’t interfere with your work.

Frances has put everything into this concept and company. Having left a large corporation as a Marketing Leader means she has an extensive skill set on how to run a business. I loved this concept and could see quite clearly how passionate Frances is about this new venture. If you would like more information on Bird Board then please have a look at the website.

Someone said to me that they didn’t think that blogging was a business, but actually blogging is a career choice for some people who want to earn a wage from it. For me, it’s an extension of what I hope to achieve. Expanding my skills into bigger Interior Styling jobs, working on Home Staging for clients and working my way into Interior Design projects for clients that need help to achieve a new visual statement in their home. My mind is full to the brim of business ideas that I want to implement and I love that because it means I am passionate about my path along the Interior route. That I see myself being old and grey and still coming up with ideas, whether they are crazy or far fetched it doesn’t matter what matters is that I want to carry on being creative and I want to make things happen.

Once the speakers had finished, we ate our starters. Mine was Bruschetta that had a topping of tomatoes and basil. Followed by Pollo Milanese that had a huge piece of chicken on a bed of spaghetti in a tomato sauce. Lunch was delightful and great to try a new dish I haven’t ever had before!

After we ate we mingled, we chatted with women that surrounded us. There was an exchange of business cards, chatting about what we do, smiling and feeling relaxed. Nicola was very clever in that each person was the only one of their field, so I was the only blogger. It was nice to explain to business leaders how the world is changing when it comes to bloggers. How bloggers are being brought in to promote and experience new ventures because bloggers do hold value and influence with their followers, their industry and also with fellow bloggers too.

What I found amazing about Nicola from simplyNKS was that she loves to empower other women, to help them and guide them in their venture or business. Holding a very calming wise presence means Nicola knows how to talk to people on all levels. I have only ever seen this by a man in my early career who was high up in the company that I worked for. When he was around people he could just inspire them. No matter what job a person did, he always made time for them and knew everyone’s name, whether that be the 700th person he had met that week, whether that be the cleaner or the manager.  Nicola has those qualities which is endearing but also very genuine and a talent that is very hard to find in this cut throat, fast moving world we live in.

So here is to Business Lunches everywhere and helping other women achieve their goals, to all the ladies out there sending lots of heartwarming high fives!

Featured Image by simplyNKS