CharlieKenny.me

people * stories * engagement

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about

I love the coast and in particular, the area in which I live, the North East of England. It’s an uncomplicated life, for the past twelve years I’ve been away from the ‘big smoke’ … and the decision to relocate my business to the North has been the best move of my career. So far. I am a writer and have a lifetime of experience in publishing and personal development. I now consider myself a specialist in helping my clients with memoirs – that could entail a biography, or simply bringing diary pages to life. I tend not to advertise my business, word of mouth has always been kind so it’s no surprise that I do spend a couple of days per week networking. Peer collaboration can be very rewarding. Therefore, if you’d like to join me fortnightly for Wednesday ZOOM or either Tuesday or Thursday for (in-person) morning coffee, please get in touch. I’d love to meet you and perhaps help in any way possible. Thank you for stopping by the website. engage, develop, grow … with Go! charliekenny@live.co.uk
  • Digital or face to face?

    Digital or face to face?

    The past few years have seen an astonishing rise in the investment of digital marketing, and it’s predicted to continue. According to US sources, prior COVID digital spend was estimated to reach around £115bn by 2023.

    We’ll have to wait for father time to prove or dispel the above forecast activity, although even taking into account the current business climate, the ability for all to invest in self-promotion while engaging audiences over an ever-increasing stable of (trusted) platforms have become the lifeblood for many an entrepreneur. Today, digital more than matches the in-person or face to face marketing approach and in some sectors digital now leads the corporate strategy for growth.

    My own business has always been heavily influenced on solid personal relationships and of course, the publishing industry has had to contend with ‘revolutionary change’ since the mid-’90s. So how do the ‘old school’ (face to face) aficionados contend or even compete in today’s world?

    Today’s business world is really no different to methods of not so long ago. Success is ultimately about who you know, the relationships, the developed trust and I find face to face (even virtual face) referral networking is just right for my business.

    Trust is something that has established many a great relationship, without this most important of ingredients meaningful business is rarely sustained.

    An example being the UK phone tapping enquiry of 2005-7.

    One of the world’s most successful media families were in charge of a popular Sunday tabloid, stories of phone tapping, celebrity witch-hunts, accusations/tales of institutional corruption and pay-offs that threatened to topple the government of the time.

    The weekly gossip columns sold a lot of newspapers readers gleefully lapping up the scandal. That was until the same tabloid was accused of ‘listening in’ on the phones of victims of the London bombings, even deceased servicemen and of tragically the murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler.

    What followed was a total collapse of public trust in the organisation, reviled were its masters and anyone else with affinity to the newspaper. A lengthy enquiry followed, people went to prison, reputations were ruined and the paper was closed.

    Digital or face-to-face?  For me, business is personal, it’s about who (or what) I trust.

    People buy from people.

  • Let’s go and see … Thursday morn’.

    Let’s go and see … Thursday morn’.

    What’s it going to take, to move on?

    Clarity? Always useful.   Budgets? Not essential.   How about a road map, some direction?  Better still, I hear you say …

    ‘Anyone have a crystal ball?’

    With a distinct message of ‘back to business,’ we’re always discussing the best way forward. Looking at what may be on the other side?  Where can we grow, what’s it going to take to make a difference ??

    Having a chat, any Thursday morning,  8 am until 9.15 for introductions …

    Come and join the conversation, send a request via the form below for ‘networking with Weeklybiz.’     I’ll send you the link, then we can all go and ‘see.’

    Pw 42768

    Go back

    Your message has been sent

    #movement #engaging #growth #networking

  • Your strengths, your passion

    Your strengths, your passion

    Wednesday this week we engage the conversation, it’s about you.

    We’re looking to the future through the path of least resistance, breaking new ground, identifying the solutions while mastering the fundamentals.

    What makes you happy?  What are your strengths?

    Join us, Weeklybiz for networking via ZOOM, 12.30 this Wednesday?

    Alternatively, you may wish to join us Thursday, 8am?

    Below please find a link for details, no password required … most welcome!

    https://mailchi.mp/f2a05e408fe2/whats-happening-5112794

  • Lockdown, reflect

    Lockdown, reflect

    Almost all of us have been subject to change recently. We’ve adjusted to adapt with the new order ‘of things’ in different ways, admittedly some adapting under hugely difficult circumstances, but lockdown does have it’s advantages.

    For many operating their own business, including myself, these past months of adjustment, pivot and learning have not only brought opportunity, but they’ve also brought about positive change.

    Gone is much of the old routine, the admin, the commute, I’ve found more freedom for the entrepreneur in me(!) The dawn o’clock breakfast meetings have been replaced with a stroll to the beach with the dog, or through the woods. Mother nature has thrived without the noise and pollution, dog loves it, I love it and the extra O2 has done wonders for my appreciation for the new-order of breakfast meeting … with family.

    This new routine has enabled an appreciation of technology, of my own time and efforts. I’ve found fresh thinking now, rediscovered values, I’m taking the time to call my clients, discussing their own story. We’re ‘chewing the fat,’ our common challenges and of course the wins, we’re smiling together and there appears to be more time and I’m even following up … with purpose.

    Just to say hello, join in the conversation.

    Yes, I could have simplified the above message by writing less, saying that the ‘common challenge’ of lockdown these past months has been a great leveller, right?

    But what value to the reader if I hadn’t made you dwell, reflect?

    For me, lockdown is about looking up, moving forward and realising that you can succeed, thrive even, via a shrinking marketplace if you simply stop for a minute, engage by reaching out, take time to smell the roses.

  • With Eyes on the prize

    With Eyes on the prize

    We continue to keep the focus on the engagement this Wednesday 24th June, 12.30 as we follow the familiar format through introductions, support, lead and referral. Otherwise, please join us via Zoom for network connections on any Wednesday as we move through July-August.  More information may be found in the link below.

    Alternatively, the very same opportunity presents itself ‘in the morning’ 8.00 until 9.15 Thursday, 2nd July … and for those wishing to cultivate new business as we ease back to normality, you are most welcome to join us. To receive your personal invitation, let me know if you’d like to be with us.

    Thank you.

    ‘business is personal’

    link here – double click –

    Go back

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    (more…)

  • This time tomorrow

    This time tomorrow

    A little while ago I picked up a manuscript offered by a friend.  ‘Read it for me?’ Reg had asked.

    It wasn’t a vast tome, some 120 pages of handwritten foolscap (in pencil) and I thought (as I weighed up the copy) that if the story was interesting enough, I would likely spend an afternoon deliberating the work and return it next day.

    Reg and I had originally met through networking, juggling coffee, cake and a chuckle a few years back. We have a similar interest in the unfathomable – people – and so we ‘hit it off’ right away, although we hadn’t really been in touch apart from the occasional blog copy, until this day.  I happily agreed to read the hand-scrawled, grubby looking piece.

    ‘Sure, I’ll give it some time Reg, thank you.’

    ‘When can you let me know what you think, Charlie?‘  Reg sounded anxious, I sensed it important I acted quickly.

    ‘When would you like my opinion mate?’ I replied.

    ‘Asap please Charlie, it’s a story I’ve been working on these past 30 years … and I’m running out of time. You see, it’s Mary, (wife) she’s not well.

    Needless to say, I was slightly taken aback and agreed to meet the same time, same place, next day.

    Mary and Reg had been married for almost thirty years and during that time Reg had kept up a ‘diary’ of the highs and lows of living with another human being,  raising a family, juggling careers whilst making ends meet. It is a very personal story, with some pretty raw, emotional stuff evident, especially given the recent cancer diagnosis.

    So, as promised, we met the next day for coffee and the ubiquitous sticky bun. I’d been involved with many projects of a similar type over the years, it’s my craft, memoirs are what I provide my clients. ‘Flesh on the bone’ one of my friends called it.  Episodes of life are more like it.

    But I am not here to offer the selly-sell …

    During the course of the next few months, I was privileged to a sometimes-humorous story of companionship, a portrayal of family life which is not that dissimilar to most others, a story that is testimony to the power of love and devotion brought about by great, long-term partnerships.

    Both Mary and Reg were grateful and thanked me for helping with their story. We said our goodbye’s and as I went along my way, I thought, this is yet another lesson networking has shown me, being ‘available’ to help others is more than ‘simply business.’

    Business is personal.

     

     

     

     

  • What’s on your mind?

    What’s on your mind?

    charlie kenny's avatarCharlieKenny.me

    I love what I do, my job. I enjoy helping friends move ahead in business through the fraternity. People like to do business with real people. It’s also one of the reasons why I’m enjoying the publishing industry a whole lot more these days. People are making themselves a much more accessible.

    Real people.

    It’s easier to connect now, isn’t it?  Social media brings us a much broader world, that’s easier to connect. We can ask for help, we can connect, reach-out, find a solution, respond, blag, influence and much more in the big wide world, through small deeds, just by reaching out for support.

    Not so for everyone though. Some find reaching out is just not an option, they stick to the familiar working routine, and if that’s predominantly their own company they’re keeping, finding satisfaction in business, let alone the pay-day, is tough.

    By reaching out we learn…

    View original post 236 more words

  • Learning to dance, again

    Learning to dance, again

    We all do our best. Most often our best allows us to overcome the challenges that come our way.

    With a plan we plot business success, our offer is refined as we engage our prospects. By doing our best, sticking to the plan and working smart, we’re assured of engaging our target audience as the very best version of ourselves. By consistently being at our best we stay one step ahead of the competition, our reputation is enhanced.

    So what happens when our journey on this well-rehearsed path to business is changed through no fault of our own? The existing ‘script’ is torn up, the plot almost irrelevant as the band plays a different, less familiar tune?

    Does this mean we must learn to dance?  Yet again??

    So, we revise our market positioning, consider the change, question our relevance and prepare once again to engage the new community.
    The community which we once inhabited is now moving in different directions, new market focus, needs and supplies that perhaps weren’t that relevant just yesterday. Being a small or medium enterprise looking to grow in times uncertainty calls for leverage through unity, strategic dance partners. We look to our friends, our trusted allies, we may seek guidance and advice as we deftly step (pivot, or dance) out into that once familiar comfort zone to develop the social capital – your unique value to the community.

    Our somewhat unfamiliar community.

    So how can your own unique offer ad value and benefit community, society?

    Now?  By being bold.

    Stick with what you are good at, focus on your passion

    Reach out in a new way to your new community

    Add depth to your offer, all the while polishing your brand to ultimately become THE authority on your essential stuff, stuff that matters … to your community

    We’ve spent time cultivating all that is required to be successful and we’ve become experts in our field. We know our business inside-out only to find the world has changed and it’s time to reset, time to again be the best we can be. Challenges may simply be an opportunity in disguise, a good time to demonstrate your skills in a bold new fashion, develop your reputation as the go-to service throughout your community, and beyond …

    Let’s be bold. Show your community that you are ready to dance again, to whatever tune they choose to play.

  • What’s driving you?

    What’s driving you?

    Wednesday this week and every week …

    We’re back for collaboration through conversation next Wednesday (and every Wednesday.)  Learning from colleagues, familiar faces and new acquaintances.

    If you are looking to engage, you are welcome. Come and learn what we see as the path to growth becomes clearer …

    Brighter business – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcqd-6orDMrGNWJHyanJpTyMrRkqKcmzLFE

     

     

     

  • Get out of your way

    Get out of your way

    Change often brings with it a sense of vulnerability, when we tend to be spending more time thinking of our own predicament, the lack of plenty that pervades and how we might be able to replace this void, provide more.

    In reality, challenges that we see now should not be seen as a time of inward needs, although it’s completely natural to feel exceedingly needy if the once-thriving business has suddenly withdrawn to a state of flux. With such a tug toward our own fulfilment, all we need remember is what makes us all so different.

    How we reach out to family, friends, colleagues and of course our customers define us as not just genuine, caring human beings but invaluable connections, now and for the future.

    Looking inward should be a call to take action by offering our availability. Why not write the emails, take the postcards and put them in the post, connect and add those new friends you simply haven’t made time to do – until now. Show your individuality, your supportive nature and remember that people do indeed buy from people who they know, who they trust.

    Your direct family know you already, why not extend your family of connections by showing that you can reach out while we all take time to reflect on what makes us different?

    Let’s do, not dwell. Give ourselves the greatest chance for success by moving out of our own way.