Ice Skating Elephants

16/09/2022

Just some helpful hints that I thought I'd share !

30/03/2020

Some people thrive in a crisis and others don't.
Knowing, and admitting, which one you are will help you move forward.
I thrive, but only when I'm helping people.

What about you?

And if you need help, let me know.

17/03/2020

Please share.
Let's not leave them to feel forgotten and lonely.

09/03/2020

We all have bads day right?!

I came across this article so thought I would share!

Introspection

26/02/2020

Using your personal FB profile.

Below is a picture of what everyone can see on my personal profile (click on it to open and see the full picture). It leaves people in no doubt as to what I do and how to contact me on a professional basis.

If you are posting to groups about your business then you really need your personal profile to look professional.

If you are networking in business groups, people are going to click on you to check you out. You want them to see the details of your business. Otherwise whats the point of you doing the networking?!

Also bear in mind the picture you are using as your profile picture. If it's you drunk in a heap somewhere, it's not going to give the best impression of you!

Keep those types of pictures for your newsfeed only. Make sure your privacy is set so that only your friends and family can see your posts.

You can still share those rude jokes or take the p**s out of someone..... but just keep the public bit looking professional
😉😉

For more marketing tips and content, come over and join my free group; link in comments.

25/01/2020

To those who are celebrating the Chinese new year, we wish you a happy and prosperous year ❤️

06/01/2020

So pretty much everyone is back to work today.
Remember that for most businesses, January is a quiet month. Don't be disheartened if you don't get many calls or sales.

Instead spend any spare time planning ahead or catching up admin. If you use social media then how about scheduling your posts for the next month or so? Or make those calls to get adverts in papers or parish mags.

January can be a depressing month so get off your butt and be productive to avoid procrastination!

Onwards and upwards 👍👍😁

21/12/2019

Happy Christmas to my clients, followers, supporters and friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful time and I'll see you on the other side!

13/12/2019

Now closed.

Competition sponsored by me ❤️
Enter for the chance to win a £20 M&S voucher.

CLOSED

🐘 Friday 13th is going to be lucky for someone! 🐘

Todays prize is a £20 Marks and Spencer's voucher! Ideal for buying some of their lovely low carb snacks just in time for xmas!

This has been kindly given by Kirstie, who does a lot of LCUK's social media marketing. She specialises in helping small business grow, via her company Ice Skating Elephants.

One lucky runner up will also win a ebook version of one of Nikola's books.

To enter all you need to do is
👍 Like this page
👍 Like Ice Skating Elephants
Ice Skating Elephants
👍 Like this post
✍️ Comment to let us know you have done it!

Please share to help spread the love 🥰

If you want more details about what Kirstie does, her website is www.iceskatingelephants.com

Ends tonight (13/12/2019) at 11.59pm.
Entries made after this are not counted

Come back tomorrow to see what prize we have to offer 👍
This prize draw is not endorsed, sponsored or administered by Facebook, nor is Facebook associated with the organising company. Facebook has no responsibility to entrants or participants.

Full T&C's can be found here https://tinyurl.com/wleluhf

07/12/2019

Supporting local businesses by attending the Christmas event.
We bought new hats, beer and a cuddly crab 🦀 😂
Now a meal at a local restaurant and then watching the new Jumangi film at the tiny little cinema.
I help small local businesses with admin, marketing and growth. PM me if you need my help 👍👍
@ Kingsbridge

28/11/2019

A short but helpful article about how small businesses can use Instagram for marketing.

https://ducttapemarketing.com/instagram-stories-guide/

This article walks small business owners through best practices for creating Instagram Stories, from what content to share to how to use special features.

22/11/2019

Instagram video (Stories, in feed, IGTV, and live) is an absolute must-have in your brand’s social media strategy. But it’s a lot easier said than done.

18/11/2019

This might be helpful for some small business owners.

Discover a complete guide to using hashtags strategically across Instagram feed posts, story posts, and IGTV posts.

04/11/2019

I am still here 👋
I just spend all of my time marketing my clients and have no time left to market me 😂🤦🏼‍♀️
I'm going to pencil some time in my diary from now on!

We help small business grow.

Does your small business lack direction or organisation? Do you need help with marketing? Maybe you don't know where to start with your admin?

We can help. Drop us a message for a free consultation.

18/10/2019

When you post your picture on your new business insta account..... And forget that your 14 year old daughter follows you 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

15/10/2019

Logo vs branding vs does it really matter?

I read an interesting debate about logos today.

Some people swore that a logo wasn't important. Their logos varied between a picture stolen off the Internet to one costing less than £50.

Others said a logo said a lot about the professionalism of a company and generally paid between £100 and £250 for theirs.

Finally there was the group that said it wasn't just about a logo, but the whole branding of a company. The costs varied greatly from 1 to 20k.

My advice straight off is don't be someone in the first group of people.
Stealing pictures of the Internet, really?! 🤦🏼‍♀️ That's just asking for trouble.
And if its under £50, the chances are you don't want it.

So that leaves us with a decision between a higher priced logo or the whole brand option.

In an ideal world, the brand option is always the best choice. Someone takes the time to sit down with you, find out as much as possible about you and your company and then designs everything you need. If they have done their job correctly, your branding will represent you and give the exact impression you want. You leave with every type of graphic you could need in all sizes, shapes and colours.
It's a no brainer. If you can afford this. Do it.

However let's be realistic. Its not an ideal world and some of us can't afford to invest that sort of money before we've even started earning any.
House, kids, cars, food, bills can make it hard to have spare cash and not everyone can, or wants, to run up debts by borrowing.

That puts us squarely in the middle group (and yes, I am one of these!). I'll be honest here, I had to spend as little as possible on my logo and nothing on branding.
So far my logo has cost me £70 but I'm still getting work done on it.

I found myself stuck in a situation where I needed to have an online presence to gain more clients, but I couldn't afford to pay for the branding I thought I needed.

So for a while I did nothing.

It turns out that all that does is get you closer to, um, nothing!

Luckily I read something, which I will post about another time, which told me to 'just f*cking do it' (yep, literally that but without the star!).

So I did.
With as much money as I could spare (aka what I had left on my credit card!).

Is what I have perfect? Does it represent what I want it to?
No, I don't think so.
But I like it. It's having some tweaks made to it so it's a little more 'me'.

But you know what? It's not what the logo looks like that is the important thing right now.
It's what it means. It's what it's brought to life.

It's MY logo.
It's MY business.
I have taken that step.
I have 'just f*cking done it'
And it feels good.

Branding is important and it will come, in time.

Even if, further down the line, I have a complete redesign, what harm can it do?

Snickers was once Marathon
Cif was once Jif
Pepsi was once Brad's Drink
Polo's used to be 10p

Change happens and we cope.

Don't aim for perfection. You won't achieve it.
Don't wait for the right time. It will never happen.

So in answer to my question at the beginning.

Yes, it matters.
Any decision regarding your business matters.
But should it stop you.
No.

And if you need someone to tell you to just f*cking do it, drop me a PM

14/10/2019

As a small business owner you've taken on a lot.
Not only are you doing your job, whatever that may be, but you are now having to deal with a mine field of paperwork, phone calls, emails, social media pages and anything else that gets thrown at you. Some of which you will never have done before, some of which you will really dislike doing.

You find yourself struggling to keep all the balls in the air, after all you didn't ever learn to be a juggler!

Stop for a minute.
Take a breath.
Realise you are not failing.
You are just overwhelmed.
Just as most people would be in that situation.

Make a list of all the tasks that need doing.
It will be a long list.
Now cross off the tasks that you are an expert at.
Be honest.
Your task list will still be a long list.

Acknowledge that you are an expert in what you do. But you can't be an expert at everything, and even if you were you only have so many hours in a day.

You are stuck.
You want to grow your business but you don't have the time or expertise to do it all.
You don't have an office for a member of staff to work from.
You don't have the money to get an office or employ a member of staff.

Sounds depressing doesn't it?
Maybe it's feeling depressing too.

That's where we come in. To lift that weight off your shoulders.
We can take on as much or as little as you want, need or can afford.
We can even just give you advice and processes to make things easier for you.

We aren't experts in what you do, that's your job. But we understand running a business and everything that comes with it. By working with us, you can do what you're good at while we take on the rest.

Take the first step by sending us a message today.
We look forward to helping you juggle those balls.

12/10/2019

Hi and welcome to Ice Skating Elephants!

We offer a variety of services to help small and start up businesses.

Do you find yourself getting swamped in admin, marketing and networking?

In order to take your business to the next level, you need to remove yourself from the day-to-day management and focus on growth by doing your job. You are the expert in your business. We are experts in ours. We are here to free up your time so you can focus your energy on the things that only you can do.

By hiring us, your business can avoid the costs of having an office, buying equipment or paying the extra costs involved in having a member of staff. Yet you still benefiting from having someone on hand to carry out the vital tasks that you don't have time to do!

Drop us a message to see what solutions we can offer you!

10/10/2019

Don't suffer in silence.
Its nothing to be ashamed of.
Talk to someone, anyone.
❤️

09/10/2019

Today I have done some more organising in my 'office' which is also my sewing room, guest room, random junk room and my husbands gym.

Most importantly Alexa is set up to play music and organise my calender.
Then, almost as important, are my white boards which are now up on the wall. One for each client and one for ISE / my own CPD.

Organisation is key to me being as productive as possible. All around me can be a total mess but as long as my work space is organised I'm good 👍👍

Are you like me or do you thrive being disorganised?

07/10/2019

So the logo is complete, what do you think?

24/09/2019

So a lovely and rather demanding man called Dan (from Coffee With Dan) has told me I need to tell you all about me. So here it is:

What I do?
I have recently started my own business helping small or start up businesses. I have clients and everything 🥳👏🙌

How I do it?
I offer solutions to problems! I mainly do marketing to increase customers / sales / awareness but also do administration. I am a great problem solver and find that by bringing an outside view I can offer solutions that may not have been previously thought of. I work from home which means businesses can avoid the costs of having an office, buying equipment or paying the extra costs of having a member of staff.

Who I help?
Any small business or start up owners! I have one very local client, a couple more within my county and one offers a national service but is based in London. I am based in Devon so understand the difficulties of making a business work in this area and would love to help more local businesses but am equally happy to work with businesses anywhere in the world; as long as I can work in English because I don't speak any other language!

Why I do it?
There are so many answers to this question!

I need to earn money! Don't we all?
My daughter and step daughter are only 3 weeks apart in age, they are both 14, and expensive! One wants to be a marine biologist and the other a paramedic. The thought of those university bills brings me out in a sweat! They will be the first in our family to go to university and we don't want lack of money to stop them.

And now for the scary, but honest part.

Up until 10 years ago, I had a career in social housing. Lots of life stuff happened at once and I had a nervous breakdown. Its taken me a long time to get back on my feet and one thing I still struggle with is agoraphobia. I have lived in hope that I would one day be able to go back to leaving the house to go to work each day but it hasn't happened. I am well enough to cope with leaving the house for meetings, shopping etc but it would put too much pressure on me to have to do it every day. So instead I have learnt new things and found a way to earn money without having to go out everyday!
I can earn money, help my kids and help people build their businesses. I personally think that is a positive outcome 👍👍