Welcome to my world

Hi, I am Louise Hodge, Managing Director of Fidelity. I decided to start a blog so that I could create once central information resource about my businesses, myself and my team but mostly to provide useful info for small business owners.

I have to admit that I am completely befuddled (to use a local term) by Face Book, Twitter and other social media websites but I am a BIG fan of Google. I can see that all to quickly we are going to be taken over by a more savvy next generation when we reach the autumn of our business years (and I am only mid thirties!) due to their familiarity with technology. Blogging seems a very sensible idea and I can see the value of it as part of small business marketing, as for the rest of them, well I guess it will all become clear. It is really not an option to stick your head in the sand.

Marketing a small business is not getting easier and there are never going to be fewer people to compete with. The struggle is getting harder and small businesses are suffering from the self imposed recession, the government or 'nanny state', as it shall be known, and the vast numbers of new business that have been started following the recession. With all that as a given, how the whatsit do you prosper and heaven forbid make a (I am going to use the dirty word here) profit!?

I think to make it big these days takes a certain amount of nouse, vision and a complete disregard for everyone else. I speak from experience, not necessarily on the success front, as I have put a lot of time and energy over the past two years, since my second son was born, toward self improvement. I had already studied for CIM qualifications before having children but found it unrewarding. Since embarking on a course of seeking out experts and learning how they have become successful I have put my business on track for its own success. You do need to change enormously to become a business leader. It requires a change in your mindset, a physical change in how you are involved in your business and new skills. It is easy to get depressed and lose your focus but you need to ignore the competition and focus on your own game.

I hope that with a bit of time here and there between family and the endless search for that 'dirty word' I can use my own learning experience to help other small business owners find their way to success. So keep reading and hopefully some time in the future we will meet!

Louise