Do you learn and follow rules?  Or do you prefer to throw away the rule book and do your own thing? As part of this blogging challenge - led by the wonderful Sarah & Kevin Arrow - we receive daily emails talking everything blogging. We learn about structure,...

One of my intentions for this year is to write my first book – The Art of Selling Transformation.  However, for the past few months I’ve been decidedly stuck with it – not knowing how to structure it or what needs to be included. Whenever I do make some headway I...

I’ve just received an email from a beautiful soul, someone who I respect and who has taught me a lot.  I’ve bought her programmes and think her work is awesome. Her email was all about alignment and a few years ago this email would have sent me into a tailspin.  It...

It’s March 1st – St David's Day and the first day of meteorological spring.  I think it’s one of my favourite days of the year.  It’s so full of promise. Today the sun is shining majestically.  After the rain, wind and floods the sun comes out to warm our hearts and...

Happy 2020!   Here we are at the end of the working week – the first full working week of January. I've scheduled this post to be published as I will be getting ready to head to London for lunch.  It always feels so decadent and luxurious to go to London for...

When we think of creativity we often think of art and painting or beautiful crafts. And if we're not very good at any of those things we make statements like "I'm not creative". Except we're ALL creative in our own way. I used to say "I'm not creative" regularly...

It’s that time of year where we turn our thoughts to 2020 to what we want to accomplish next year.  And of course it's a new decade which is even more exciting.  And 2020 has such a lovely ring to it don't you think? It’s been several years since I’ve set any goals at...

Yesterday I supported Karen Skidmore at her  Playing Your Bigger Game event which was brilliant: great vibe, wonderful people, awesome content. There was one conversation that really struck me and relates to a big topic - something I’ve been mulling over and...

This morning I went for a gorgeous walk in the beautiful autumn sunshine.  Not that it was sunny when I set out – rather it was cloudy and grey. Yet halfway round, the clouds disappeared and the sun started shining brightly.  The sky became a stunning shade of blue –...

But it’s supposed to have a happy ending! If you’re like me and you don’t like hearing the end of a story you’ve not read or watched, be warned there’s a spoiler alert coming. I’ve just finished watching a television series called Sanditon based on an unfinished Jane...

I’ve had quite an adventure with planning and goal setting.  Back in January 2017 I'd stopped setting goals completely and of course shared my experience in a blog post. However in the past few months I’ve started to appreciate the value of goals and came up with a 90...

One of the things I’ve noticed many business owners find challenging, is picking up the phone and calling people – whether it’s to ask for help, reaching out to past clients and prospects, contacting new leads, indeed contacting anyone with a view to that contact...

Over the past few months I’ve been having a lot more calls – especially sales calls.  Having not done any for several years it’s been really fun getting back into it. However this morning I had a call scheduled - and despite sending a reminder, the person I was due to...

I woke up like I do most mornings with a desire to write. But the question was: do I write in my journal or write a blog post? I had an insight this morning as I was laying in bed - a follow on from many insights I have been having this week about my writing – and...

I’ve just returned from an incredible transformation retreat where the underlying mechanics of something I’ve been grappling with for many years were revealed to me. For many years I have struggled with my writing.  If you’ve been following me and reading my blogs...

On July 1st I made a big bold announcement - when will I learn to not do that! I said I was going to do Sarah Arrow’s 30 day blogging challenge once again because I needed to hone my writing muscle and I believed this was the best way to do it. I started strong on Day...

When I first started out in business 15 years ago I joined an international business development organisation.  I learnt all about Direct Response Marketing and it blew me away.  Although I’d been working in sales and marketing for 7 years I felt like I knew nothing...

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post, connected with my email community or been active on Facebook. Why? Because I haven’t felt I had anything to share – and I didn’t want to share something (anything) because the rules say “you have to be consistent and...

It’s the final day of my 30 day blogging challenge. Yay!  I did it! But as I was on my daily walk I could feel the familiar battle beginning in my head – what should I write about. The voice that has been quiet over the past 29 days because I always had tomorrow, and...

I’m not sure kindness featured in the original list of gifts I made two weeks ago but it is one that is on my mind now and it feels fitting to write about it. You see it is 7:48pm on a Saturday night and in truth the last thing I want to do is write a blog post.  I’d...

So as I was preparing to write this post, the first thing I did was look up the meaning of compassion.  This is what the online dictionary states: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others I have to say I don’t like that definition. It...

Abundance – a beautiful word meaning: a very large quantity of something Whenever I think of abundance I always think of the air that we breathe. You see we often strive for abundance or wealth, or financial freedom, yet if we had no air to breathe we’d be dead within...

One of the key things that has shifted over the past few years is my perspective on life. And the gift I want to share today has probably made the biggest difference in my life: The Gift of Awareness Or as I tend to see it on a day to day basis “simply noticing” If...

I’ve written about judgment before: https://www.melinaabbott.com/judgement-is-the-glue-that-keeps-us-stuck/ And it makes me smile reading back my own words and remembering the struggle I had with writing. A struggle that went on for several years. Caused…. by a fear...

It’s that time of year where we turn our thoughts to 2019 to what we want to accomplish next year. It’s been several years since I’ve set any goals at the turn of the year – over the past few years I’ve preferred to see what life has in store for me and follow the...

Appreciation – such a beautiful word. It means: Recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something. A full understanding of a situation. I often sit (or stand) back and look at my life with appreciation.  How wonderful life feels right now and how...

When we think of creativity we often think of art and painting or beautiful crafts. And if we're not very good at any of those things we make statements like "I'm not creative". Except we're ALL creative in our own way. I used to say "I'm not creative" regularly...

We tend to think of feeling joy when things are going well. And of course it’s easy to be joyful when life is good. However I’ve discovered that in truth instead of joy being something we experience when things are going well – joy is actually something which comes...

Interestingly I sat down to write about the Gift of Appreciation today but nothing was flowing. So I looked to see what other gifts I could write about and the Gift of Nourishment leapt out of me. Quite topical for this busy time of year when there are endless jobs to...

Many people have told me they are inspired by my blogging challenge – they are cheering me on and are impressed at my dedication. I’m impressed myself because had I undertaken this challenge at the beginning of 2018 there was no way I would have blogged consistently...

A few years ago I was at an event totally enthralled by one of the speakers. She was amazing – the whole audience loved her. She was an expert in her field, authentic and spoke with such integrity – everyone wanted to learn from her. I was in awe of who she was and...

How much should I charge? This is a question that gets asked a lot, and one many people (including me) agonise over! No matter what business we’re in – whether we’re selling shampoo, clothing, consultancy, coaching – or even doing Airbnb - there’s a huge price range....

Christmas is a time of giving. I love to give gifts! I put a lot of thought and love into sending gifts I think people will like.  I don't always get it right but I hope people can feel the effort and love that goes into it. However there was a time when I would give...

I was scrolling though Facebook (as you do) when I saw this in my feed: It turns out this person paid £400 for a phone and then the person she paid disappeared off the face off the earth!  She had paid via Paypal but used the friends and family option which has little...

In yesterday's blog post I spoke about my experience with BNI - and how I had a filter running through my head which meant I wouldn't consider it as an option to it being a possible lead source for my business. I had an "already knowing" about it which meant I was...

Today I went to a networking meeting in my home town.  As I hadn’t done any face to face networking for over a year, I was slightly apprehensive about going (you had to give the 1 minute spiel which I’m not a big fan of) but I was also excited.  I had been...

How well do you know your own rhythm and process? Are you familiar with how you operate naturally?  Or how you might be sabotaging your own natural rhythm which in turn perpetuates a “not good enough” story? This is something I’ve been exploring over the past...

Do you ever hesitate doing something because you’re concerned it might not work? That something sounds great but you don’t say yes because you’re worried it won’t deliver the outcome you want?  Or maybe you’re afraid you won’t follow through? We’re even more cautious...

One of the things I would beat myself up about over and over was not getting things done. For more years than I care to admit I would go to bed wondering where the day had gone feeling like I’d not achieved anything. I would start the day full of enthusiasm with a...

Do you see yourself as a “work in progress”? Whenever I hear someone say that about themselves I want to scream “no you’re not.  You're an extraordinary, amazing human being." When we look at a little baby or a young child we don’t see them as a “work in...

  Is a lack of time something that stops you doing all the things you’d love to do?  Often we’re so busy doing everything we have to do – going to work, running a busy, endless meetings, bringing up a family, cooking, cleaning, supporting others – that’s there’s...

So here we are, exactly one week into December and the craziness of Christmas.  Every year I tell myself “next year I’ll be more organised and start preparing for Christmas sooner”.  And every year December 1st comes round and all I’ve done is start thinking about...

3 weeks ago I wrote to my email community inspired to share something that had moved me to tears.  Marianne Williamson is campaigning to stand for President. My FB feed was full of the news and it touched me so deeply I felt compelled to share it with my community. ...