JPMorgan Mentorship – 9 month journey

As the JPMorgan Mentorship program closed in June our female founders spent time together reflecting and exchanging really great insight which no matter what we did was true for all of us.

A few points discussed and realised:

What would you let go of, if could go back and do things differently? Our facilitator asked. I said:

– Thinking I could do everything alone and bootstrapped, it hasn’t been quick work, popular or easy going 
– The mistakes I’ve made through inexperience – taking a word not going to contract. It happens, when everything is new and it’s a difficult area to work in and political 
– That I needed to become a different person to do the work. I certainty needed to learn skills – when to speak and not to speak how to present without the nerves, and to manage a business, although I had freelanced for 10+ years previously this was easier work to find (advertising), so I was a business owner but I had not set up a whole new initiative or made a brand – FGA is now top 7 SAF consultancy which I am very happy with this achievement coming from advertising and without studying public affairs or chemistry to a higher level was a learning challenge BUT it shows that if you really believe in something and want it to work then you can make it work with the right support and mentorship

As many of my friends have said during challenging time, “I believe in you”, and they know well that if you put me in a room I can strike up a conversation, connection and making strangers laugh, this is the start to building relationships and trust. But is FGA just for fun, drinks and travel? It can be a lot post work drinks but through this you have to find your own way to turn the chat into serious meetings and work. so certainty not. But it is now about turning the conversation and connections into serious contracted business development opportunities as the industry matures and goes from talk to implementation, I am more technically proficient and getting meetings in place and projects moved forward with agreements and professionalism. Once you have made the mistake you won’t make them again and there is a lot of work to do so let some things go and move on to create even better work with the new learned skills.  Thanks Innovate UK and JPMorgan for advancing FGA!!

What has changed since last year? We were asked.
– Consistency and an ordered approach to the membership – too much travel was making things hard to manage and creates lack of structure, structure is essential to be consistent 
– knowing my weaknesses and working on them, you are your business in many ways 
– adding other part time work so I’m not solo working most of the time and relieve the stress after some
unfortunate circumstances (it was bad for wellbeing as a social person and was actually less efficient and energising) 
– I now ask members for a smaller fee as budgets are not always large for this new work but groups do want to advance the work and now have a department for it 
– understanding the industry is not fast paced and adapting to this and circumstances, it takes time to build projects and relationships and a business and investment 
– moving on quicker if it is not a match on approach/strategy.
– efficiency- writing notes for everyone I meet in a way that helps us both remember how we can help each other , I am becoming a super efficient networker. At one conference I met 70 people in 2 days, AI can not do this! Not agreeing to speak at all events if The event budget is low. I felt I needed to go everywhere I was invited to speak at to build the work.
– Even though the climate reasons are very urgent, if budget doesn’t cover it pushing ourselves and lifestyle only will slow the business in the end. Lock down until more revenue comes and diversify revenue as much as possible
– Getting my CV, experience and achievements or milestones clear. People rarely know what we are really doing day to day and posts on linkedin just show a snapshot, it’s important to show what is being built and done in the background and this is why I changed the format of the membership which you can read about below