Hello Venusians,

Welcome to my May newsletter, wow we’re already half way through the fifth month of the year. Time really does fly when you’re having fun!

I’m happy to report that although I am busy I’m still very definitely in my happy place – it’s right you know, it doesn’t seem like work when you love what you’re doing. It’s just fun all the way! With the rebranding, I’ve had to rewrite a lot of our brochures so my writing skills have been stretched, as well as that I’ve been learning a whole lot about the website side of things and I’ve even been started using Hootsuite for Facebook! Jeanette Miller has been keeping a very close eye on the financial side of things and keeping us on track. The delegation of tasks to those much better at them than yourself is so important – everything seems to run sooooooooo much smoother with less stress. I’m also learning a lot along the way which I love – I’m very definitely in my happy place when I have challenges!

And… the best thing of all is I’ve been able to come out from behind the desk over the last month or two and actually attend meetings and RAVE with members, now that very definitely is my happy place. My Mum used to tell me I needed to find a job where being a ‘social butterfly’ as she called it, was a skill set that was needed – it took me a while but – boom – Venus!

So what’s been happening?

As I said I’ve managed to get to a few meetings in Auckland and we’ve had our very first Venus After 5 at KPMG which was great.  I’ve just returned from Tauranga, my second visit as CEO,  running a Power Hour workshop and also having some POWER RAVES with members (cunning plans formulating for them!).

Next week sees me in my hometown of Wellington working alongside the Venus Management Team down there. Venus Wellington are running their very first Venus After 5, Sponsored by Summerset at the Course, Trentham,  as well so I’m really looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting some new members as well.

The following week I will be in Christchurch launching Ferrymead, our fifth group in Christchurch, with our South Island Regional Manager Maree Bryant. The week after that I meet her in Dunedin to launch our first group there then we ‘road trip’ to Queenstown for a group launch there as well!  Then back to Auckland to launch Warkworth. Phew, no rest for the wicked as they say – I must have been very naughty somewhere along the way!

Venus After 5’s are kicking off in various regions around the country, Power Hour workshops are being run as well as Collaborative Teams – if you haven’t got along to any of these free workshops please book early – we’re finding they’re filling up quite quickly and I’d hate you to miss out.

I’m working on the Venus Magazine that is due to publish in October, advertising spaces are available and more information can be obtained from lindsey.carroll@venusnetwork.co.nz.

Venus Academy

As you will all be aware we have just launched our new Academy Facebook page. We’ll still post all Academy stuff on the Regional pages but we’ve had interest for Academy programmes and workshops from outside Venus which was the reason to launch the page.

At the moment I’m working through the Academy IP with each of the Coaches fine tuning the programmes. Additionally, I’m getting five workshops written as follows, these are basics that we are constantly getting asked about.

• ‘Seal the Deal’ – Creating YOUR Unique Sales Process
• ‘Your Network is Your Net Worth’ – Get A Better Return for the Time & Money You Invest
• ‘Keys to Successful Marketing’ – Don’t Be the Best-Kept-Secret in Your Market
• ‘A Winning Team’ – Be the Kind of Leader Your People will WANT To Follow
• ‘Financials Are Your Friend’ – Learn What To Track, Why and How Often

Additionally, there are a couple of others that are ‘in formulation’ (i.e., I’m currently working on cunning plans but won’t tell you about them yet as they are early in the cunning plan process!)

The Academy programmes and workshops will be kicking off late July so watch this space!

New Look Venus

We are continuing to plough through all the myriad of documents that we have and I think are getting towards the end of the networking side of things. The push over the next wee while is all the Academy brochures and IP. I always knew it was going to be a big job but never imagined how big. All the VRM’s will also have new pull up banners for use at events and workshops – they’ve just come back from the printers so are winging their way out to the regions as I type this newsletter.

Venus Charitable Status

I’m well down the road on this. We are applying next week for our Charitable status. We will still be a limited liability company with a requirement to run as a business with all profit going back into the business for the benefit of our members. Once I’ve got the legal sign off I will be able to confirm Board Members.

As part of the charitable status process,  I’ve had to write (under the guidance of the lawyer) a constitution for the business, i.e, guidelines about who we are, what we do and what we want to achieve. It’s rather a long document (and with boring legal stuff dotted all through it!) but once everything is signed sealed and delivered I’m quite happy to email a copy of the constitution to anyone that is interested.

Venus Management Team

Alongside the HO team, i.e. Jeanette Miller, Lindsey Carroll and myself we are all of course supported by the Regional Managers and the Academy Coaches. I’d like to thank them all for their hard work over the last couple of months, lots of changes have been happening and they have all continued to just get on with it and do their roles with a smile on their faces. Thank you, ladies, I really do appreciate all your support and unflappability!

Meeting and Education Topics

Next week will see me turning my email and my phone off for a day or two and I’ll be writing a whole lot of new meeting and education topics. Thanks for the overwhelmingly positive feedback, great to know you’re enjoying them so much!

….. well that’s about it for now, hope you’re all enjoying your networking and making the most of it. Any help you need just ask if Venus can’t help we are bound to be able to put you in touch with someone in the network that has the skillset you’re looking for.

Oh and thank you so much for your enthusiastic acceptance of the ‘1 month free’ offer for those of you that refer new members. Guests registering on the website have gone up by as much as 60% in some areas!  It’s also great to see who is doing the referring as well. Thank you! Remember being a Venus member is about you being part of a community of like minded business women who support, motivate, encourage, learn and grow. We can help each other as individuals but as a community, we can do so much more! To use a nautical analogy ‘a rising tide lifts all boats!’

Until next month my gorgeous gals! x

Carolyn

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