The JaffeBLEND Blog

Arianna Huffington Tells Us How to Thrive

Arianna Huffington was interviewed by Camilla Cavendish, The Sunday Times Associate Editor on Thursday, May 29^th.

In the illustrious headquarters of a Times UK, about 300 people gathered to hear insights from Arianna Huffington, who has recently been making headlines for her ‘third metric’ concept brought to life via her new book (“Thrive – her 14th book to date), conference and presentations.

Arianna’s journey towards the new metric of wellbeing began with a collapse in 2007 from exhaustion with her breaking her cheekbone and getting 4 stitches in her eyebrow.

Delusion of Time
She began by talking about the delusion of time – “we are living under a collected delusion where time invested equates to success”. She wishes she would have spent less time worrying, being anxious, being afraid, overreacting to bad things happening e.g. a taxi driver getting lost en route to an event. As a mother she has always been there physically for her kids, however she wishes she had been there fully and not processing something in her mind.

We are living in an age of time famine, confirmed by surveys as being more covetable than money.

The Monks & Mindfulness
Arianna then spoke more about mindfulness, a topic covered in detail in her book. She explained that we all have in us a centre of wisdom, intelligence and peace but we never live there in our hyper-connected society. This is something Buddhist monks discovered and practice today.

What's impressive about her book is that there is scientific evidence go substantiate what she says. Mindfulness involves focussing on the breath in order to shut off the cycle of negative thought (what!?! There are others like me who also have negative thoughts?!).

We spend so much time learning to play golf, ski or tennis but we spend little time learning how to be happy and compassionate. The book provides 12 steps to break the addiction to out current non-sustainable stress-infused lifestyle.

Two thirds of entrepreneurial start-ups fail so perhaps there is a correlation between burnout and failure? We need new role models. Stress is dangerously rampant – binge-drinking, anti-depressants, suicides etc. This is the time to introduce new role models. Even god took a day off on the 7th day!

2013 was the year that CEO’s ‘came out’ as being meditators. There is a global shift happening in which mindfulness is going mainstream!

At the end of the day, switch off your devices and escort them out the room!

Technology Causes Stress
Technology today is very addictive – so many in the room go to bed with their phones next to them. There is no doubt that this is unhealthy. Arianna elaborated though that what is healthy is that we are all aware of the dangers of technology, especially parents seeing their children's relationship to screens. Arianna calls it's the snake in the digital garden if Eden. The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) drives this. The problem is all the “incoming” notifications.

On the topic of the media industry, Camilla stated that “Social media should fuel the stories we need to tell rather than the ephemeral froth”.

Q & A
Arianna was asked a range of questions ranging from her thoughts on Hilary Clinton as the next president to whether she felt pressure to look good. She gave insight into Athe role her mother played in her life, as she used to say that failure doesn't matter. Failure not the opposite of success but something on the road to success. Her mother was instrumental I'm helping her get into Cambridge as a 16 year old girl I'm Athens unable to speak a word of English.

When someone asked if she had an equation for success involving energy and love, Arianna very lovingly got emotional and teary, summing up that it is all about love. This question obviously struck a chord with her. Even when she was asked about her definition of god by Oprah she replied that for her god is love. What a touching display of authenticity!

I asked Arianna about whether she really believes that you can start a business whilst neither necessarily burning the candle at both ends and having wellbeing and balance. She replied that it's not about balance but having moments for renewal. It has become the norm for our batteries to be equated with our phone batteries!

Someone else asked about teaching mindfulness in schools. Arianna mentioned that there is even a game that encourages mindfulness for kids. She highly recommended reading Camilla's article on the topic of mindfulness which also mentions the current initiatives in the schools I'm the UK.

When asked about her eulogy, she said she doesn't believe in dying and it's merely a process like”dropping your rental car off at the airport”.

The evening concluded with book signing, pictures and a lovely chat and option to get Jaffeblend to blog on Huffpost….! What an unexpected end to an evening with a remarkable lady. The book can be ordered on Amazon here. 

[This document was typed on my new MS word for iPad app, only possible after coughing up £79.99 for the Office subscription. I could have just used Evernote, but ever the curious techie, I wanted to trial the experience. Really love it!]

JaffeBlend Wins Business Person of the Year 2013 Award!

Hot off the press, yesterday I was honoured and privileged to attend the TrainE-TrainE Business Awards lunch, attended by 350-400 people in the magnificent ballroom of the Grosvener Hotel on Park Lane. Let me start by saying that I find it hard to do any form of self-promotion, but am so overjoyed with this award, I do intend to put that aside and shout the news from the rooftops (so please bear with me and share in my jubilation!).

And the winner is .... JaffeBlend! In true social media style, the clip was up on YouTube before I even got back to my table. http://bit.ly/ULzviG

The event began with a drinks reception, at which I had an exhibition table.

This was the debut also of the new JaffeBlend branding, the launch of the brochure and the free "99 Social Media Facts You Need to Know About" booklet.
Please email Sharon for copies as well as the JaffeBlend original jelly beans! I will be making a digital version available via the site very soon.

Then off we headed to the ballroom where the magnificent reception began. Check out the stylish starter which awaited us.

Finally it was Awards time, thank heavens completed before the main course since my stomach was doing somersaults and backflips from nerves. The Business Person of the Year Award 2013 was up first and massive thanks to Jonathan Sumberg for the professionally edited clip of me. Some folks told me they thought I should win based on the video alone (!). I highly recommend Jonathan's video services!

More pictures will be available soon, but in the meantime, here is what the ballroom looked like and the moment I took the stage.

A big thank you to all my friends, clients and colleagues for the support over years across multiple companies and multiple markets. I'm glad to have had you all along with me for the fast-paced bullet-train digital ride. We have had a blast being part of changing the world.

Looking forward to bigger and better things from JaffeBlend.

The best is yet to come!

Starting Out On Your Own?

If so, here are some of the tips I can give based on my personal experience from the last 15 months as an entrepreneur. I decided to write this blog post as I was recently interviewed on the topic here, and more people were asking me for tips and guidance. I don't proclaim to be an expert but hopefully my tips can help those faced with credit crunch redundancies or simply wanting to get out of a rut and pursue a more independent career.

I personally have always wanted to be a consultant however at the time of graduating, I found myself more enthused by digital marketing and less willing to live in hotel rooms for months on end (as many of my friends did who landed up worked for the big consultancies). After 13 years in digital media and marketing, it's truly a dream for me now to be consulting and educating others in this area (and being able to work from home more – yay!).

Enough about me and more about my tips:

1. Feel the fear and do it anyway. This is a great book by Susan Jeffers, and it's my main point, since 96% of people don't start a new busineness because of the fear of failure.  Don't expect to be fearless, but don't be paralysed by your fears. Help and seek help, especially where you need it – be it logistics, network, introductions etc.

2.  "Do unto others..."- The Ethic of Reciprocity. Don't underestimate your own value and your ability to help others. Realise that others want to see you succeed and need your help too, so jump in the "informal economy" of networking, connecting, giving and asking for help. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for key people who gave me their time and guidance. In turn, I always make time for others since you never know when the favour will be returned. ;-)

3. Network isn't everything, it's the only thing! It's what you know AND who you know. The people who've worked with you and know what and how you do it are the key people to hire you, help you and recommend you on. Almost all my business has come from my own network where I have spent many years building a reputation and building my personal brand.

4.Be resilient! Be prepared to bark up a lot of wrong trees. When there's nothing up the trees, pick yourself up and move on to the next one. Set-backs and disappointment are par for the course. Protect your self-esteem and be positive. Matt Crabtree, from Positive Momentum, was instrumental in helping me with most of these tips as well as recognising the power of the right attitude and positivity.

5. Be your own guiding light. Trust your internal instincts when making decisions and be true to yourself. If you're asked to do something which doesn't feel right or by someone who doesn't feel right, it generally isn't right. Don't accept work which you don't feel good about i.e. is not the type of work you want to be doing (you'll be hating every minute of it). At the same time, be open-minded. I was asked to do training and figured, "why not?". It has since turned out to be my main source of business second to consulting.

6. Quality is key! Maintain your own professional quality standards. Invest in your brand and pay attention to everything from the way you dress to showing up on time. Now more than ever it's important to realise that you are your own business card.

7. Have a clear vision. Always hold clear the vision of where you see yourself in 1 or x year's time. Let that motivate you! Make sure you create some goals and milestones, be it a revenue target, or your first press interview. Remember to also reward yourself and congratulate yourself on your achievements along the way with rewards.

8. Think big but start small. Don't be arrogant or overconfident in what you charge. Be willing to do stuff for free to build experience, reputation and a solid track record. Trust me, the rest will follow.

9. Watch your costs. Don't splurge unnecessarily but don't skimp on the important things like a good laptop and a business card. It's not necessary to have a glamorous website to get started – one year on I still don't advertise what I do on the web and yet I've been fully booked.

10. Manage your work-life balance. It's easy to start working evenings and weekends and it's hard to give yourself a break. I think this is a key driver of entrepreneurs and a danger in the general unwillingness or inability to take time off. I think I'm still learning this one, which is why I put it last.

I hope these tips are helpful! If you're a self-starter, let me know what you think of them and if you have any personal experiences. Feel free to add your own ones. Good luck!