How did it get to be November?

I can't really write much, but when I logged on to see the word August staring back at me I had to write a quick update. We've been very unexpectedly busy for the last few months, the Summer was much busier than we were expecting and I'm only just about getting caught up with the backlog now. For the first time in months my desk looks like a desk, my accounts are up to date and I have only 1033 items in my email "in box" to file and only around a hundred newsletter and articles to read



We had a really lovely group study NLP Practitioner with us in October, and we are looking forward to seeing them again with their certificates. We have also set our schedule for the first half of next year. We'll be running practitioner courses in March and June 2011 with a Master Practitioner in 2 halves, part 1 in May and part 2 in July.


We've had numerous enquiries from people wanting to study individually, so if that would be more up your street, give us a call and we'll put together the right programme for you at a time that suits. It's great working with just one person, and we always have numerous willing volunteers happy to spend a day updating their own skills and acting as "willing victim" for the learner. We can concentrate more on the techniques you are going to use the most and work on examples which will help you in your chosen field.

We do have a couple of slots available for telephone coaching, which can be booked on an ad hoc basis - don't worry, we wont tie you in to a yearly standing order. We always work on a "pay as you go" basis, so you stay in control. It's doesn't feel right to us to work any other way. It seems wrong for your coach to have a vested interest in keeping you coming week after week!

That's about all I've got time for.

Do leave a comment or "like" our posts. We'd love to hear from you.

Julie

August update from NLP Liverpool

Now it's August I'm hoping there may be a little more sun to cheer and give a healthy glow to the pasty faced reclusive hobbit, I've recently become. Conjure up an image of a whey faced, straggle haired woman crouched over a computer keyboard and you get the picture. Being so busy in the current climate is fantastic, it's just that my grooming routine has suffered greviously. (Those of you that know me well, know that my grooming and beauty routine is almost non existant, therefore I currently look like something the cat dragged in and then rejected in horror.

There's been little sunshine to cheer us up in the Liverpool area for the last few weeks, to be honest I've been so busy lately, I've not felt too deprived. I'm now nearing the end of the huge list of catch up items after a busy June and July. We had a lovely group complete certified NLP practitioner courses with us at the beginning of July, and will be running an intensive course later this month.

Next on my list is an NLP Taster mailing for 9th September and our next certified NLP practitioner course 8th - 15th October.

On the funding front, things are currently quite uncertain With SkillWorks on hold for the moment, existing providers have allocated just about every last penny and at present with government funding cuts biting across every sector, it's likely that there will be no more SkilllWorks for the foreseeable future. The good news is we now have access to a client referral organisation which has funding available for qualifying business leaders or senior managers. The company must employ between 5 -250 employees - actually precisely the demographic we would exect to gain the most from our training - so we were right to be optimistic, as one door closes, another always opens.

We'll soon be setting our course dates for 2011, so email me at julie@nlpliverpool.com to sign up to our mailing list to be first to hear the news.

Looking forward to meeting some of you at The Racquet Club for the NLP Taster on 9th September, see the website for details and come and join us.

Ooooh, shadows just fell accross my desk, the sun must have forced it's way through the clouds.

A rare pleasure, to be enjoyed.

Keep Happy

Julie

It's nearly July, the year is flying past.

This has got to be a quick post as we're just about to finish the preparations for our NLP practitioner course starting tomorrow at The Racquet Club in Liverpool. Have got a great bunch of people from a very diverse range of business backgrounds, I can tell it's going to be a great course. Sometimes you just get a feeling about a group, who, although they've not met each other yet, you just KNOW they'll get along. From the calls and emails I've had, I can tell there's going to be a lot of laughing going on - we find learning and laughter go very well together.

It's been a good week this week, a number of private clients, a couple of enquiries about courses as far ahead as October, and the opportunity for some consulting - more about that as it comes to fruition. Even our evenings have been booked up with telephone coaching, such is the current demand for our services. If you need us, we'll always squeeze you in.

And good old George Osborne, no increase in petrol duty, some good news regarding National Insurance and corporation tax for SME's and at least we have 6 months notice for the VAT increase to 20%. Was it a budget for growth? We''ll have to see, on balance, I think for us it was very favourable. And I didn't have to rush out for petrol.

Manuals are printed and bound, signing in sheets ready, all set I think........

Julie

How did it get to be June already?

Where did nearly half the year go? I must have lost at least a month somewhere. I've probably spent some of it staring into the back of my computer improving my frown lines and tearing my hair out.

Ssssshhhhh, all seems to be well at present on the hardware and software front, with a large mailing to go out tomorrow, I'm really hoping that will remain the case, otherwise tomorrow could be a VERY late night.

May has been a busy month for us, we've just finished another Master Practitioner course, it's such a pleasure to have students come back to build on their practitioner training, by now they are old friends, and we are able to build exactly the training they want as we know them so well. Whether they are therapists, business managers, solicitors or trainers themselves, we tailor the training so they are able to use the techniques where they need them.

We're now gearing up for the Summer Practitioner course at the end of June, with only a few places remaining and future funding options likely to be limited, (bye bye SkillWorks -we'll miss you!) we are urging people to study now, while the last scrapings of EU funding are available.

We've booked our next NLP taster for the evening of 9th September, and will take provisional bookings now, as they've proved very popular in the past.

We're very excited to read your stories for our June Newsletter competition, and looking forward to awarding the £100 prize before we publish it to our website. If you'd like a chance to win, just go to the website www.nlpliverpool.com and sign up for the newsletter by the end of June, which has all the details, send us your tale of woe, and keep your fingers crossed.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Julie Cunningham

A poor neglected blog

My poor blog has been so neglected lately that I've broken with convention and am writing at the start of the week rather than the end. The last few weeks have been so busy that by Friday afternoon, it's just been one job too much to post a final missive.



We finally managed to coerce the pdf maker back into action, which makes sending qoutes and documents much easier. Since then, the accounting software fell over and grazed its knees and wouldn't get up again. Put in a number of very late nights trying to reload, reinstall and restore, and are finally (fingers crossed) able to start entering data again. We even got into the "computer geek, back office, techy stuff", the bit with all the warnings, and I used RegEdit for the first time. Seems funny to have a computer application called Reg!



Over the last month or so we've completed some practitioner training, put a number of delegates through their paces at Master Practitioner level and discussed some exciting proposals for a number of large organisations, for staff training in communication skills and team building.



The team building exercises should be fantastic fun, we've got some really interesting ideas, and we're always grateful to hear from anyone who has any more. I've noticed most team building exercises seem to involve the great outdoors, of which I'm a huge fan, but splinters, getting wet and the possibility of broken ankles wouldn't really be suitable for our clients. Clay pigeon shooting and go-carting tend to appeal to the male and macho. A day of raft building, trust falling, plank walking and trapeze jumping are great for teens and twenty year olds, but our demographic is slightly above that - myself included. So we're looking for some more cerebral (and sedate) challenges, with emphasis on communication, co-operation, and listening, rather than strength and brute force. Shame really, I'd love a day rally driving.



George is doing some bespoke 1 to 1 Master Practitioner training this week, it's a huge advantage to be able to really target the techniques to the areas the client is going to use. We seem to be doing more and more of this type of work. Maybe the current economic situation drives more organisations and individuals to seek out a more precise tailored solution rather than splash out on a one size fits all product.



Bespoke tailoring always fits better and lasts longer.



Better go, manuals to print and bind, certificates to send and the accounts to tackle.

Thanks for reading (email me julie@nlpliverpool.com and let me know what you think)

Julie

A green end to the week!

Another busy week. Now trying to juggle the end of the week tasks, those emails that really shouldn't wait over the weekend and the keeping up to date with the filing. And this blog of course.

Finished training one of our own NLP practitioner courses last Friday, an 8 day, full - on, training experience for George and our delegates. I know a lot of laughing went on, as the reception staff at The Racquet Club kept asking "What are you doing in there?" as there was such a lot of giggling and guffawing going on. The best laugh of the week was when the group invented a new NLP technique, based on The Milton Model, only using such cheesy expressions it had to be re-named The Stilton Model. We hope this will become a mature addition to the cheeseboard of NLP, with grateful thanks to Ryan.

We've had a number of enquiries this week about our Presentation Skills courses, which reminded me to update the website. We'll be running for a maximum of 10 delegates on 11th and 12th May. I have 2 places reserved already, so contact me soon to ensure your place.

Been struggling with our software again this week. We upgraded our Adobe suite, an absolutely essential tool for our documents, photography and web site development. I'm not even going to relate the sorry tale of spectacularly bad customer service from Adobe with regard to the purchase which swallowed up 2 days with telephone calls and emails.

The new version makes updating the website much easier and will help with the photography we do (when I can get time to concentrate on learning all the new features), but the pdf maker has disappeared from Word.

Gone.

POOF.

Just like that!

There seems to be no coaxing it back and no amount of cajoling or sweet-talking is having any effect. We've run "repair made", reinstalled, restarted and all to no avail. The up side is, that while George has sat and deepened his frown lines all afternoon (we know it's serious when I vacate my seat and allow him "at" my machine) I've got to grips with a huge pile of filing and filled a bag with paper recycling. So I'm feeling quite green and calm.

All in all, a good week, I always enjoy sending the licence agreements off to The US, having trained another bunch of people in the subtle art of NLP.

Better go, need to pack a child off to cub camp!

More news next week,

Julie

Spinning Plates at NLP Liverpool

Had a very interesting week so far, local training, preparing for our own course and even an international enquiry.

Monday saw George off to train around 20 restaurant staff in communication & hospitality skills, for a brand new restaurant opening soon in Liverpool - more news to follow next week.

Yesterday we had a call out of the blue from Sweden for advice and telephone coaching - fantastic to know our reputation has spread that far, what a compliment!

I'm busy preparing paperwork and binding manuals for the certified NLP practitioner course which starts on Friday, got a lovely group of people that I'm really looking forward to working with, one who's coming (on recommendation) all the way from Holland.

There's one of our regular phone coaching clients this afternoon (from the south coast) and despite promising ourselves a clear day tomorrow prior to the 8 days of training from Friday, we seem to a full diary tomorrow too.

Can't complain, I'm too busy, I haven't got time!

Yours in multitasking,

Julie

A conflict of interest

Currently struggling with a conflict of interest. As well as trying to keep on top of running everything in the office, it's also Half Term, which presents some interesting challenges. In the battle between work and half term, today the work is winning, which results is 3 tetchy children, and a slightly guilty Mum. Any engaging activity seems to require my personal supervision, and undivided attention, which is completely incompatible with getting anything done. I'm trying to encourage quiet colouring and lego building rather than TV watching, and really I'd love to down tools and get sticky and glittery and bake cakes, but I've got too much overdue already.

I've got a mailing due out later, and then I'm hoping to just respond to calls and emails for the next few days and maybe even get some time out of the office and into the fresh air.

It's all systems go for the next certified NLP Practitioner course 5th -12th March, nice group so far, I'm looking forward to working with them. We could always add in a few more, so if you're tempted, call me today on 0151 931 5184 to discuss funding options or flexible study arrangements.

We're also looking to put together some dates for another Taster event, sometime after Easter. If you'd like to register your interest, visit the website, www.nlpliverpool.com and email me your preferred evening or weekend day and date. We'll then have an idea which days suit people best.

Do email me or comment on the post, it'd be nice to know it's being read.

Better go, work to do,

Julie

NLP Taster Event on Monday

It seems I'm always in the office late on a Friday, the week catches up with me and I have things to finish before I can call it the weekend.

Had a couple of private clients this week, mainly I've been preparing for next week's NLP Taster on Monday, see the website for details, www.nlpliverpool.com

Made the mistake of installing some updates to our security software on Wednesday, then tried to reduce the start up time of my PC by tinkering with programmes in the start-up menu. It takes around half an hour from switching on to "ready for action", which is not very green, and a real disincentive to turning off at lunchtime or if I'm out to see a client. BIG, BIG MISTAKE. From inside the PC, some kind of windows lock down occurred, with no access to any files, no email, no documents, nothing. Just what you don't need when you are organising an event, all of which has been done on the PC or through email.

Finally managed to dig a tunnel through the PC's back garden, break in through the coal cellar door, and sneak some files out and put them on the laptop, over which I've been crouched for most of the day. George is trying to restore the missing files and we are hoping to be able to get me back online on my own PC by tomorrow. It's going to be another VERY late night.

It's given me time to do some long overdue filing! You have just got to look on the bright side

Have a great weekend

Julie

A busy week almost over

It's been a busy week this week, not that we're not always busy, just that this week seems to have been more crammed full than usual. We've had a bit of a dust around the website in preparation for putting up the scaffolding and knocking down a few walls to open out the space and make it a bit easier to navigate. I've been and checked every page to make sure the VAT prices have been changed, what a pain. At least we didn't have hundreds of leaflets to pulp like some companies.

We put out a mailing this week for our NLP Taster Evening on Monday 1st February in Liverpool, so we've had a flurry of enquiries about that and about our courses. We've also taken a number of bookings for later in the year.

My sent folder is satisfyingly full, meaning a good week's work, unfortunately my inbox still remains disappointingly crammed too, with things which don't need responses but do need filing! So I'll be here a while yet so I can start next week with a clear head. (and in-box)

Is Moira Stewart still sitting in your cupboard under the stairs? Get that Tax return done NOW!

Have a great weekend, just looked out and it's got foggy!

Julie

The first 2010 Blog

First of all, Happy New Year, I hope 2010 is as exciting for you as I'm expecting it to be for me. I've neglected the blog a bit recently, which just shows, I suppose, how busy we've been.

We're just putting the final arrangements together for the 1st February Taster evening, feel free to email and book your place now through the website www.nlpliverpool.com, where you'll find all the information as we have it.

The New Year started well, with an unexpected bonus of 3 day's extra holiday for the children. What could we do, but embrace the opportunity to enjoy the first decent snow in about 30 years, and go sledging. I am the proud possessor of bruises I couldn't possibly show anyone! I've finally learnt to embrace opportunities when they present - the old me would have stuck to my schedule without wavering.

So we're putting in more than a couple of late nights in the office (with the fire on - I know we're green ambassadors but it's still quite chilly) now everyone's back at school.

I'm overhauling the website little by little, and we'll be putting together some exciting new courses for later in the year, so keep watching.

Do keep following and I look forward to hearing from you,

Julie

P.S. Take life's opportunities, even if they do give you bruises!