Ute’s Personal Recipes

My greatest success in business:

“There have been quite a few successes over the years, but the one that means most to me is having been able to grow my first venture a few years ago. It was a language training business whose success exceeded all my expectations! It still gives me a huge sense of achievement since at the time I was also a carer and sole bread winner with three children to look after. Luckily I had a brilliant mentor who made me realise how much strength I have and that I can achieve anything I want, by believing in myself and taking one small step at a time.

My greatest challenge in business:

These days I enjoy everything I do- work and life to me are integrated rather than separate areas. However I am like many busy mums in business who have to juggle different commitments and can find it hard to make time for themselves to recharge their batteries. Whenever I feel pressure building up, the first thing I usually do is check whether I need to change the way I manage my time or whether it’s time to say NO! This helps me maintain clarity and enables me to focus and prioritise what’s important.

What I do outside work:

I enjoy reading, travelling, camping, being by the sea, watching old b&w movies, going to music festivals and art exhibitions. I also like meeting people and having good conversations…

How I achieve Work-Life Balance:

What works best for me is to ‘escape’ and have real ‘time out’ by taking frequent short holidays. Occasionally I also take off my watch on a day off- I then do whatever I want to do, but without any kind of plan. That’s ‘down time’ and total freedom in my world and gives me the balance I need. My husband had kidney cancer 3 years ago, and so these days I try to adjust my workload depending on what’s happening in my life.

Words of Advice for women in business:

My favourite quote is ‘It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves!’ by mountaineer Sir Edmund Hilary. At times, achieving success in business can seem like a mountain to conquer, especially in the early days, or when you are experiencing a setback.

My top tips for women in business are:

1 - follow your vision

2 - cultivate a positive frame of mind

3 - be flexible and open to new opportunities

4 - take one step at a time, and

5- always be true to yourself!

Quoted from www.successnetwork.wordpress.com