Archive for the ‘Business & Marketing’ Category

This month, Leeds Autism Practice ran our first public in-person event, Understanding Late Diagnosis in Autism & ADHD. The event sold out in advance and the feedback was very positive. We’re running at least three more events in June and I hope they will be equally well received.

Leeds Autism Practice is now officially offering AuDHD assessments. It is something we have been working with for a while so it made sense to publicly shout about it a bit more. Currently, our AuDHD assessment service is limited to adults which is ironic given the photo above. But Venla and I also look these lovely photos recently, so I’m sharing that, too.

Check out these snazzy photos we’ve had taken for the updated clinic website. Thanks to Heather Butterworth for the photography.

We’ve just launched the new-look Leeds Anxiety Clinic website. Same great service but with a more modern look.

Trinity Entrepreneurial Society is currently hosting a series of talks on different aspects of launching a business such as ideation, pitching and emerging technology.

The organisation has been so-so. The first event was announced the day before and placed on Halloween when many of us had plans. Another two of the events were cancelled at short notice. And there was meant to be a social aspect to it but this did not happen, I assume due to low numbers. That itself was frustrating because you hav to apply to to the programme and there is an attendance policy, but that is all false scarcity.

With that moan out of the way, though, the events that did run were great. The speakers were from a range of company sizes with good knowledge and I got to meet Alison Darcy, the founder of Woebot!

Leeds Anxiety Clinic has launched its YouTube channel! Join us over on YouTube to learn more about anxiety and OCD.

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others is a book by Dan Pink. In it, he argues that the old ABCs of sales (always be closing) have been replaced by a new, more authentic and honest approach to sales.

His case is essentially this: the old way of sales relied on information asymmetry. The salesperson knew more than the customer and could use that to their advantage. However, in the information age, the customer has often done a lot of research and in many cases knows more than the salesperson (such as competitor offerings) and therefore you cannot bullshit a customer anymore.

So, what do we do about it? Pink argues that we need to be empathetic towards our customers. Understand how we can help them and build a way to win together, rather than seeing sales as a zero-sum game where we have to get one over on the customer.

We should give them all in the information they need and not be afraid of doing so. He gives the example of CarMax, an American car superstore brand that provides computers for customers to research what their competitors are doing so they know that CarMax is offering the best deal.

Finally, be clear on what you are offering. Pink suggests an elevator pitch may be too long for the modern generation who are used to 140-character tweets. Pink suggests a number of successors to the elevator pitch including one-word pitches (when I say “search”…), questions and rhymes.

Four years ago I launched Worfolk Anxiety and since then I’ve trained tens of thousands of students via my online mental health courses. Worfolk Anxiety Management is still a key brand but of course, there is much more to mental health and wellbeing than anxiety and my current range of courses reflects that.

To reflect this wider focus on mental wellbeing, I’ve launched a new brand, Online Mindfulness School. The doors are now open with our mindfulness teacher, mental health ambassador and mindfulness for productivity courses and lots more on the way.

Back in 2013, I started a publishing company to publish my fledging restaurant guide. What originally started as a side hustle alongside my IT consultancy company has since expanded into a digital publishing and after years of work, has finally turned a profit in the 2019/2020 accounting year. Who says 2020 is nothing but misery?

They say that the necessity is the mother of all invention. With the impending COVID-19 crisis looming, we decided it was finally time to make virtual appointments part of Leeds Anxiety Clinic’s offerings.

That was easier said than done. Because of the social distancing recommendations already in effect, and Amazon having halted warehouse shipments, the few webcams that were available had all been panic-bought by other people. Luckily, we were able to beg and borrow the equipment we needed until we could get our own.

We’re still playing around with how to produce the best quality experience, both in terms of the technical setup and the differences between delivering therapy face-to-face, where you can easily scribble a diagram or analyse holistic body movements, and delivering it digitally. Early efforts are working well, though.