Standing with Ukraine

Hi everybody, welcome to today’s episode.

I’m so glad that you’re joining me and that I have the opportunity to speak to you guys in this way. Today, it’s going to be a little bit different to usual because although I have had, personally, just the most amazing two weeks, the rest of the world, and obviously ourselves are struggling with watching the suffering that is occurring right now for our friends in the Ukraine.  It would be very easy for me to do a normal episode and to continue to talk only about strictly business things. And things that may seem more tangible may seem more practical, may actually feel more appropriate, I guess.

But I like the idea that all of this work that I’ve been doing, and all of this building in terms of audience and support network, and just all of you amazing listeners, every single one of you this listening, I like to think that actually, the ripple effect of that goes much further than just to tips and hints on how to make your business great. We have affected each other and our lives in a way that is more than that, it is deeper than that. And I know that my people are I know that you guys listening are absolutely the type of people that will have been affected deeply by the events that have occurred around the world just in this last week or so.

Now, one thing that I will say is that the advice that I give all of the time the kind of general advice that I give around, the noise on social media still stands here, just because you’re a good person, you’re an empathetic person, and you want things to be better in the world, that’s not a reason for you to sit and doom scroll, and to consume every piece of news. I know for a lot of us, it’s really tempting to do that right now. But that whole idea of cultivating what you consume is still really, really important. In fact, right now it might be more important than ever. That’s not to say that I’m suggesting that everybody turns the other cheek or a blind eye or any of that stuff, I’m absolutely not.

But what I am saying is that you have to fill your cup first, you have to make sure you have the energetic capacity to do all of the things that are important in your world first, and it would be wrong for you to allow yourself to be completely consumed. It is a little bit like quicksand is like emotional quicksand, you can very quickly burn out and it can be a situation that can be quite detrimental to your emotional health and your mental and emotional well being.

That being said, we really do have the opportunity those of us that have anything so much as an email list, or a podcast, or a Facebook group, or even a group of friends who know what we do. Or if you ever attend a networking meeting, or any of those things where you connect with other humans on the internet, we do have a more advanced opportunity than most to spread messages and to deliver good news and you know, to really make a difference.

So my suggestion, if you want to do something to help, doesn’t have to always be financial. Of course, there are a bunch of fantastic well deserving charities, which I will make sure are in the description of this podcast as well. So you can just click and go ahead and donate if you feel called to or if that’s something that is possible for you. But essentially, it’s not just about that it’s about what we can do to make sure that we are supporting from where we are. So one of the things that I found really helpful is sharing the good news that has happened and you might say well, what good news is there?  Its a war and it’s indiscriminate, and it is absolutely the biggest terror act of our time. In truth, one of the things that we can do is we can keep sharing the messages that the people of the Ukraine want us to share, we can keep sharing the messages of the people who are giving honest, balanced journalism, and real factual news. Ignoring the fake news and not allowing the propaganda to take hold.

We are essentially in a position where a lot of the media that we consume is swayed in some kind of direction so I know that there is a level of corruption everywhere. But let’s not try and tackle every single quarter of corruption right now let’s just tackle this, this awful thing. One of the things that I really loved is people adding the Ukrainian flag to their status is or their profile photos, it seems like such a small thing but it’s still a show of solidarity. I know some people and I, myself emailed our local MP to discuss our opinion about what we believed the country should be doing to support the efforts to support the people of the Ukraine, I didn’t have a great experience with that I just total disclosure.  I didn’t have a great experience with that my local MP was not open to discussing my opinion but that shouldn’t stop other people from doing that.

And I guess I’m talking directly to the people of the UK now. So for my global listeners, please, please, you know, take whatever tips you can from this and do whatever good you can. But perhaps that UK specific stuff, just forgive me whilst I talk directly to the UK peeps for a moment. In terms of things like that, it may not feel like it’s getting anywhere but I really do believe that many voices help situations like that, and I and I know people have been protesting and doing other things as well. And I guess what I’m trying to say in a roundabout way, and getting too deep in the details, but what I’m trying to say is use your voice, you have an opportunity to use it. So do use it. Let people know how you feel about it. Don’t feel like you can’t talk about it. There’s no wrong here. There’s no wrong here in terms of sharing your your feelings about what is happening. 

In terms of wanting to support people of Ukraine is very unlikely that although I could have Ukrainian listeners, it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll hear this right now maybe in months to come, hopefully. But there are ways that you can support. There are ways that you can do some good stuff. So obviously, sending supplies is one thing, letting people be shared throughout your social media profiles if you have the opportunity to do that.

But one of the really good things that I actually found, which it was a post from Shari Teagman just an amazing lady that I follow on Facebook and she had found it somewhere else on Instagram. And it had obviously been shared a couple of times, which is what I love about social. This is where it really comes into its own in terms of being able to do good things for the world. And it was just a simple suggestion to book a couple of nights in Kyiv. I’m saying that wrong, Kyiv, because it goes through Airbnb, if you do it through Airbnb, it actually goes directly to the people. So we were looking for profiles yesterday for individuals and families rather than businesses on Shari’s recommendation. And we were booking a few nights there, obviously, with no intention of going, of course, but that money will go through Airbnb directly to the people who need it and the messages I got back, honestly, were just so lovely. There was massive messages of thanks, I got a fantastic picture of two little ones from one of the families saying thank you. And essentially right now they need the support.

At a time like this, it’s incredibly easy to think that what needs to occur is for all of the very, very powerful people of the world to make the decisions and fix it and ultimately, there are more people than there are politicians and people of power. And I think sometimes just being a voice for good just being somebody who supports good. It can do really fantastic things for the world. Don’t think that what you’re doing, however small it may seem to you, don’t think that what you’re doing isn’t enough because every single part of support that can that can go towards the people of Ukraine.  It all counts, it all counts. 

And a word on Russia, not going to get super political because I just don’t think it’s right to do so. But one thing that I will say is that the Russian people are suffering in a different way and, obviously in a less dramatic way and in a less tragic way. But they are still suffering. And there are feelings of resentments towards the entire country when in fact, it is not the entire country. Much like with any situation, people of Russia don’t want what’s happening any more than the people who are on the other side, trying desperately to support Ukraine and the people thereof.  Somewhere down the line, there’s going to be so many more victims to this in varying degrees. But right now, Ukraine needs our eyes and our ears and our mouths and anti-war is not just for hippies.

You know, somebody said to me the other day, oh, everything’s a bit of a war. I’m not into that anti-war stuff. It’s for hippies, it’s not, you have to think about the world and what we are leaving for our children. And we talk about stuff like this all the time we talk about really, really important things like being sustainable, and figuring out what we’re doing to be more eco friendly, making sure that we’re not impacting the climate, or that we’re offsetting how we impact the climate and supporting ways to restore and to reduce and do all of these amazing things. And that is still super relevant as well. And I will do a podcast purely on that, because prior to the situation that has occurred, that felt like a really, really important thing to talk to you guys about.

But essentially, this is more important now. And I’ve just had two weeks in my free group, launching audience attraction, having the best time having this amazing challenge and having a really good opportunity to speak to just the fantastic women that I have in my world in terms of in our free group, in our community. And it’s been fantastic and one of the things that has been really lovely is that during this time, emotionally, there has been somewhere where we could go, where it would be safe to talk about things, it would be safe to not have to worry about ignoring the situation for fear of saying something incorrectly. And that means that we can support each other in trying to make sense of what’s happening, and to try and move the support towards the people who truly need it.

So, standing with Ukraine 100%, as I know, all of you listening will be also, just such a sad time that I really hoped we would never see but do take care of yourself Pretties too, please, please don’t allow this to be the thing that drags you down into a feeling where you aren’t able to support.

As female entrepreneurs, we do have a lot of privilege, we have a lot of opportunities to share. We have a lot of opportunities to use our voices where perhaps we weren’t able to before. So let’s use them for good. And let’s bound together and let’s do good things to support the people who need it. Because if we were on the other side of that border, we’d be hoping that there would be people that were strong enough to do that and support us and come and stand by us in those moments where we needed it.  I hope wherever you are or wherever you’re listening for you are safe and comfortable. And I really just want to send a massive amount of love to everybody who’s listening. Until next time Pretties.

Here are some links to charities you could donate to:

British Red Cross

UNICEF

Save The Children