Rasheed Ogunlaru's Blog, page 28

Inspiring Interviews with Rasheed Ogunlaru

One of the things I have always loved doing – from way back in my career when I was a Press Officer and Media trainer – is interviewing people. I ‘ve always enjoyed interviewing interesting people and everyone is interesting if you’re able to connect with them and invite them to share their story.  During my time as a singer / performer and then as a coach I’d always be interested in really enriching interviews. 

Some of you may know that around 5-6 years ago now I produced my own TV pilot show.  For much that same reason. I guess being a coach and someone who has a media background it’s a lovely marriage and a good way to help really tease out someone’s story, magic and life learning.  What’s more the singer-perfomer part of me has always felt that when I see interviews with artists I rarely see interviews where the interviewer really is able to connect to the artist and allow them to go deeply into why they do what they do and what creativity, their work and their life’s work is about to them. Anyway after producing The Rasheed Show pilot back then, I parked the idea of interviewing people for some time. But it would always pop back into my mind – and in fact there are many interviews on my YouTube Channel. But late last year the idea of ding a new ‘Inspiring Interviews’ series popped back to mind again – and when a really a good friend of mine produced a really good introduction for the ‘Inspiring Interviews’ series a month or so ago I knew it was time to go ahead

So the good news is that you can enjoy a whole array of new and old Inspiring Interviews here on my YouTube Channel I’ve just recorded three new interviews over the last couple of weeks and I hope to post most of them here on the blog but do be sure to visit the YouTube Channel or check out my Official Facebook Page as I tend to always re-post them there.  I’ve  also got a few more people in my sights that I’d like to interview over the coming months.  These interviews will include some well known and some unknown people but all with something to say, share and where I feel there’s something in their spirit or what they do, or who they are that may resonate with you.

 

 

 

Your success stories – Jason Newton

Guest Blog By Jason Newton

When I first discovered coaching, I was curious about its benefits so I arranged to have my first sessions with Rasheed in 2007. I recall his friendly, spiritual and yet, firm questioning pushing me into areas of my life to which I was initially resistant. 

I was frustrated with many things in my life at that time, however among other things, it soon became clear that I had been focusing on problems as opposed to solutions and what I actually wanted and so I started giving myself permission to achieve things I wanted. This may sound simple but it was a pivotal shift for me.  

Another key memory of our sessions was a drawing he asked me to do of how things were at the time and also how I wanted them to be. I had distant, seemingly unattainable dreams of living in the south of Spain teaching English and writing songs living happily with my wife. 

It’s now summer 2014 and I live in Granada in the south of Spain enjoying life teaching English, songwriting and running a coaching business which I started soon after my sessions with Rasheed as I wanted to help other people in the way that coaching and Rasheed had helped me. 

 I still have the drawing from the first sessions and having now achieved almost everything in that one, after a recent session with Rasheed, I have started a new drawing to see what I can achieve next… 

 Jason’s websites/blogs

Coaching grovehillcoaching.com

Music  kemihelwa.tumblr.com/search/music+ 

Spanish expat  cortadoingles.wordpress.com 

Rasheed Ogunlaru – Motivational Speaker

One of the things I enjoy most and feel most passionately about is my work as a motivational speaker, seminar leader / chair / host and media speaker. For me it’s a key part of my work as a coach to help people to follow their heart, discover their true self and to flourish in their life, career, relationships and business.  Last week was an example of that it began with a high level address to an audience of 200 managers and staff as a motivational speaker for a major company organised the Speakers Corner – and it ended with me running a small customer service excellence training workshop for 4 staff in an IT company. Then yesterday I was delivering my regular ‘Life Coach’ slot on Colourful Radio. 

For me all of these things are equally important. They are all part of the same thing. Every talk, every seminar, every media appearance is about inviting us to step, stand back, appreciate life and ourselves and to see how we can be true to who we are, fulfil our potential as a manager, team member, leader…whatever it may be. And for me this is all part of us realising that we are interconnected, inter-related and interdependent. My work is actually about helping people arrive at more peace and fulfilment within and in the world around us. It is about being more conscious, kind, caring, compassionate. To me it makes no different if I am coaching a high achiever, delivering a keynote speech at a major conference or exhibition, speaking on a TV or radio show – or as I will be later this week – coaching someone for the start of a new job. It is all part of the same thing. 

What makes speaking special is that you have an opportunity to connect with people who may have just happened to have attended that conference, who may have just switched on that channel on TV, radio or online. You have an opportunity to speak to someone you may never have met before and may never again. You have an opportunity to share and help them discover and utilise something within them that they can bring to life and use for the rest of their life. 

People talk about winning over hearts and minds all the time. But the heart is not something that can be won over with the mind. And the mind will only stay sure about something if the heart is brought along with it. I often say that to motivate people you have to understand what it is that truly motivates them. For me that is the role of an inspirational speaker or motivational speaker. And of course inspiration and motivation is only part of it. It is then about really bringing to the light someone’s skills, talents, passions and possibilities and then the journey that will help bring that to fruition. Sometimes coaching, training and development is part of that. Sometimes there will be other types of engagement, mentoring and development that is part of that journey. But for me as a speaker it’s about inviting people, to stop, step back, appreciate life, appreciate their magic and to use that magic in the world so that we all benefit from them being in it. When you do this you can not only help individuals but you can really help to enable teams, departments, organisations and groups. Through this you can develop and encourage the kind of compassionate leadership which we need to see in all areas of life politics, media, sport, entertainment – you name it. It is this higher consciousness, heart-centred consciousness, collaborative consciousness that will help us to meet the challenges that we face individually, in our communities, in our societies and indeed globally.

Above is my new 3 minute ‘Rasheed Ogunlaru – Inspirational speaker’ video that give you a flavour of my work, approach and style. Many thanks to the talented Marcin Steciuk 

 

10 Essential I.T. Tips

I recently caught up with  tech expert Tom Jeffs, founder or IT support business Lucidica  to ask him to share some top tips for small businesses. We caught up at the British Library’s Business & IP Centre where we both run sessions to help small business owners. His excellent advice is in the video below and a guest blog with 10 Top IT Tips follow courtesy of Tom and  James from Lucidica.

10 Essential IT Tips  - Guest blog

  1.     Back Up

It’s one of the oldest rules in the book and yet it’s still one that people ignore day in day out. Unless you’re incredibly lucky, one morning sometime in the future your PC (or Mac, no favourites here) will greet you with a blank screen. There’s always a chance a team of experts might be able to salvage something from the husk, but in many cases the data is gone forever.

That’s why you need a backup; and if it’s crucial data, you should follow the 3-2-1 rule:

3 backup copies of your data, on…
2 different types of storage media (e.g. external hard drives and a cloud services)
1 of these should be offsite (inc. cloud services)

 2. Buy cheap, buy twice

Buying anything, whether it’s a mobile phone or a server, where the only selling point is its price tag is not a smart way to buy technology. Not only are you likely to come up against issues using it, but it also won’t last very long. You’ll lose time using it, fixing it when it goes wrong, and will probably have to buy something better anyway. Buying replacements for cheap hardware will quickly cost more than a single reliable product.

 3. Don’t buy ‘the best’

On the flipside, don’t go out and spend vast sums of cash on a laptop because of you’ve been promised it’s the best. Everyone in a business will need their devices for different purposes, and there’s no one-size-fits-all ‘best’ anything.

If your team are out on the road all they’ll need are mobiles with batteries that last until sundown. If your business does a lot of video work, a low-powered ‘business PC’ isn’t going to have the ‘oomph’ you need. Fragile glassy tablets aren’t going to want to find themselves at home in a construction site! Work out what you need your technology for and find something that fits the purpose.

 4. Understand your customers

The first thing you should do with your website is to install an analytics tool. There are hundreds of free options like Google Analytics, to paid services like Clicky or Mint; but they all do the same basic thing: provide information about people using your site.

Where they came from, what they searched for, how they move around, where they exit, what device they’re using – everything you could possibly want to build a picture of who your customers are, and how they act. You can then use this information to optimise your site; making sure it’s exactly what your customers want.

 5.     Keep track of your client relationships

If things are going well, you’re likely to have quite a few customers to keep track of at any one time. Use a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) like KarmaCRM or Capsule to keep tabs on the conversations you’ve been having, keep all their contact details together and up to date, and to help ensure that good prospects don’t drop out of the pipeline over a missed phone call!

 6.  Embrace the cloud

If something’s cloud-based it means it’s not stored on your machines. The benefit of cloud services, whether it’s file storage (DropBox, OneDrive), email (Gmail, Outlook), or software (Adobe CC, SalesForce) include the flexibility that you can use it from any PC, automatic updates, increased security, it’s more scalable (just buy more licenses rather than more software) and it’s generally easier to use.

Cloud isn’t perfect, and there are downsides – but increasingly this option is favoured by businesses wanting to keep their costs down, and productivity up.

7. Passwords

They’re a real pain and they cause hours of frustration, but passwords really are your first line of defence. Whether you’ve had your laptop stolen or someone’s trying to break into your email, it’s your password that’s going to keep you from losing everything.

Simple rules include not using ‘password’ or ‘1234’, making it a minimum of 8 characters long and mixing numbers, letters and special characters. Try using a sentence – the longer the better as long as you can remember it. Or if you’re still struggling, try something like LastPass, which remembers all your passwords for you.

8. Anti-Virus

Another key to keeping your computer secure is making sure you’ve got up-to-date antivirus. There are millions of bits of nasty software floating around the web, all of which are waiting to open a back door to your PC in the hunt for sensitive information.

Anti-virus doesn’t have to be prohibitively costly either – AVG, Avast! and a whole host of other companies offer free versions of their software which are more than capable of fighting off malware.

 9.     Public Wifi

Every coffee shop worth its beans offers free wifi these days; but that doesn’t always mean it’s a good idea to start your online business banking with a latte in hand. Public networks are susceptible to thieves who can use software to listen in on everything you’re doing online. It’s estimated that over 1000GB of data is stolen this way every day. Take precautions and even look into using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) when browsing publically.

 10. Get proper support

No one’s questioning the prowess of your mate Chris who’s good with computers. But when your server blows up at 3am and takes that big project for tomorrow afternoon with it, how willing is Chris going to be to help save your business?

A proper IT team will have the experience to handle this exact kind of thing, and they’ll help out at any hour of the day. They won’t complain about being dragged out of bed (that’s what you pay them for), and they’ll know exactly where the backups are kept. And in the long run, clearing up after Chris might cost you more than a support contract.

***** 

Guest blog courtesy of Tom and James of Lucidica. Lucidica provide IT support, Cloud Services, Consulting, Websites and Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs).

What can we learn from sport stars & athletes?

It will have been hard to avoid the fact that we’re already deep into the ‘sporting summer’. Yesterday I was at Wimbledon at the Start of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships (hence my picture of Andy Murray as he started defending his title) – and the football World Cup is well underway. There’s also major international cricket matches going on – and in a few weeks – the Commonwealth games. As a coach I’m fascinated by sports and the dedication it takes to thrive in sport and in all that we can learn and apply in all aspects of our lives.

Those of you who have attended my workshops or read my book ‘Soul Trader’ will know that I often speak of the ‘attitude of an athlete’. What I admire about sports stars is that it is absolutely clear what it takes to prosper and it’s clear what all the challenges are. An athlete and sport star in any field needs to: study their field, master their craft, gather the right team, win and keep supporters, get the right nutrition, develop a strong sense of belief and confidence and stay motivated and on track. Those things actually apply to all aspects of life: personal, profession and business.

Develop the attitude of an athlete:  I go into this topic in a lot of depth on my latest Podcast for Feeling Fab with Angie Greaves. It’s well worth a listen. Tune in here 

 

 

 

Tune in to Rasheed’s Colourful Radio Sunday Morning Slot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Join me every Sunday morning for my new regular ‘The Life Coach’ guest slot on Colour Radio’s ‘Self Central show hosted by Lisa Bent. 

Each week I’ll be in hand to share tips, insights and guidance on various life, career and relationships issues. As the name of Lisa’s show suggests the show has a particular focus on discovering yourself.

The show runs from 10am-1pm – and you can tune into my Life Coach guest section at 11.25am-12noon. 

You can tune in, email in and indeed call in. See full details here

The Open Society

I recently caught up with journalist, speaker and disabled rights /access campaigner Christiane Link about her life, journey and work. I very much hope you enjoy our interview and her guest blog below. Equality, access and education are really important issues in any society – and one area that it strikes me where we have so much to do is in the area of how we make society open and accessible to people living with disabilities. Thanks Christiane for the interview and your guest blog.

Guest Blog by Christiane Link  www.christianelink.com

I love to work in coffee shops. I am a journalist, I like to write in
busy environments and in fact I find it inspirational too. Sometimes I
even meet interesting  people I later write about or who tell me
interesting stories I research further and then write about too.
 
I also like to work at different places. Even so I have access to a
co-working space, I change my writing locations all the time. I am a
big fan of Foursquare, a location based service where you get
recommendations by other users or even your friends. I maintain a
To-Do list with places I want to work at.
 
I also do interviews in cafés and coffee shops, I go to events at
different places and I try to enjoy London as much as I can. In my
case that means I have to check before if this place is wheelchair
accessible. I am a wheelchair user and a step or two means this is a
no-go cafe for me. I can’t walk at all, I can’t leave my wheelchair
outside. If there is no ramp, I am excluded. I will never become a
customer of this business.
 
Very often the solution would be to buy a ramp for 50 or 100 Pounds to
give other wheelchair users and me access to this premises. I can’t
count any more how often baristas and cafe owners apologised to me for
not having a ramp – and then didn’t change anything.
 
This is not an issue caused by lack of money. 50 or 100 Pounds is
reasonable for business owners. They could afford it. They just never
thought about it. At least when I am in front of their door asking for
a ramp, you would think they want to change something, don’t want to
send the next wheelchair user asking for a ramp away.
 
Most of the time, these businesses are not bothered. Not bothered by
the law – reasonable adjustments are a key part of the Equality Act
2010 and a manual ramp is reasonable for most businesses – not
bothered sending a customer away.
 
On the other hand I am a very loyal customer of businesses who go the
extra mile, have well trained staff and a ramp to accommodate
wheelchair users. I even recommend them to others because they make a
difference in my life. I also like it when businesses failed first but
then do everything do it right the next time. The businesses which buy
ramps and welcome me next time.
 
I strongly believe that everyone can do a tiny bit to make this
society a bit more inclusive. Most of the time it doesn’t cost money,
it’s just a matter of attitude and to think a bit differently. Only a
society which is open to all is an open society.

 

Living life while there’s still time – 27 June 2014

The Call: Living Life While There’s Still Time
@ London College of Spirituality

Date: 7-9pm Fri 27 June 2014 London College of Spirituality
Venue: Quaker Meeting House, 8 Hop Gardens, off St Martin Lane, London WC2E 4EA
Price: £10

Summary: 

Join leading life coach Rasheed Ogunlaru and transformational psychotherapist Kathy O’Hara for this, the first of three life-affirming talks at the London College of Spirituality, London that will help you accept and embrace life fully now. None of us know how much time we’ve got. No one knows what’s around the corner.

This powerful talk will help you overcome blocks, embrace your / life’s magic, address past setbacks/trauma, move beyond fears and arrive at a deep appreciation of life.

About Rasheed:  Rasheed Ogunlaru is a leading  coach/speaker and author of Soul Trader-Putting The Heart Back into Your Business and The Gift of Inner Success. He helps people find fulfilment in all areas of life – from within. He is a former Co-Director of Samaritans (Central London)

About Kathy: Kathy O’Hara, author of A Grief Like No Other and lost a son tragically to murder. Today she helps people overcome grief, trauma and various life challenges including work with the victims of crime and work with victim support organisations in the UK, Europe and USA.

You’ll leave this event at peace, centred, re-connected, energised and in tune with yourself and life.  

BOOK NOW  / see details 

Can’t wait? Enjoy this Evolved Heart Live Chat with Rasheed Ogunlaru and Kathy O’Hara

 

Nominate now: Are you a PRECIOUS woman or employer?

Over the last 5 or 6 years I’ve been delighted to be the co-host of The PRECIOUS Awards which spotlights, celebrates and rewards the accomplishments of women of colour in business and the workplace. 

Nominations for the 2014 awards opened last month at an event at the British Library’s Business & IP Centre where I’ve also been proud to have served as life/business coach partner for many years. The centre have themselves done much to support women and those of diverse backgrounds.  See the highlights video below

This year the PRECIOUS Awards is extra special. It has broadened it’s reach with new additional award categories which include ones for The Outstanding Woman in the Public Sector, The Employer of the Year, The Best Diversity Programme,  The Best Career Progression Programme The Outstanding Woman in Science, Engineering, Technology & Mathematics and  The Outstanding Woman in Creative Industries. These join the traditional award categories which span small business and enterprise.  See the full list of categories below.

Nominate Now at www.preciousawards.comNominations close on 5 Sept 2014 and the Awards take place at the Institute of Directors on 22 Oct 2014

The PRECIOUS Awards 2014 – Award Categories:

• The SME Business of the Year
• The Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• The Entrepreneur of the Year
• The Social Enterprise of the Year Award
• The Outstanding Leader Award
• The PRECIOUS Rising Star Award
• The Outstanding Woman in Social Media
• The Outstanding Woman in Science, Engineering, Technology & Mathematics
• The Outstanding Woman in Creative Industries
• The Outstanding Woman in the Public Sector
• The Employer of the Year
• The Best Diversity Programme
• The Best Career Progression Programme
• The PRECIOUS Man of the Year

Time to forge peace

A few moments ago I was watching an item on the news about taking young people to the places where World War 1 was waged in Europe. When I was a young boy history was my favourite topic and I learned a great deal from it. Learning about history can help us understand about our past, about ourselves and potentially about others. It can – if taught well – also make us empathetic to others and learn from history. All that said I would love for us to start to teach about peace and humanity.

It’s an interesting thought isn’t to teach about peace and humanity. Here in the UK we even call a range of topics that range from social studies, philosophy and psychology as humanities. I’m fairly sure that history may even be put in that basket along with others. But are we really teaching about humanity when we speak of humanities.

If we are really serious about peace, if we are really serious about our future generations then we really need to learn to teach peace as much as we study historical wars. There is an opportunity to do so. Sometimes when young people study humanities – indeed often – then a sense of empathy, humanity and justice does emerge. We need to really enable this to blossom. I’d love for us to teach about some many of the human qualities: communication, appreciation, relationships, self knowledge. We do very little of this especially in the key schooling years.

Have a peaceful day.