​We have all been in the situation somewhere, sometime, somehow stuck with someone that isn’t a talker or gives yes or no answers even to open ended questions, the conversation stalls and so does your brain so you ended up talking incessantly.

Maybe you have a Connect Her Connection meeting or Coffee catch up and you think, oh no, I have met this person before and I know everything about them. Guess what? We don’t know everything about everyone.

Sometimes just using a weird, strange or unusual question into the mix can open up the flood gates.

It is interesting, when we use a question which isn’t quite in context of our usual ‘networking’ questions you can see the mood shift. You can almost see the shoulders relax, the face relax and a giggle or laugh emerge bringing spontaneity into the conversation. Here are some conversation starters to get you started.

Conversation Starters……………………..
What would you like to get better at?
What made your brain grow today?
What problems or challenges did you work on this month?
What is your favourite way to feel calm?
What is one quality you look for in a friend?
Who  is your best client?
What is your favourite day of the week?
When do you feel you are more productive in the morning or the afternoon?
How can someone become famous?
Android or Apple?
Tell me about something you do every day?
How often do you check your emails?
What do you do to relax after a business day?
Describe your perfect day?
What do you like the most about the person sitting next to you (on the left) (on the right)?
f you could invite two other people to join us, who would they be?
​What is the one thing that is your absolute must have for a business meeting?

​Do you have your favourite conversation starter?

Our lives seem to get blurred these days, particularly when we compare real life to the ‘show reels’ posted on Social Media. Just like when we were growing up reading Dolly and Cleo magazines, seeing unrealistic girl’s photos brimming from the pages.
The medium may have changed but the feeling of inferiority can still be there. Think about the last time you visited the movie theatre, you see the movie trailers and previews or “the show reel”. These show reels show you the funny, poignant, or action charged moments of the movie, highlights if you will.

After seeing the show reel, you then decide this is the next movie to see. When you come to watch it, all the ‘good bits’ you saw in the show reel, the rest of the movie is pretty pedestrian. What you were shown was orchestrated to deliver the best version of the movie to get you in. Working from a home office or an isolated environment often we can turn to social media for a bit of outside distraction.

What do we see? We see our friends ‘show reel’. The perfectly pimped hair, a luncheon out with friends, a tidy house or a gorgeous well-maintained office, the list goes on. This view, this post can then make us feel less than adequate, all of a sudden sitting at home in a messy office with washing and ironing up to the wazoo we can become upset, disillusioned or frustrated with our day, our lot in life or our business.

What we haven’t seen is the hot mess that may have happened 30 minutes before the perfect video or photo was posted. We often don’t get to see the reality behind the veneer of the orchestrated post on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. Here are 5 tips to keep life real in your real life.

1. Remember above all the social media posts you see of friends and colleagues are a ‘show reel’ of what people want you to see. The true story is carefully hidden behind designer sunnies and a well placed vase. 

2. If you work alone or from a home office, arrange a call with a colleague or business friend for 5 -10 minutes to check in each day and keep it real.

3. Get out of the office or house as much as possible, try working from a coffee shop, a co-working space or another place where people are around, you are less likely to use social media an outside distraction with everything else that is going on around you. With portable wifi these days finding inspiration in a park for an hour is very doable.

4. Encourage real face time, belly to belly, toe to toe meetings. As women we particularly thrive on the warmth of conversation and connection person to person. If that isn’t necessarily possible then consider Zoom, FaceTime or Skype as an option. Amazingly, technology can be a way of bringing the outside world in when used correctly.

5. Book into at least one networking event a week. It is an opportunity to get you and your business out into the world and not be your best kept secret, it is also an opportunity to have that interaction and human connection.

​Using these 5 tips will assist in keeping you focused and connected when working from home and less likely to drift off into someone else’s show reel. Keep it real, connect, communicate and keep the show reel out of your self talk.