September Talk with Taz Thornton

September is here. It's the month when autumn officially arrives - the autumn equinox is on September 22. What does this month hold for you and your business? What are you looking forward to for the rest of this year? What events are pending for you? What advice would you give to others? What are you grateful for in September?

Today we're talking to Taz Thornton who offers coaching, training, speaking as an empowerment and business coach, professional speaker and author. She specialises in working with coaches and businesses who are ready to level up, build their confidence, visibility, audience and bottom line. She is based in South Lincolnshire and operates globally. 

What’s coming up for your business this month? 

I’ve just started by Project Artemis 2.0 – it’s a 12-month training and coaching programme for coaches who are ready to commit, level up and make a real difference. 

I’m also really looking forward to finally being able to run The Heart Of Speaking next month – my exclusive, award-winning speaker training retreat has been postponed since March 2020, due to lockdown. We are fully booked.

What are your personal plans for this month?

My wife and I are escaping for a two week break from September 18. We have someone looking after the house and our fur family, so we can kick back and properly relax. I might even switch my phone off and hand fully over to my team.

September is also known as ‘organic’ month – do you shop, dress, or behave with green ethics in mind? 

Totally – organic’s always best where possible. One of the sites we use for our training – The Clophill Centre, in Bedfordshire - is set in the middle of acres of countryside. They’re currently building a huge, traditional roundhouse for workshops and community groups. It’s all being hand-made, with a self-supporting roof, using natural materials – it really is a sight to behold. 

Recently, I donated my time to do some empowerment work supporting a 10 metre firewalk event to raise cash for the building. I’ve made a donation of my own towards the cause as well. It’s so good to be able to support something that not only supports the community, but is all natural and in keeping with the natural surroundings… not a polystyrene ceiling tile to be seen! 

I also donate regularly to green causes, including 4Ocean, who work tirelessly to rid our seas of plastic waste.

World Gratitude Day takes place this month – what are you grateful for at the moment?

I name at least five gratitudes every day – it’s part of my daily practice to keep my mindset optimistic and open to growth and new opportunities. 

My five for today are:

1) The river, just a few minutes’ walk from us – it’s wonderful to be able to get outdoors and witness natural flow. Always lovely to see the swans as well.

2) The changing seasons. Leaves are beginning to fall and turn golden and there’s a chill in the air. It’s all part of the natural cycle we take for granted far too much. It reminds us to really LIVE.

3) Clean water – I can just turn on a tap, and there it is. I’m grateful to all the people and systems that make this possible for us all, 24/7.

4) Technology. We all complain about it far too much, instead of focusing on the benefits. It’s good to switch off, but we’d be lost without all that instant connectivity we’ve become so accustomed to.

5) My dogs and cats – total unconditional love from my dogs, conditional love from my cats! 

Who are you grateful for at the moment? 

My key team, who have been so brilliant this year, and helped keep things going when the ‘rona got me earlier in the year. Asha Clearwater, Dee Atkins, Fiona Scott. Thank you!

What are your hopes for business in general this year? 

I hope we stop taking everything for granted so much and, instead of sinking into frustration, open ourselves more to compassion, empathy and understanding.

I hope the business community does its level best not to fall into all the tribalism being caused with so many divided opinions of late. Respect for one another, including differing opinions, costs nothing; the reverse costs clients, revenue and, in the worst cases, lives.

I hope we continue to flex our skillsets and learn to adapt to changing situations. We haven’t seen the last of the pandemic, kneejerk reactions and Government U-turns, and we need to be ready to create new streams of income, serve client and community needs and be ingenious and creative in our thinking.

Have you got any events planned you’d like to shout about – either that you are running or attending? 

We have The Heart Of Speaking coming up next month. It’s fully booked, but there will be more next year.

This month, we’re also opening intake for the next 13-month spiritual empowerment programme – The Big One – starting in April 2022. We cap at 21 places and, on last count, we only have about five left!

You might also want to get your tickets booked for The PR and Businesss Retreat, in January, hosted by Fiona Scott, with some awesome presenters – including yours truly. 

https://scott-media.mykajabi.com/retreat2022

Have you got any services or special offers you’d like to mention? 

This is the last year I’ll be running my one-to-one budget coaching programme, where I offer subsidised support for new businesses or those struggling with cashflow.  You can get between four and eight half-hour appointments with me for £99 per month. I have one place opening up from October. 

From January, this will move to a group coaching option, so grab this while you can if you need a good Tazzing to move your business to the next level.

And finally, as a bit of fun, September marks Teddy Bear Day? Do you have your childhood teddy bear – or are you a bit of a kid with ‘grown up’ teddy bears? 

I DO have my childhood teddy bear. In fact, I have several. 

Little know factoid… in a former life, I not only collected them, but I was a professional artisan bear creator – fully jointed, mohair character bears. 

‘Tamzin Bears’ went all over the world, were exhibited across the UK, including the NEC, and featured in the leading collector magazines as well. 

I stopped making them some 20+ years ago, when I ran out of both physical space to store all the bears and materials AND the time to dedicate to creating them.

I did enjoy it though, and I have fond memories of meeting so many arctophiles from across the globe. 

For more information visit www.tazthornton.com