Better You, Better Business

When you’re running a small business, the ability to listen, truly listen, can make the difference between clarity and confusion, alignment and tension, progress and burnout.

Yet unspoken assumptions, mental clutter, and rushed conversations often get in the way, draining your energy and undermining performance.

This month, we’re stripping listening back to its essentials.

• Beyond Hearing: The Power of Focused Listening
• A Grounded Approach to Listening to Others, and Yourself, for Better Decisions

Join us for a powerful, practical session designed to help you shift from passive hearing to Focused Listening, so you can make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and lead with greater confidence and wellbeing.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Reduce overwhelm by recognising and clearing limiting internal narratives.
• Understand what’s really being communicated by listening beneath the surface of clients, staff, and partners.
• Strengthen decision-making through intentional, grounded, present communication.
• Build resilience using wellbeing-focused listening techniques that support both personal and business growth.
• Come away with practical tools you can apply immediately—in conversations, in leadership, and within yourself.

Our speaker for February will be Alison Theaker from Live Life For Me.

Alison has 30 years’ experience in public relations and management as a practitioner, academic, and author. In 2009, she founded The Spark to help small businesses and sole traders reach their full potential.

Her Public Relations Handbook (7th edition, 2024) is widely used on UK undergraduate PR courses. She completed an MPhil in 2023 on mentoring for women entrepreneurs in rural areas, tutors marketing apprentices at Cambridge Marketing College, and is an adjunct lecturer at Exeter University.

With colleague Anne Hope, Alison develops courses and resources supporting women through menopause, including the 5-session online course Menopause Redefined, in partnership with holistic GP Dr Johanneke Kodde.

Meet your host:

Anna M Stapleton Mental & Emotional Resilience Coach, is committed to elevating health, wellbeing, and personal development within the small business community. Anna empowers entrepreneurs to develop emotional intelligence, embrace accountability, and unlock their potential, for themselves, their teams, and their businesses.

Secure your place today and take the next step toward clearer communication, confident decision-making, and a stronger, more resilient you.