Life’s a roller coaster, it’s how you ride it.

This is why there is a delay on my newsletter, I apologise to the folks who read it regularly - not an excuse, just the reality of trying to manage work and life. A new house, a new school for my daughter and I could fill this entire newsletter with my list, but won’t. We have all been there.

Away from the mundane, the last couple of weeks have been exciting and eventful.  It was National Payroll Week, which we celebrated with a couple of back-to-back events, the Caxton Career Collective (CCC):- Payroll Edition; and, the first of our exclusive Private Dinners to Inspire, Influence, and Impact Senior Leadership. Both were kindly supported by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) and we had an impressive line-up of speakers in Maria Mason -  Partner at BDO and CIPP current Luminary Award winner, Karen Thompson – UK Payroll Director at AAB, and Ana Laiu – newly promoted to Director of Pay and Reward at PPHE Hotel Group and CIPP Tutor.

My emotions that week went from feeling overwhelmed and apprehensive, to excited, deflated, ecstatic and finally very grateful. Dealing with emotions, especially in a revenue-generating role is a newsletter in itself but for now, I’ll elaborate on the highs and lows of recent weeks.

Financial independence and in turn financial wellness is a topic very close to my heart. In my experience, having a strong career paves the way to achieving both those things. My Dad was an IFA, so you could say I got it from him. But his relationship with my mother broke down for no fault of hers. And when my parents split, like many, I saw my mum’s life change dramatically overnight. I swore at that moment I would never let anyone have such a negative impact on my life and that I would be in control of my own destiny and finances.

Later in life, I found myself in a similar situation. However, I managed the trauma mainly due to the fact that I had the option to leave, as I had financial freedom and the choice that came with it,  to recreate my life without holding on to hate or becoming bitter. My feeling is that it was mainly down to the fact I could afford to rebuild my life.

Over the years I’ve witnessed many people in similar situations and the sad but also common theme of broken families often with the most nasty endings where kids are weaponised. Most have an element of finances and a major lifestyle change that fuels that behaviour.

Therefore, hosting these events which are all career-related networking and offering people the ability to connect and progress is something I am passionately invested in outside of the day job. Especially as many of the inspiring and successful ladies who take part in them, helped me on my journey. They are generous enough to want to share wisdom, impart advice and genuinely care about the careers of others.

As ever the CCC event was a melting pot of insights, ideas and opinions, inspiring stories and uplifting anecdotes. The fundamental takeaways shared eloquently by Jane Emma Peerless were:  don’t take no for an answer, grab opportunities as you get them, and push yourself out of your comfort zone. Learn how to communicate upwards, understand what matters to the business's bigger picture and align with that for the greater good. Be seen and heard. That doesn’t mean you need to be the loudest, just that you have a voice and opinion that you are willing to share.

Have a growth mindset. My favourite example of this is that all our speakers that evening were without degrees but they all did invest in themselves and their careers have professional certifications from the CIPP, which showed they were willing to do what was needed to progress in a highly technical space, where qualifications and expertise is valued and rewarded.

From my experience, hiring and leading hundreds of people over a 20-year career say they want to progress.  Sometimes though, it is just a guise for “I will want more money”. Who doesn’t? But what are you doing to progress or get to that next level of salary rise? Going above and beyond - doing more without request, recognition or reward is what gets you noticed, grows your skill set and provides you with the experience to move up.

Wanting to challenge yourself, learn and grow as an individual doesn’t come from going to work from 9-5 and sticking to the letter of your current Job Description. It comes from going to the event to learn about new technology, pushing yourself to meet new people, learning different ways of doing things and then bringing back new ideas and giving things a try. It’s about moving past previous mistakes, not repeating the same ones and progressing with new knowledge and experience.

In the end, I felt frustrated to see not enough new faces in that room., I wanted more people to feel that anything was possible and that everyone in that room could be a person of value to support, mentor and assist in their career journey. So after much planning and communication, I felt that maybe our ambition for the event remained slightly unfulfilled. I wish more people had walked through that door to be inspired.

Another day and another event, with some familiar faces but very different takeaways and emotions following. This was as the title described it, and boy did it deliver by Inspiring, Influencing and Impacting.

The majority were characters, high achievers who all wanted to do more, be more, and were 100% open to sharing and continuously delivering despite already being at the highest level. Most importantly, they wanted to give back to the next wave of talent coming through.

We partnered for the event with the impressive Alexandra Bond Burnett ACC, coach, entrepreneur and senior leadership coach growing business through personal brands. As expected, she was impactful with her thought-provoking facilitation of questions back to the room and inspiring through her words of wisdom. I must mention Nick Day,  Payroll and HR Influencer, Podcaster and award winner who has been instrumental in many of the careers of the very people sitting around the table. To see Alex and Nick bounce off one another in only the way two coaches would. They provided quality discussion and a safe space for those sharing the challenges of their career trajectory.

So, I get home and wake up the next morning coping with that ‘post-party wellness challenge’ (that I am sure many of you are familiar with!), but feeling hugely inspired, and buzzing with excitement from the night before. My realisation over those two days- and apologies for it taking a while to put into words is simple, SHOW THE F…. UP! Much of the senior leadership around me, who don’t necessarily need to do it, show up on a regular basis, but I don’t always see that in the case of many others, those moaning, wanting recognition, and complaining about the state of play. Yes, it can be highly challenging when we have kids, pets, caring duties and alike, but if you want anything badly enough in life you make it happen. That’s on you, if not you who else?

It was delightful to see the various messages and plenty of social posts from all of those who were in attendance and who took huge value from the events we held. However, one particular single message made me grateful and feel that everything was worthwhile. “For the first time in a long time I felt passionate about the industry I have chosen,” it read.  “And to be around so many incredible women was inspiring to say the least. My hope is that one day I will in turn inspire other women with the work I do”.

Quote taken from Kelly Reddie, who relocated to the UK from South Africa, pushed herself out of her comfort zone and showed up.