How do you get to 10 Downing Street? Practise.

Hello, sweetie! How are you? I hope your Monday is off to a swinging start!

I just want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart – so many of you reached out to me when I wrote about my knife attack last week, and every day brings more messages and emails sharing your stories, wishing me well and a speedy recovery. YOU. ALL. ROCK. I’m feeling a little bit better every day. Any unexpected noise or movement still freaks me out, and I now run every morning without earphones because if someone passes me and I can’t hear them it’s an unpleasant surprise. (I’m a very slow runner, so this happens a lot. ;-)) Thank you all again, you are so kind! I have the NICEST NEWSLETTER READERS IN THE WORLD! Group hug!

I’d like to share a success story with you. Whenever good things happen to good people, I’m the first to spread the news in the hope it will inspire and motivate others. A few years ago I got a mail from Janneke Niessen, the founder of Improve Digital (www.improvedigital.com). She was asked to give a TED talk about her success as a top female entrepreneur in the IT field, but she didn’t feel great about her English. It really got in the way of her message, or so she thought. We started working intensely together and when the Big Day came, I sat in the audience with a 10-foot smile (I have a huge mouth!) because she did a fantastic job! It was so beautiful to see how far she had come. The reactions spread like wildfire and then she was asked more and more to give talks in English. Now she loves it and has such a flair for the language  – it’s truly a joy to communicate with her. And last Friday she flew to 10 Downing Street at the invitation of Prime Minister Cameron to host a round-table discussion on women in the IT industry. All in English. Kind of high-powered. Kind of like he twittered about it to his 3 million + followers. Kind of like Nellie Kroes was there. And Janneke loved every minute of it. And I love her. Just watching her incredible journey is such blessing and it’s a privilege to coach someone and see their path evolve, step by step. It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it. You can read about her adventure here. (Oh and Neelie Kroes invited her to do it again next year during the European Presidency Conference. WOW!)

It’s pretty incredible what can happen when you face your fears head on. If your fear is stronger than your passion, ambition and talent, the fear wins. Every time. However, if your passion, ambition, and talent combined are stronger than your fear (and they should be – 3 against 1, right?), then you are UNSTOPPABLE. And you are. All of you are. Let this be a gentle reminder. Believe in yourself, find your gift and share it with the world. It will be hard. You will get frustrated. Baby steps. But steps in the right direction. Start taking the first step today!

A good first step for many of you is my free Webinar tomorrow night at 20.30. I’m doing it again, as the last one was full (I limit the space because it’s interactive) and people seemed to have loved learning as much as I loved doing it – “Thank you so much! Now I know exactly what I need to do” – one participant said. “Buffi, your advice is so simple and crystal clear – I’m going to start tonight!” another said. I’m offering this for free because it’s my gift to you – I want to share my message with the world, and this is one of them! The webinar will be recorded so even if you can’t be there live, sign up and we will send you the recording the next day. I hope you’ll join me and improve your English in 45 minutes flat! Reserve your spot at www.businessenglishcommunication.com.

Thank you so much for letting me slip into your inbox today – I really love being here! Don’t forget you can message me via Facebook, Twitter or send me a mail at info@rockyourenglish.com. I will write you back, I promise!

Have a super week; may it be full of awesomeness. And lots of baby steps. Remember, don’t let the fear win – it’s outnumbered.

Wit lof from buffi x

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