Leigh
Leigh Howes who today discovered she’d penned a best-seller, as a book she co-authored went straight in at Number 1!

Member Article

Local Business Mum Who Recently Experienced Cancer Becomes Best-Selling Author as she Shares How She Now Lives Life on her Terms

Sharing personal experiences of breast cancer survival, and quitting the 9-5, local mum shares how perspective has led to much needed change. Last summer Leigh was in the midst of grueling treatment for breast cancer and one year on, she is celebrating becoming a best-seller.

This summer will be one to remember for 43 year old, Leigh Howes, mum of two from Hertfordshire who today discovered she’d penned a best-seller, as a book she co-authored went straight in at number 1 on the Amazon best seller charts in 3 separate book categories. It is also hottest new release in just about every business category.

Leigh’s story within ‘She Who Dares’, displays her grit and determination to overcome the status-quo and many personal challenges including her cancer survival story, and close family losses, her transformation from workhorse to empowered business women and her discovery of mindfulness, leading to well-being and happiness.

Taking a very open approach to sharing highs and lows, Leigh charts the struggles she experienced with burnout, lack of self worth, resentment and her cancer diagnosis, alongside revealing her insights on how she overcame such challenges, in a bid to inspire others.

Sharing her experiences and subsequent knowledge, Leigh is now on a mission to help highlight the importance of putting ourselves first by valuing our time and creating a business and life that we design and truly love.

For well over a decade Leigh worked a successful career in HR, for high profile brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut and Iceland. Throughout, she was unashamedly a work horse, leaving the office late and burning the midnight oil. In 2017, after a series of personal challenges including redundancy, money worries, her son being extremely poorly and tragic family bereavements…. Leigh got dealt a further blow, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Leigh said: “It was the realisation that many other things were unimportant that gave me massive perspective and forced me to look inwards. I stepped off of my own hamster wheel, dug deep to find ways to cope and made some big changes in how I designed my business to enable me to live a life that puts me first. If I wanted to go faster, I had to learn ways to slow down, to reconnect and reset. Meditation, yoga, walking - all of these are regular in my life now. I treated my mental wellbeing as important as my physical recovery.” These lessons now form a big part of what she teaches to others - that wellbeing and happiness are critical enhancers to both performance and success.

Leigh is on a mission to help others flourish and partners with busy entrepreneurs and executives to pull apart their jigsaw and put it back together in a way that fits, brings about more happiness, fulfilment and improved performance. Additionally, Leigh is also the founder and driving force behind Your Space (™) and Your Inner Circle (™), a members only online training club and mastermind group for small business owners where she sources and works alongside a ‘Talent Board’ of entrepreneurs who share their skills to help them grow. Leigh partners both on and offline, to give these businesses the support, empowerment and cheerleading that they need to grow and scale their businesses, whilst giving them permission to put their own needs at the top of their list of things to do.

Leigh continues: “I cannot fail to feel emotional reflecting on my journey over the past 18 months. When you don’t know whether ‘tomorrow’ will come, it makes you appreciate so much more of the today – the here and now. I don’t want to waste my ‘today’ and this has been the push I needed to be clear on who I really wanted to help. I provide a holistic approach to personal development and growth and work with open minded, keen to ‘grow’ executives, sole traders and SMEs by delivering coaching, mentoring and training. I partner with my clients to help them enhance their performance in a way that affords them a life first and foremost.”

“I help my clients work smarter, I believe that for us to achieve sustainable peak performance, we have to carve out the life we want first and take action to truly begin to live it.”

“I am also on a massive mission to help women appreciate themselves, value their time, see themselves as a priority to avoid burnout. I don’t know if I was in burn out mode when my diagnosis appeared, but, I do know that I wasn’t in a great place, that I might have appeared it on the surface but underneath and inside I was covering up stress that I didn’t know I was suffering from. ……They say great things can come from adversity and I am living proof of that.”

Brought to life by Authors & Co, whose focus is on telling stories of those who are keen to inspire and leave a legacy, the creation of ‘She Who Dares’ has been gifted to the contributors from their business mentors, the founders of Female Success Network, to celebrate the last 12 months of working together and the milestones that everyone has achieved.

Leigh continues: “Being included in this book is a celebration for me of how far I have come, and a recognition of what can be achieved when women in business come together. I am so excited to share my story alongside these other amazing women from Female Success Network who have had my back over the last 12 months. Joining the Female Success Network Mastermind was perfect timing for me and just what I needed. I nervously joined when I was mid-way through a gruesome treatment plan. Despite being online, it is like I have gained a whole new family. Sisters I never had. They lift me when I am down, cheerlead me when I achieve and give me a swift kick up the bum when I need it. I joined them at a difficult time and I have felt so loved and supported by them all.

“I am where I am today for so many reasons. I have achieved so much that I am proud of and am on a mission to make a difference out of the adversity I have faced and the obstacles I have overcome. I am grateful every day. I am learning every day. I am on a mission every day. I am a survivor.”

Female Success Co-Founder Sarah Stone said: “Female Success Network attracts women from all walks of life who have dreams and aspirations but need the clarity, strategy and clear goals to make their vision take shape, un-ashamedly pursuing their version of success. When we launched a year ago we had no idea who we would be supporting but the women we have worked the most closely with, like Leigh, have inspired us just as much as we have them. This book is a thank you to Leigh for having faith in us, for putting our teachings into practice and for celebrating the huge wins she has achieved over the last 12 months as she has taken control of her life and future.”

Abigail Horne, Book Coach at Authors & Co said: “Documenting your story can be one of the most powerful things you can do, to leave your legacy and to help have an impact on others. Leigh’s story is sure to strike a chord with many other women worldwide, and I’m excited to have been able to help her share it, and achieve best-selling author status at the same time!”.

Leigh Howes aims to provide a holistic approach to personal development and growth. She works with open minded, keen to ‘grow’ individuals, sole traders and SMEs providing coaching, mentoring and training.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Becky Hayles .

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