OGI Member Finance & Wellbeing Workshop
OGI Membership Coordinator Shóna Patterson reports from our latest sold-out member event – a one-day finance and wellbeing workshop, held on October 1st, in the beautiful surroundings of Barnahown, in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. The workshop day was led by business consultant, Máiréad O’Donnell.
Morning session – financial wellbeing
The day started with introductions which explored how each person identifies themselves within their business and clarity on which identity they were showing up in for this workshop.
The key take homes from the morning of financial well being were:
• You are a business owner – you are not the business.
• You have a duty of care to your business.
• Know your end game.
• Build structures and a team to support the end game.
• Monitor finances monthly – look for trends, which product/service or offering takes you to the end game?
Afternoon session – personal wellbeing
Following on from a delicious, freshly prepared, locally sourced lunch was the subject of personal wellbeing. The participants worked in groups to explore the questions: What is wellbeing? What does it look like and, importantly, what does wellbeing not look like?
The five pillars of wellbeing being physical exercise, nutrition, metacognition, sense of purpose and sleep, provided a framework to fill in the well being range from thriving, stretched, struggling to overwhelm considering and identifying how we react to stress and anxiety in daily life and how to address these issues to prevent them from moving up the well being range.
The hospitality at Barnahown B&B was above and beyond, with a beautiful venue and wonderful local food to match. Owner Ciara was also generous enough to share her evolving success story with the group, highlighting the importance of a step-by-step approach, and including fun in your life.
The feedback from the day was overwhelmingly positive – everyone gleaned some useful take aways, and had an very enjoyable day. We are hoping to progress this event into more detailed financial wellbeing events in the future – if you have any insights, opinions or suggestions for what would be of benefit to you or any of your team in this area, please contact Shóna at membership@organicgrowersireland.ie. Your voice matters in the creation of OGI events to support you and your business.
A big thank you to Máiréad for creating, presenting and facilitating the programme, to Ciara for the gorgeous venue, and to all the growers who took time out of their busy lives to support this event.
Shóna
