Wednesday the 5th of April 2017 will go down in my life story as the day I completely stepped out of my comfort zone and into a new me. I nervously got on stage in front of 250 women and told my story.

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I was invited to speak at the Women's Inspire conference in Cork. The theme for this networking event was 'tell your story' and I was going to share mine. I was on stage for a 15 minute time slot to tell everyone how Social Media changed my life. I was nervous as hell, with every minute leading up to it feeling like an hour. 

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I deliberately did not write a speech because I didn't think I could pull it off. Plus vanity meant I would have had to wear glasses to look down at my notes. I wanted my talk to come from the heart. It's my story and I know it off to a tee. I did have bullet points to keep me somewhat focused. 

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I wanted to share how social media is not a scary place. Even if you think it's not for you, it could be where your customers are. You have to have a presence to be present. 'Engage to be seen' is my mantra.But none of that would have happened without one woman - Samantha Kelly. Samantha told me a couple of hours after we first met "you will go far missy" This was the beginning of a journey where I had decided I wanted to better myself. Samantha believed in me when I had more doubts than beliefs within myself. She sprinkled her #twittermagic for sure. 

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When I got off the stage after my talk, my phone went into a meltdown. Beautiful, emotional and caring texts, tweets and messages from friends and family have been pouring in. All telling me I had inspired them and telling me they were proud of me. This was deeply uplifting. 

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If you feel you don't know how to use social media I advise you to take a workshop or do a class. Do whatever you have to do to get your "presence" seen and your sales will come in.  

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Thank you to everyone in the Women's Inspire Network. You are all simply amazing. 

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6 months on and I still get lovely messages from people telling me how I made them feel, I can't thank the women in the network enough for all their constant support and I encourage everyone to take an active role in the group and attend the events because the benefits outweigh any fears or doubts. 

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Helena

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Ps I even got a tweet from America telling me they watched me from New York

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You can find me on all social media platforms or on my website.