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Liz Forshaw, Liverpool born qualified life and business coach, certainly knows how to take the right steps in building a business empire. Liz’s business started in 2010 as charity fashion shows, and now with many shifting patterns of business development, she finally feels she has the model right for her forever expanding business.
LMI is an organisation in which each city will hold 4 annual events for children to experience what being on a catwalk is really like. Liz and her team offer guidance and support to all there applicants, which helps to generate a buzz for the shows where children can learn a long list of life skills to help them build on self-esteem and confidence.
Liz has built the model of her business for the past 6 years with many changes which have helped to shape the business that she knows and is confident with today, and from the beginning has always known what it was she wanted to achieve.
“I am creative, I studied fashion and I was an aspiring model myself”, and with this in mind she would be helping to build the confidence of children and young adults as her dream career in the near future, just like she was doing with her own.
LMI now has a strong following in which has been built by the succession and drive of what Liz explains, “Has been the passion to build up young people, which has certainly been what has drove me”.
From taking this interview, it is clear that Liz has become accustomed to being a one woman band and has shown that clearly anything is possible when your passion for your work is so strong.
Now with a steady team of women helping build the LMI Brand, she still keeps some very important things in mind when achieving her goals.
“Being ethical is very important to me. So finding a way to be ethical, build confidence and earn money has all took time.”
With 3 franchises set up which are building the brand and the message LMI has to give, labelled the Golden Hearts, LMI’s expansion is something that Liz would only have dreamt of not so long ago.
Her team consists of three cities in the UK at the moment in Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, where like-minded women are all building their businesses on the proven to work foundations in which Liz has strongly set in stone.
Donna Walsh, LMI’s Liverpool Manager, has said in previous weeks “I’m so proud to be a part of something so amazing”, and that’s exactly the feel that you get when looking into this as such a powerful, believable brand to keep a watchful eye on.
The growth in the organisation and the recognition has been a focusing point from the past couple of months with the desire to have more and more franchises open up across the UK, with the home screen of the LMI website giving clear indication into becoming your own boss for the brand.
Liz says of the business expansion: “I’m very forward thinking and it’s never done me any harm, but I think for now, I’d like things to stay as they are. It’s such a huge change for the business having the 3 new franchises so I’d like to develop what we have. It is a huge change for me.”
“Someone else has my job now running our Liverpool branch so I’m training our Liverpool manager, whilst making changes to our systems and developing the brand. The training process for franchises is about 9 months long so it all takes so much time. It’s important to me all our branches mirror one another from the colours of the walls, to what coffee are served. It’s so in depth.”
Her determination is so inspiring, with her being the type of person who you can see gets a twinkle in her eye when talking about what she has achieved.
From attending one of the LMI’s previous events, it is so predominantly certain how much this means to Liz and how the most important part of her business is the involvement of the children, which is definitely something she can be proud of.
“We get to see them grow through the process. They receive a free photo shoot, there’s training days available and on the night their friends and family come to watch them on the catwalk. They raise for James Bulger Memorial Trust every event doing so many things. Also they make their outfits out of recycled materials and it’s really important that young people from all different financial back grounds get to have the experience.”
The self-confidence aspect of the business has generated since the opening of the LMI Studio in 2011, where young hopefuls come to be a part of the brand’s successful events, which now take place at the prestigious Rodney Street based studio in Liverpool City Centre.
The brand is always attracting the celebrity circuit of Liverpool with faces such as Amanda Harrington, Tina Malone and Ray Quinn to name a few.
With £5320 raised on the last LMI event, and the usual £1000 cash prize for the overall winner of the contest, the last event was a huge success and has been widely recognised by many.
For further information or to be part of the LMI team visit their website www.thelmigroup.co.uk