I’ve always been the kind of person who makes things happen. Its something that has been embedded in my DNA from very young. Like the time I didn’t get the main part in the school musical - I instead suggested to my music teacher that maybe I could direct it, and I look over the whole organisation of the show. Or the time I wanted to go travelling and got a gap-year job in a swanky consultancy firm to fund it – the only female and the only non-privately educated person on the scheme. And the time I decided I wanted to live in Edinburgh and within a month, moved my whole life there without knowing a soul in the city.
So I’m not sure why it took me so long to start my own business. The seed was first planted in my head by a coach called Kate Warren, who was doing some work with one of the talent programmes at the big corporate where I worked, back in 2011.
In the time it took for the lift to go from the 9th floor to the ground floor, Kate managed to plant the seed that starting my own business was a possibility. She asked me what I really wanted to do with my life, and I said that I’d love to run a business doing people development in the mountains. Kate simply asked me “why don’t you then?”
I didn’t have an answer to this! There were many reasons not to: financial security, fear of the unknown, it wasn’t on the ‘corporate path’ set out for me, not knowing how to. But reasons like that had never stopped me in the past. Maybe this was just a challenge that was too big!
Kate also put me in contact with another lady, Sarah Maliphant, who had recently made the jump from corporate life into self-employment, running mountain retreats in South Wales. I spoke to Sarah on a number of occasions, found her a real inspiration and learnt from her to further developed the idea that I could perhaps work for myself.
Both Kate and Sarah showed faith in my abilities when I couldn’t see it myself, and this was instrumental in starting my journey to becoming self-employed.
Lesson I learnt – find people who inspire you (whether in the same field or not) and who believe in you (even if you don’t fully believe in yourself). Sometimes other people can see the value you can add much more clearly, and they are not clouded by any of the self-doubt that you may be experiencing yourself! Use these people to challenge your thinking, inspire you, build your confidence and learn from them. More often than not, they have been in the same place as you are right now and want to help….
Lesson I learnt – Coaching doesn’t always need to be a long conversation or process. Sometimes asking the right question at the right time is all you need!
So I’m not sure why it took me so long to start my own business. The seed was first planted in my head by a coach called Kate Warren, who was doing some work with one of the talent programmes at the big corporate where I worked, back in 2011.
In the time it took for the lift to go from the 9th floor to the ground floor, Kate managed to plant the seed that starting my own business was a possibility. She asked me what I really wanted to do with my life, and I said that I’d love to run a business doing people development in the mountains. Kate simply asked me “why don’t you then?”
I didn’t have an answer to this! There were many reasons not to: financial security, fear of the unknown, it wasn’t on the ‘corporate path’ set out for me, not knowing how to. But reasons like that had never stopped me in the past. Maybe this was just a challenge that was too big!
Kate also put me in contact with another lady, Sarah Maliphant, who had recently made the jump from corporate life into self-employment, running mountain retreats in South Wales. I spoke to Sarah on a number of occasions, found her a real inspiration and learnt from her to further developed the idea that I could perhaps work for myself.
Both Kate and Sarah showed faith in my abilities when I couldn’t see it myself, and this was instrumental in starting my journey to becoming self-employed.
Lesson I learnt – find people who inspire you (whether in the same field or not) and who believe in you (even if you don’t fully believe in yourself). Sometimes other people can see the value you can add much more clearly, and they are not clouded by any of the self-doubt that you may be experiencing yourself! Use these people to challenge your thinking, inspire you, build your confidence and learn from them. More often than not, they have been in the same place as you are right now and want to help….
Lesson I learnt – Coaching doesn’t always need to be a long conversation or process. Sometimes asking the right question at the right time is all you need!
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