10 Year Birthday! Lessons

I’ve just celebrated my 10 Year Business Birthday! 

Fanfares, balloons and bubbles all round. 

What an amazing achievement but is my business what I thought it would be when I was setting out on my entrepreneurial mission back in 2008?

Quite simply the answer to this is “No”!

Enabling Transitions 2018 is nothing like Enabling Transitions in 2008

 I’d like to share the lessons I’ve learnt

1.       Starting a business in a recession isn’t easy or necessarily wise but I had an inner belief that hard work would pay off and I would survive. This crazy lack of self-doubt, inner grit and resilience is what has carried me through the last 10 years.

2.       What I thought would sell often didn’t. I learnt to review my business and be brutally honest. Being able to let go of favourite income streams and having courage to try new things has been key to surviving.

3.       Being self-aware and knowing my strengths and weaknesses helped me to be authentic and true to myself. I learnt that working with the willing is far easier than trying to convert the non-believers.

4.       Riding the storms of life. In 2008 I had no idea how difficult running my own business would be whilst being a single mum. Nor did I anticipate breaking my foot badly and then not driving for six months. Not driving doesn’t make self-employment easy and taxis are expensive. Savings take a big dip. My business started to evolve. Stand up training with a broken foot was not the easiest way to earn money. I learnt that working locally and working 121 (sitting down) was a way of surviving. Hence my business became more focussed on local business and coaching.

5.       Then having cancer twice, the 2^nddiagnosis just last August creates more than a minor interruption. Thankfully I’ve never not been able to fulfil a work commitment but Cancer is not good for business. There is no sick pay. And Cancer is brutal. I learnt about being creative about earning money. This led me to working online more, something I could do from the comfort of my home. Converting many years of training material into online courses and coaching. I now have nine courses with over 12,000 students from 149 countries. A third of my students are from the USA. I would never have been able to hit a global market without being online. Also I have learnt so much about business from connections across the world.

To summarise I would say that none of the lessons I have learnt were lessons I could ever have planned for but are without doubt important lessons in business but also in life.

I wonder what will happen by 2028?

How has your career/business evolved?

What lessons have you learnt?

So Enabling Transitions 2018 has evolved and SURVIVED
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEE!

Today I’m more in control of my business than in 2008 and although my business has evolved it is still essentially about helping people to grow and get more from their lives and careers. I plan to carry on coaching 121 in the North-West and online globally, whilst creating more online courses.

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