We often hear and even tell each other about our wins of the week, or share top tips for quick wins, but the biggest win in my business so far is quite literally a win…
Bear with me 😉
At the end of May, I was tagged on an Instagram post by one of my wonderful clients Claire Grace – it was a post by the Female Entrepreneur Association with prizes up for grabs – I entered straight away…, I mean I never win anything but no harm in entering. It even flagged the She Means Business podcast to me that I (sorry Carrie!) had never listened to.
The top prize was a VIP coaching package with Carrie and I only went and bloody won!! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never even had 1-2-1 coaching before, so my first foray into this with someone as successful and inspirational as Carrie (and try not to fangirl and embarrass myself), was honestly crazy and the timing impeccable. Clearly, the universe has my back.
I had my final VIP coaching zoom session with Carrie just before she had her baby and I have been so busy since then, I have only just now had to chance to reflect (and write this blog!) and I realise how far I have come in a relatively short space of time.
Carrie left it totally up to me as to what to focus on for the sessions and I needed some steer on how to take my business to the next level and I also had a new business venture in the very early planning stages, so we agreed to focus 50/50 on these.
I started my VA business in January 2019 – I had previously worked as a freelance SMM and also worked in sales and marketing for an online education provider (and BC (before children) I had many many years (feeling old now?) in management). I knew I loved working with SME’s and entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses, and after working with a few wonderful clients I realised my expertise and passion lay in digital marketing and the online tools, integrations and automations available to online business owners. But the “title” of VA just never sat right with me. One of my absolute favourite and most loyal clients Ruth Gilbey told me “you’re so much more than an assistant.” But what should I be marketing myself as?!
I ran through my thoughts with Carrie and she gave me homework to research other online business owners and see who I found inspirational and what I would like to be known as. What would I be the “go to” expert in? I knew I loved being “behind the scenes” making shit happen (possibly part of my introvert nature), but Carrie gave me the confidence to just go for it – I am absolutely more of an expert than I was making out. She really gave me the kick up the bum that I needed!
Literally within days of me deciding on my new path, I gained some very exciting new clients – and I hadn’t even started my new website yet! This is where the woo-woo stuff really started to work its magic.
We discussed manifesting and the law of attraction and Carrie also gave me a fabulous reading list to be cracking on with. As someone who has previously been very sceptical – honestly, a couple of small (but crazy/ weird things) happened and I knew the universe was sending me signs I was on the right track. 💫
My other venture was that myself and a wonderful ex-colleague and friend Sarah Forde had been planning to launch an online course to help new business owners get their systems and processes in place and build the foundations for a successful business. We knew that we could help more people and make a bigger impact if we shared our knowledge, know-how, expertise and experience in a digital course. Not only that, but we had been in the business! We knew how a digital course worked! And that’s when Systems To Grow was born.
We had surveyed our potential customers and Carrie helped us come to the realisation that where people needed help right now, could be solved with a “mini- course” that we could aim to launch in the autumn and really set some wheels in motion.
We got cracking and the last few months have seen us beavering away in our “spare time” recording videos, creating content, setting it all up on Podia, whilst also setting up our website, social media, email list AND Facebook group… phew!
Our starter course Systemise Your Content Marketing is now live and you can check it out here.
I do think I would have got to this point eventually – but the advice and support from Carrie and actually believing in myself and pushing myself forward has literally seen me WINNING! 😉