*Top 5 Learnings* from Starting a Business and Finding Myself Along the Way.

At the start of this year, I celebrated 2 years of my business Career Studios, which has felt like a HUGE achievement. One that I could so easily just brush under the carpet and fire on into year 3, without really stopping to give myself a giant high five and a hug at the same time.

Stats show that 20% businesses end within the first year and 60% fail within the first 3 years. To set up a business, on top of getting divorced, grieving two great huge losses and single parenting 2 kids, feels a mighty HUGE achievement.

Has it been easy? Hell no. Truth is, it’s been two years of challenges, self-doubt, burnout, loneliness, joy, achievement , wins and learnings...welcome to the world of being a business owner!

I underestimated two things greatly...

Getting a business off the ground takes a LOT of mental energy and giant leaps outside the comfort zone, into growth and uncertainty. There is no brand to fall back on, no company to hide behind... I was the brand, and this niggling inner critic kept saying "what if you are not enough?".

Getting divorced takes a LOT of mental and emotional energy and another giant leap into growth and uncertainty. I lost a huge amount of confidence in my marriage and there are many things I hold back saying on social media, but let's just say, I feel like I've finally found my wings.

I always don't like having regrets, as someone highly respected on this platform said to me once, “there is no failure, you win or you learn” - It's become a mantra of mine. In all honesty, there are things I would have done very differently had I known then what I do now - but have I learnt? A HUGE hell yes!

So in this newsletter, I would like to share some key learnings for our career journeys. Let's aim for my top 5 (excuse me if it goes over).

 1. Change & Growth can feel scary, but also liberating.

Looking back, I realise I took GIANT steps outside my comfort zone, at a time I was filled with so much uncertainty. Whilst I was deciding on the name of my Company (which heads up, is changing this year), I was also debating whether to change my own name and whether I would need to sell my family home. I neither changed my name or sold my home, but gosh, if I realised how broke I would be the first 2 years of my business, I would have done things differently (including getting paid work before going all in).

Key Learning: Embrace uncertainty, for there is so much uncertainty in this world. Trust deeply, in yourself and trust that you are being redirected.

2. Stop and take time out, it’s a lot better than just ploughing on if things don’t feel right.

I ended up with burnout, lost a lot of savings and made poor decisions. Am I looking for sympathy? No, I learnt from each of those decisions and have become a stronger business owner as a result. On reflection, it would have been far kinder to have secured some paid work before I got my business off the ground as I became more and more anxious without that security and I did land some wonderful associate work about 7 months into setting up my business, which I was truly grateful for.

Key Message: If you are struggling with stress and anxiety and feel yourself overthinking and making poor decisions, please consider how you can take time out, create some space to see things through a different lense, instead of ploughing on. 

3. Human Connection is so important.

I have seen a lot of people posting how lonely running a business or working from home can be. Whilst I find this also the case, I am making positive changes and feel blessed to have a wonderful network of coaches and fellow business owners in my life. I don't think I would have kept going with my business without them to be honest. Having people on that path who understand the highs and lows, is so important.

This year, I am focussing on connection and collaboration, which means a blend of in person group training, as well as serving my 1-2-1 coaching clients. I am looking forward and welcoming collaborations with, as us small businesses are so much stronger together.

I have hired a business support star, Emma Thompson, who comes to my house and supports me with running the business and keeping things organised. Emma is an absolute joy to work with and this will free up my time to be out doing more client meetings and building relationships which lights me up. 

Key Message: Carefully think about your support network, especially if you are feeling lonely or isolated. Consider where you could collaborate work and who lights you up and energises you. Note- It may mean spending less time with people who drain your energy.

4. You are enough.

The inner critic, imposter syndrome, limiting beliefs, gremlins, whatever you choose to call them, often get louder and louder the more you step away from your comfort zone and into growth. I've heard myself over and over say things like "who am I to speak at this event?" "do I have enough experience for..?"

So now I embrace the imposter syndrome and see it as a sign of growth.

A game changer for me has been journalling to get my thoughts out of my head and onto paper. I always keep my journal on my bedside table and gift clients a journal for them to capture theirs too.

Key Message: We all have unique stories and experience. It makes us who we are. Don't let fear hold you back, embrace it and make it something positive.

5. Don't compare your chapter 1, to someone's chapter 10.

Social media makes it so easy to constantly compare ourselves to others. Have you ever got lost in doom scrolls on your phone, and found yourself comparing your life and career to other peoples? Feeling like everyone else has "made it" and you haven't? It can be easy to do, I will admit I have too, and I refuse to now see myself as anything but a success. Some of the people I was comparing myself to didn't have kids, or had loving partners with high flying jobs. My situation was different and I am blessed with what I have in my life - a loving family, a wonderful home, and work that I enjoy. But how easy is it to feel the FOMO, or think, because we see other people's "success", that ours is not good enough.

I remember someone in my first year of my business say to me "you are already a success. You just haven't realised it yet". Now, I feel immense gratitude for how far I have come.

Key Message: Don't strive for a destination that you think will make you feel a success. Everyone has a different definition of what successful means to them. Feel into what successful truly means to you.

It's fair to say that the path in life is not linear, in my experience of my own career and many years of supporting clients through redundancy, promotions and transitions, it's the twists and turns along the way that we must embrace and learn from each of them. I believe, they come into our lives for a reason, to redirect our paths and if we adopt a growth mindset, we can embrace them as opposed to fear them. I also think so many people strive for this end destination, but it's the journey, that truly matters.

There is so much more I want to say. It's because I have so much I want to say that I have started my newsletters again this year, and I am so thrilled to see new people signing up to them each week since I restarted them. How wonderful 💫

Team Penny HQ Update

What have I been up to and what's coming up?

• Coaching some awesome 1:1 clients on leadership skills, confidence and resilience, as well as supporting leaders to land new jobs . If you'd like to discuss working with me here is a link to my calendar for a complimentary call.

• Delivering a series of leadership development workshops to an SMT of a wonderful local charity.

• Offering my new group leadership programme ‘Space to Lead’, which is available for individuals as a 1:2:1, or group programme (Everything DiSC psychometric reports are available as part of this course). Corporates can get in touch here for information, and to book a call to discuss pricing options for your team.

• Developing my digital outplacement courses to enhance my outplacement offering, to support people navigating career transition. These are now available to enhance support even further.

(100% of delegates who have attended our outplacement workshops have rated them as excellent).

• Mandy Withers and I will be delivering a complimentary webinar on 17th April. Sign up to join us. It's for organisations who want to know how to plan and deliver redundancy consultations. For my complimentary webinars, I include a link to my buy me a coffee page in order to donate contributions to a mental health charity. Link is here in case anyone would like to donate.

Here’s to the adventure.

To yours and to mine.

Suzanne x