Mentoring is 80% of your experience and coaching is 20%. So what’s the difference?
A business mentor is someone who has already achieved what you want to achieve in business and is willing to walk you through the steps to help you get the success you want as an entrepreneur. A mentor is someone that has the experience, the networks and the contacts to help you reach your goal in your industry. A business coach is someone who is skilled in motivation and personal development but may not have been in business before. I am skilled in both so you get Vision, Strategy, Marketing and Mindset which is an all-rounded approach to your success.
I have launched 33 Natural & Organic products in the last 25 years. In the process, I started and sold four businesses. So if you want to build and sell a business or create organic products, I can walk you step by step through your product creation process and business set up to ensure you have a solid business plan. You can learn more about me below.
I have a track record of helping employees become business owners by shifting mindset. I also love using my unique mentoring tool kit to help consultants and service-based industries attract the clients they want.
No matter where you are today, I promise to inspire you with new ways of thinking to achieve your dream which brings you more aligned to your own personal, heart centred journey.
How does a Mentor help?
· To get crystal clear on your business Mission & Vision
· To be directed with the right action steps on the right path
· To be alerted if you are leading yourself down a 'wrong' path
· To keep yourself accountable to your own dream
· To be challenged and supported compassionately
· To reach your goals in a specific time frame
Accountability
This is one of the strongest reasons to have a coach. Having to ‘meet’ and ‘report’ to someone regularly keeps you focused on your own path. When you are not sure who to call, I help you find the contacts and suppliers you need. I encourage you to keep moving with just the right amount of inspiration, at the right moments. Keeping you excited!
When you create a business by yourself, you will be inspired one moment and despondent the next. It's the nature of being an entrepreneur. We second guess our abilities and freeze when it’s time to act or spend money. When you have a mentor, you can get an independent perspective on key decisions and keep your confidence. Basically, I am on your team and always have your back!
Being Stuck
When we are stuck there is usually a thought, an energy, a fear or some anxiety going on that needs to be dealt with. Can I do this? Will it work? What is the next step? As your mentor, with your permission, I will help you identify energy blocks and help move you through these moments rather than letting them stop you. They are powerful personal transitions that can shift you to a new level of confidence and success. When fear or concern arises, it is my caring intention to help you over the hump. Some call this mindset or life lessons. I call it healing or a breakthrough. But you can only get that with support. I learnt that the hard way! As a capable, independent, fearless business owner, I did not think I needed help! The wrong paths that led me down is another story.
What tools do I use?
I created 2 key strategic and energy tools that I use in my Mentoring work based on my experience of what works for all my clients.
1 - The H.A.T Method is the key strategic tool to get time-based results from actions
2 - The Business Energy Quadrant is the key Energy Tool that is a unique way of working
I will introduce you to both these tools as part of a powerful process to keep you focused on achieving your goals. If you use these tools daily, you are compelled to stay on track!
What are my qualifications? How could I be a good mentor for you?
I have created and sold 4 enterprises in the last 25 years. Two were product based, one service-based and one retreat. I have designed and manufactured a total 33 eco products. Here is a brief look at those products and enterprises.
1. Hug a bub Baby Carrier: Co-designed with Suzanne Shahar in 1998
2. Nature’s Child Pty Ltd. Australia’s first Organic Baby Store started in 2000 and still going strong. Designed 33 products including cloth nappies and accessories, nursery items, mother products and certified organic skincare. We did this across 2 eco brands. Manufactured in Australia, India and China and distributed worldwide. Sold this company in 2018
3. The Byron Pregnancy Retreat – sold in 2002 and still going with a new identity of Celebration of Birth
4. A Computer Support business set up in 2000 with my husband then helped him sell it 2018
5. Before I went on the journey to create and sell 4 successful enterprises, I wrote for Health & Wellness Magazines and Authored Courses in Indigenous History at Southern Cross University. While there, I briefly taught philosophy. I have taught students in low-security prisons in WA when computers first came to the workforce. I mentored at TAFE and waitressed on the beautiful Heron Island in the great barrier reef. I worked in one of the first video stores when I was 17 (yes, I said Video!) and completed two academic degrees in my love of History. I travelled Europe as a lighting engineer with bands in the early 90’s which was a hoot and busked for my supper in London many times in my early twenties. I attended the United Nations in Geneva with the Australian Delegation of Indigenous NGO’s in the early nineties. I am most proud of my work in human rights in Sydney, Perth and London in the nineties alongside my production work in community radio. Both showed me whole new worlds of possibility and empowerment.
BONUS: I started my first business in 1997 with $20 so I am also resilient and resourceful with free stuff and building slowly in your own pace. I know how to get lots of free stuff along with the paid stuff.
Other great reasons I can help you from my 25 years in business are my colossal failures and difficulties. This has made me adept at identifying issues before they arise. You definitely want to work with someone who has been through the hard stuff, not just the good stuff! Here is a peak at some of the tough stuff
1. Business relationships, staff relationships, lease arrangements, shareholder agreements, company set up, going through bookkeepers not up to scratch
2. Financial losses in 2008 in the GFC and then reinventing ourselves to survive
3. First share investment was a terrible deal and big lesson in finance raising
4. Raised over $500k in investment but didn't check their intention with the shareholding
5. Dealt with lawyers both in the small claims court and almost in the big court
6. I’ve dealt with the ACCC over TGA Advertising guidelines around natural products and successfully navigated my way out of that, alongside freaky franchise issues.
7. Personal Health Cost with mental and physical drain. I have a radar for checking in with your health and wellbeing. Phew!
So you can see that I am keenly invested not just in all the good stuff, but helping you avert the bad staff or deal with it gracefully.
But back to the good stuff, we won lots of awards, gained lots of kudos as pioneers and early adopters of new fabrics, technology and sustainability. There is a ton of stuff I am just so damn proud of! I can’t wait for you to have that same feeling.
Comments