What I wish I'd known when starting my business

When I first started my business, I received lots of (often unsolicited) advice about how I should present my business, where I needed to advertise, how I really ought to carve out some kind of unique niche, how I needed to think about scaling my business, employing other coaches and so on...

Advice which, while well-meaning, simply made me feel hugely out of my depth.

Not knowing any better, I followed a lot of the advice that I received, which took me on a very merry, expensive and time-consuming wild goose chase, as I tried to do all the things that "made good business sense", despite my heart telling me that I really wanted to be moving in a different direction.

When those things didn't get me where I wanted to go, I was finally able to turn my attention back to my own intuition and follow the path that I had originally fallen in love with.

As I mark the milestone of 15 years of running my coaching business, I've found myself reflecting on what advice I would really have benefited from all those years ago. The advice I definitely didn't get, but that would have made a big difference if I had.

It would have been something along these lines:

The advice I'd give my younger self

• Listen to your intuition, not your fears, and go only where your intuition leads you.
• Your age, background and experience matter far less than the energy, authenticity and commitment you bring to your clients (and your marketing messages!).
• Don't underestimate the value of holding space for people to talk. They don't always want amazing coaching questions or advice; sometimes they simply need to be heard.
• Growing a business isn't a linear process. You will make plenty of mistakes along the way, and there is huge learning in those mistakes, so embrace them.
  Dare to dream about where you would like your business to go and notice which ideas bring you joy.
• Get to know your fears. Lean into them. Ask them what they are worried about and what you can do to help them feel a little less overwhelming.

A final thought

With the benefit of experience, I know how important it is to share with business owners, at any stage of their journey, that it's completely natural to have fears about whether you or your service is good enough. To compare yourself with others. To want to stay small for fear of failure, embarrassment or ridicule.

To some extent, these fears can be helpful because they encourage us to reflect and continue growing. However, acknowledging them and giving them some airtime often allows them to move on, creating room for us to step into the person we are capable of becoming.

Ultimately, you are in business because you have something of value to offer.

If you focus your attention on the value you bring, those fears gradually begin to lose their hold.