Stephanie’s Coaching business lifts off!

Meet Tonbridge Mum, Stephanie Rose. After being made redundant Stephanie invested in personal coaching sessions and soon realised this was what she wanted to do… read how she pursued her dream and created her business Lift Off Personal Coaching.

“I’d been thinking about starting my business for a while. After being made redundant from a role in learning and development for a big corporate company, I decided to invest in some coaching to focus on my future and that’s when the idea emerged. But before I had the opportunity to put the wheels in motion, my daughter came along and everything got put on hold.

I had heard about Successful Mums from a friend at work who had completed one of their courses and when I saw the Business Start-up Course was going to run in Tonbridge, the timing was perfect, I was ready and I knew I had to grab the opportunity to get myself going.

I knew I could do this but I needed the confidence to put myself out there and make sure I did it well! I was hoping attending the sessions would provide me with this.

The course was brilliant, being surrounded by women who would just champion you and cheer you on was so encouraging. Everyone was so positive about each other, it really spurred you on.

You are accountable for your own work and it forces you to do stuff! You can’t get away with pretending you’ve done something, you really need to do it! But I did it and by the end of the course I had a name (took me awhile but I got there!), a logo, my social media pages set up and a good idea of how I was going to use them to get my business out there and get my first clients. It also really made me think about how much money I wanted to earn and whether it was realistic or not.

If anyone is thinking of joining a course, you need to make sure you are fully committed, it’s not for the feint hearted. There is a lot of work to pack into 6 weeks, but if you have an idea you really want to make work then it’s absolutely worth it.

Go along, open to learn and to contribute. You won’t be able to sit back and observe and you might just have the wisdom that someone else needs and they might just have it for you too. So just do it! You will meet some wonderful people who will get behind you and become an amazing support network (as you will to them!)

Starting your own business and getting a good work-life balance is tricky but I’m working on it! My daughter is at nursery 2 days a week so those are my ‘work days’. I am trying to keep them free from other ‘stuff’ with the mentality of ‘If I were in an office, I wouldn’t be doing that’. I’m also trying to post on social media at least once on the other days when she’s at home so grabbing some time to focus whilst she naps is key. I think as things get busier, I’m going to let myself do an hour in the evenings but quality time with my husband is really important to me so I’m going to be strict about not letting work seep into our time together!

It’s very early days for Lift Off Personal Coaching but I have the confidence, knowledge and hope that the momentum will build my business.

Take a look at my Facebook and Instagram accounts. My website is still a work in progress at the moment, but I’m working on it!”

If, like Stephanie, you have a dream business idea and want the confidence to take it forward, join us for one of our Business Start-up Courses starting soon! Register your interest HERE.