Kate was in full-time employment and ran her own flower nursery when she joined the Flourish programme. She felt stressed every day, juggling all the activities required by her roles as employee, business owner, partner and mother. It was difficult to prioritise, everything felt like a compromise, and she felt like she wasn’t making progress.
The Flourish programme helped Kate look at her life and her business in new ways. Kate points to finding out what her driving values are and aren’t as a turning point, as well as learning more about her character traits, motivations and ideal working environments.
Kate is a doer. Her friends tell her they are amazed at what she fits in. And that used to make her feel like she was doing well. Now she says:
“I’m standing back and questioning what I’m doing more, instead of ploughing on. My measures of success have changed.
Success in my business was originally about scale, size of business and profit. In the business world that's a standard measure of success, isn't it? But I have changed my thinking completely to make it more of a lifestyle business, and the measures of success are very different, it has to tick other boxes.
I have realised that just because you have an idea for your business, that doesn't have to be the beginning and end of it. Things can evolve and you can be open to things changing. And if your first idea doesn't work or it evolves or a new opportunity comes along, you don’t need to feel like you’re stuck with your original idea.
Eventually, you'll get to the place where you want to be. And if it doesn't work out, then there's no shame in just saying it doesn't work.”
Kate felt she handled criticism badly and this had had a long-lasting impact on her confidence. One of the Flourish workshops addressed handling feedback in a constructive way and Kate worked with other Flourish participants to take a new look at criticism and feedback.
“While I always think of what I really want to say after the fact, and wish I said this or that, the big difference is that I think more in terms of why that person said what they did and always put it back onto them. What was interesting and useful about what they were saying? Rather than taking it as a criticism directly aimed at me.”
When Kate gave up her employed position to focus on her own business and other priorities, she missed having regular contact with others, but also wanted to be able to discuss her business in a meaningful way and found the combination of Flourish coaching and workshops provided her with a ‘critical support network’.
“I'd never been a situation where I've been completely on my own before. And it can be hard if you’re having a bad day or you're not sure about something and you don't really have anyone to talk it through with. The right kind of support groups are not easy to come by, to be able to bounce ideas or ask questions. So it was really good to have Lorna’s coaching and the lovely ladies on the workshops who might be having an equally rubbish week or someone might be having a good week and that gives you a bit of a boost.”
In summing up her experience of the Flourish programme, Kate says,
“It's like a critical support network. You know you have people there to support you, but they aren't gonna let you get away with stuff. But in a nice way and objectively. You can ask yourself all those questions that need to be asked but you don’t get away with not answering them and I focus on the things that I need to do but might otherwise have avoided!
I feel like I have come full circle, 12 months ago I’d had a significant confidence-sapping knock-back from a florist and this week I’m taking significant orders from florists.”
To find out more about how Lorna Thomas / Be The Best You In Business coaching and mentoring could support you to increase your confidence and grow your business with clarity, focus and control, book a call...