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BONUS EPISODE: Why More Women Should Consider Entrepreneurship (And How to Actually Do It) · Work It Like A Mum

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm a working mum with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women, job board and community.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: In this show, I'm honoured to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, set boundaries and balance, the challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Shy away from the real talk?
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: No way.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance we cover it all.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TED Talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, make sure you're cosy and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams, or just survive Mondays.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: This is the Work it.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Like A Mum podcast.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: They're proud to partner with the UK's most family-friendly employers across a range of professional industries, ready to find your perfect job.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Search their website at investinginwomencouk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Now back to the show.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Hello, we are live today on LinkedIn, facebook and hopefully on Instagram in a moment, and I am chatting with the wonderful Rebecca Newenham, who is the founder of Get Ahead, and we are talking today about why entrepreneurship is a life-changing for women.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I think it's life-changing for anyone, but particularly for women.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be talking today all about why you should consider it and how to make it a success, if that is a route that you do want to go down.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Rebecca is a seasoned entrepreneur.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I think you've been in business.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Now is it 14 years.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It'll be 15 in September, liz, 15 years, and she has grown her business phenomenally during that time, so I couldn't think of a better person to get on to um, to our live today, to talk all about entrepreneurship and why you should consider it.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Um, thanks, rebecca.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Oh, thanks for having me, liz, that's all right.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Do you want to just give people a bit of an overview about your business journey and why entrepreneurship?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: yeah, no, totally, and I think, almost before we start, entrepreneurship can sound scary and daunting, can't it?
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: It's sort of.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I remember, I guess for me, the corporate world wasn't really my happy place, and I think that's why I'm setting up.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Get ahead was what I was meant to do, and I my mum had run her own business, so I guess I'd had first-hand experience from a very young age of the ability to run something.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: What she'd done, she'd run what was then called a tutorial I can never get my teeth around it tutorial agency.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: So she was matching kids with extra tuition outside of school.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: That is so do you know?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: That is your business.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I know you place different types of match, different types of people.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and she was, she was amazing, but I mean it's scary.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Then I was going sitting in somebody's spare room, you know, having lessons, so it sort of changed hugely.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: But that absolute concept of giving people extra help and then also giving the teachers extra income, so yeah, no, very similar to me.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: So I think for me, setting up get ahead was never that scary because I, as I said, I'd grown up knowing that it's possible to work from home and do that.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: But it's, I think, for a lot of people it's like what, what idea am I going to have?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: That's often the stumbling block, isn't it?
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I?
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: think I also.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I wonder as well if it's the fear of you know, how am I going to make this work and what is it going to pay me?
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: How am I going to earn enough money?
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: and yeah, and I think for me.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I always knew I was going to do something bigger than me and I knew it would take time to build that financial stability how long did it take you to build that?
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: yeah, it's interesting, certainly for the first year of building momentum and seeing it working.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: And I think for me now it's slightly different.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: There are different challenges because I'm supporting a wider team and it's not just reliant on me.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: But I think certainly in those early days it took me a good six months to sort of see where the money could come from.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: And then, and so it was.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: It was that feeling of having a stability and not putting to myself under too much pressure early on.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: So I'm I'm often talking to people about right, we'll go into setting up your own business alongside the security perhaps of some regular income as well.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: There are imaginative ways of doing it, aren't there?
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Rather than but I totally get as well, somebody might not have that ability to match it against something else.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: So then it's being doing your research and being quite tentative in what you're doing, but also, on the flip side of that, just going for it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: And I remember a friend of mine setting up her own business and she spent months getting her templates just right and all of that.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: And I just wanted to say just do it.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: You know you can hold yourself back, can't you?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: And no one need know that this is an early stage of your journey.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: You're not pretending to people, but, equally, just get on with it.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my biggest thing talk me through.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: What are the benefits, particularly for women, of becoming an entrepreneur?
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I guess the biggest benefit is you are your own boss.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: So the huge positives that come with that are and I always say to you, liz, and I'm not having that Sunday night feeling of you, yeah.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I quite look.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: I look forward to Mondays and I know that sounds crazy the weekends are always a bit more fraught.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: My actual, it's funny because it's like flipped.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: My weeks are a bit more relaxing, but I actually really do like.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Like you know, it's a lovely yeah, and I think the biggest thing for me is who am I going to meet this week?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: And that plays into, you know, like networking meetings.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: I went to a networking meeting last night, but who am I going to meet today?
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: You know what friends, and you've got that total freedom to to carve out how you, you, your work, your week's work, and you have got freedom to carve out a dream life, actually which you know a day-to-day you know, taking the financials aside, date how you actually going to live your day-to-day life.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: You've got that freedom exactly, and I think it's how you then.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: You almost prioritize what you want to be doing, don't you?
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: And I certainly make my time work better running my own business than I think I would ever have done in that corporate environment.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I'm getting that balance.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I'm fitting in my exercise and what I want to do and therefore the time I've got I'm on it, achieving what I need to do.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: But I think the biggest bit is the freedom and flexibility to craft your own week and make your own timetable what about financial independence?
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: yes.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: So that is obviously always a big thing and it it is often when I'm talking to people about and you know, working with me, I said, that's often the stumbling block.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: It's like how am I going to make the cash?
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Where's it going to come from?
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: So I think you need to be very clear, if you're setting up your own business, what your price points are.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Do your research, look at what other people are doing, but not spend too much time on that, but have some sort of clarity on what your goals are financially for each month and therefore, how are you going to reach that?
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: It's very easy, I think, when you're starting your own business, to get drawn into spending unnecessarily on things aren't there, liz, in terms of you can say, well, it's only this, it's only that.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: So having a budget from the beginning is really worthwhile.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: But I do remember, certainly in those early days, something like coaching seeming to be hugely expensive.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: But if I hadn't had that coaching, I wouldn't have fast chat, what I was doing.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: so yeah, it's like what are you going to invest?
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: What's the cost and what's an investment?
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: and yeah, and what's the overall benefit of that?
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that you don't have to commit to things.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Lots of things have free trials, don't they?
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: In terms of, you know, try this for a few weeks and then sign up for it, so you can be quite imaginative in how you spend your money.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: And I think in those early days it's all about learning and understanding how to do things, and I know from seeing you and things you've done yourself.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: It's amazing how quickly you can come up to speed with different things, isn't it?
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: But then the flip side of that is don't spend hours doing something.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Often, the outsourcing route and bringing in an expert for little pieces of what you're doing is hugely valuable as well.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: And confidence.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: So how has your confidence changed?
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Oh my God, I remember going to that first networking meeting and thinking oh my god I'm going to go bright red, I don't know what I'm talking about.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Hideous, because that's what I remember from a work and from a school environment.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: But I have to say it's not until you're doing something that you know the answers to that.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Suddenly all of that confidence falls into place, because you're only you know the answer.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: So you could be talking about anything.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: No, and you haven't got that critical eye that you might have in a corporate world, I think, where your boss has got an opinion on what you're doing.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: No one's telling you whether that's right or wrong.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: But the more you get out there, the more you connect with people.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: And a big piece of advice to me, if I look back on my early days of setting up the business, was ask for people's support and help.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: People love supporting, don't they?
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: And I think you should never see that as a criticism.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: It's almost look at somebody you really admire, tell them that.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: And obviously there are so many um ways that people share their expertise and learning, so so many podcasts and things that you can sort of gain lots of information quite quickly, can't even know someone said investing in yourself is really important.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: So how?
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: how do you know, because it's not for everybody.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Entrepreneur no, no, no.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: How do?
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: you know if you are cut out for becoming an entrepreneur um, I think you've got that sort of feeling.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: I suppose it's understanding what your drivers and motivations are, aren't they for setting it up?
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: And is there certain drivers and motivations that make a better entrepreneur than others?
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I suppose you can't.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: If you're clear on why you're doing it and what you want to do, then that motivation and everything sort of flows really nicely.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: It's being comfortable with what you're doing, but also being honest, and sometimes I've observed people that perhaps have set up a business and then it hasn't really worked and they've chosen to go back and do something else.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be forever.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I think is a big thing as well, isn't it?
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: So do your research, understand what you need to do, but if you're anxious about it, like I said before, do it alongside something else and build, build it up, rather than sort of open yourself up and be feel vulnerable because you've got to make it work.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: There's nothing worse than that sort of sense of anxiety, because that comes across with from you, doesn't it as well, if you're having to do something and you're panicking about it.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: So I think the research piece is really important and being honest and asking for help and getting the support where you need it is there some people that entrepreneurship would just not see them.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: It's like a big no.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: I don't think so.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: But there are certainly people that I've come across that sort of fit, that corporate mold, more than others and they need that security and they need that support and they need to know where they're going.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: So entrepreneurship doesn't give you that.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: There's nothing, there's no certainty.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: But then you could argue there's no certainty in a corporate environment either, because suddenly you can suddenly get made redundant.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: So it's it's having that openness to to take something and be motivated by what you could potentially create.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: But I think it's very easy when you're an entrepreneur and a vertical is to sort of absorb too much about what everyone else is doing and then you sort of get anxious.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: So it's my feeling always, and advice is you have your own idea and that classic thing of going down your own lane in the motorway and deciding how you want it to be, rather than getting too involved in what everyone else is doing, because that can be really distracting and being an entrepreneur can be distracting.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: You can spend hours checking and having FOMO and thinking you should be doing something else.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: So it's having that confidence to be calm and clear in what you're doing and see it out, spend, and nothing happens overnight either, does it?
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: So I think if you're somebody that wants wants results super quickly, that might not be the route for you, unless maybe you've got gone on for you, Unless maybe you've got to go on down the funding investment route and you've got the cash to make things happen tomorrow.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Not the reality for me and I don't think it was the reality for you.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, but you're right.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: But there are so many different guises of this, aren't there, but I think it's.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's getting the support where you need it, and for me, coaching and mentoring has been vital at every stage of my business journey, and I know you have you changed like coaches?
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: as you've gone through, I've had a huge number of different ones at different stages.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: So I had a coach.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: When I was writing my book, I had a book coach.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I've had a franchise coach, had marketing.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: I worked with a more generalist coach at the beginning and she was doing her training so that was really interesting.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: So I hadn't even thought about having a coach and she said I need a case study, so I work with her and then our sort of relationship evolved that way.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: But now I've always found coaches at the different stages of my development, which is I think what's beautiful about you is that you're not afraid to invest in yourself.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: No, not, no, not at all and I've always done that because otherwise I knew that I needed to get the best out of me and I've always been very good.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: And you could argue because my business is an outsourcing business, then of course I'm going to outsource, but I've always done that.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I've always bought in the right people, because I don't want to spend my time doing things and I've got quite a short attention span is, I think, and I haven't got the.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I haven't got the capacity to sort of, I don't want to be fiddling around doing things.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: I want to be where I get my energy and joy, which is in front of clients with team members, not fiddling around doing a financial document Boring.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Someone said true, that corporate environment can give you false security.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you for mentioning it.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I think it can and I think I've noticed that.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I think when I started my business four years ago, it felt like a risk and I remember people thinking, oh God, she's taking a big risk.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: But since that time I'm like, I'm still here and I have seen so many people that thought it was really risky have lost their jobs in that four years and I've had several jobs in that four years and I actually think now mine was probably the less risky choice.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, yeah, I totally agree, yeah.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: And look at you now, look at what you've been involved in, look at what you've done.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: The book and the people you're meeting and just those conversations alone are fascinating, aren't they?
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: And I am really curious.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Slash nosy, but I'm'm curious.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Therefore, I love meeting different people and learning, and it's really energizing.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: There's not, it's not, it's not just I'm setting up a business, it's actually what it brings you.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a wealth of different conversations and things that it brings your way, doesn't it?
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Rather than the corporate, which could be quite of a closed mindset.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and especially if you're in a large corporate, which could be quite a closed mindset, yeah, and especially if you're in a large corporate, it's often actually quite small jobs.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: You have, yes, and you don't have that connection with other people.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: You're doing your bit, aren't you?
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're the cog, aren't you?
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Well, the entrepreneurship bit.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: You're exposed to so much more.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: What are the practical steps to get started?
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Then, if someone's listening to this, if we're inspiring them to start their business, how should they get going?
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: yeah.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: So I guess the initial bit is doing some research.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Check that there is demand for what you're wanting to offer.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Don't spend hours fiddling around with websites and things.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: My feeling often is, you know, have a presence on linkedin, start connecting people, telling them what you're doing and then work out how you're actually going to tell people that you're around and how are you going to find your clients and customers and where are they hanging out.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Therefore, you should be spending time in that space.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: So again, like I referenced earlier, my friend that spent ages doing templates and fiddling around with things, really it's going out getting a client and not being apologetic that you're early in your stage of the business either, because you've got to start somewhere, someone's got to be your first client.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: So, and you might want to do a little bit not necessarily for free, but perhaps a little bit of a reduced rate if you, if you feel you want to gain a confidence and I wouldn't think too much about rates either I wouldn't start promoting too much about what, what you're charging.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: It sort of get a sense for what people think your services are worth and therefore just start it.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: And because my prices have changed a lot.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I mean they'll be going up down.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I mean they're back up again, but you know, I think you don't want to.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: yeah, Nothing's fixed, is it?
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Nothing is fixed and I think, have a confidence to sort of say, oh, we could try that and we can, and rather than having a fixed price point, you might want to pull things together as a package and you can disguise rates and time within that, can't you but think?
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Absolutely be.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Be open to that things will navigate and change, but also be open to taking things on and working with other people and, yeah, that's a sense of flexibility very inspiring.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing great pieces of advice, and I mean, obviously it's not all sunshine and unicorns and roses, and you know there is always days and even times in the day where you're like oh my god, this is a disaster.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I've lost this big client.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Something's happened.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: I'm messed up on social whatever.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Something's landed bad.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: How do you overcome those challenging?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: times.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I think you, you have to learn from them.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: So I'm often saying some of my team, you, if they don't win something or a client's awkward you know, not everyone has to be your client, for example so it's just sort of and as you know, liz, I'm a huge believer and lover of Mel Robbins and her whole let them piece.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: So it's sort of like every day is a new day, isn't it?
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: So just forget it.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Try not to spend too much time feeling low about something and going out a walk, just change of scene and coming back and just sort of learning from it, but moving on, because you can indulge and give something far too much energy, that then it's actually worth and you know each week, have be clear on what you're wanting to achieve.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Reflect back on a friday and think well, pick positive bits out of it and then move forward, because I think otherwise you can sort of get yourself into a right old state absolutely.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: And what about the idea that you have to sacrifice everything to run a business?
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: um, no, I yeah, I think that's a bit of a myth.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: It sort of depends on what you're doing and how much you're having to, say, invest of your own cash in something.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: But, like we've said before, it's about this being taking it in small blocks and running it alongside something else if you want to sort of build momentum.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: But it's certainly I wouldn't say it sacrifices everything.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: It's more, you know, you having charge over your time where you're putting your attention and, like I said before, I couldn't have had the flexibility, I couldn't have been doing the exercise and things I'm doing.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: For example, now if I was working in a corporate world, I was having to report back to somebody.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: So there are sacrifices everywhere, aren't there?
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: But it's sort of having a confidence to shift and change things if they're not working, and things don't have to stay exactly as they are all the time, absolutely I know I don't know if you know lisa johnson, but she does the same.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I quite like that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Choose your heart exactly, yeah nothing is easy, every there is obviously certain.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: You know there's hard in every choice, um, and it's like which hard, which hard am I going to tolerate?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: um absolutely yeah, and so it's really important to be self-confident and have that mindset of resilience to be an entrepreneur yes, yeah, and there is absolutely that sense of resilience, but it's how you get the support and it's having the ability to talk things through.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: If you are having a tricky time, just choose someone that you trust and you really rely on to talk it through and then park it, because you can just spend far too much time churning over something.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we can all do that.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: We can all be sensitive about things, and I think when it is your own thing, you are a little bit more exposed, aren't you?
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: But no one.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: We can all worry that people sort of think about.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: People aren't bothered about what's happening to someone else half the time I do know you mean you are slightly more excited.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: So I remember if, when I was um working for deloitte, if something messed up, you could sort of blame the machine, whereas if it's your business that's messed up, then there is sort of nowhere to hide.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: No, it's it, and.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: But I think it's not so.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Therefore, it's how you deal with it.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: You put your hands up yeah, that's a mistake, sorry about that.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: And if you send an email I've done that before, we've sent an email campaign out and there's the wrong information on it, you just go sorry.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: No, everyone's human, aren't they?
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: And I think that's a big thing as well to be real and authentic.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Of course we're going to make mistakes.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: You apologize.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: You know if you made a mistake with a client, it's not the end of the world.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: People would much rather you were honest and owned it than sort of blame somebody else so you've obviously invested a lot in coaching.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Um, I know that you offer coaching as well and business mentorship.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: How do you know what, who, who's right for you when picking a coach?
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: uh, so it's definitely.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Everyone offers those sort of free discovery calls, so I would definitely do some research into that, look at testimonials from other people.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: But but make the most of those opportunities to have a free chat and be honest about what you're wanting to achieve with a coach.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: And also, if it doesn't work, if you don't feel you're getting somewhere after a handful of sessions, then have a confidence, say actually you know, thanks, but I'm ready to sort of move on now.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: But I think, if you're clear as to what you're wanting, to have some coaching for.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: That is almost easier than just sort of working pulling and the cost can be prohibited.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: But there are ways of working with a coach as well, to sort of come up with different ways of working and not feeling like you've got to have coaching every week either.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I've had monthly coaching in the past.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: But it's down to you to take action and I think that's a big thing that you to be you have to be accountable, so there's no point in working with someone and not actually doing what you agree to do either kevin said in the world of ai um, he thinks authentic authenticity is the best currency.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, and you know ai is amazing.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: It's got its place, doesn't it?
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: But it's how you you use it.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: But it's having the confidence to get your own voice across and develop your own personality.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: And that's what I've loved, actually, over the last 15 years is being the, the sort of the voice of the business, but equally, the way I've scaled it.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Now I'm giving that, I'm giving impact to other people to be able to do their own thing, so that we talk a lot, don't we?
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: In the past, liz, about franchising and why that's worked well for me as a business.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: What I've done is given my franchisees opportunity to make something their own, and that's giving their own personality to something else.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: And I'm not a control freak, and I think that's often the case for people, isn't it?
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: They can almost want to control everything, and then that's exhausting.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: It's choosing where you give your attention is really vital.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: So what is Get Ahead, who is Get Ahead and how do you support or offer the opportunity to people?
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: So I set up 15 years ago a business where it was just me and I was panicking.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: I went networking, I went bright red, hated it, hated that sort of sense of I've got to set this up and I've got to make it work.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: But I actually realized very quickly that that was where I needed to be, was being my own boss and doing things.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: So we started off offering, I say simply, admin and PA support, but very quickly gave momentum and we're now supporting growing businesses with a wealth of admin marketing where anything they need as an alternative to recruiting people and employing them.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: They use my team to slot in and give them support as they're growing their business.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: So I guess, with the uprising in national insurance and things you know, we're even more of a a great alternative to employing people.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: And we've just done some stats actually for the last six months and over 20 percent of our clients have used more than one of our virtual experts.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: So that's proof to me that businesses need a variety of support and they need to be able to flex that as and when they need it, which is where our outsourcing support, yeah, really helps a growing business, and I franchised it eight years ago because, although we've always operated around the UK I'm in Guildford in Surrey I knew that people buy from people and that's a big thing.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: From entrepreneurship as well, isn't it actually that people?
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: You have a connection with somebody.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Just because someone offers a certain service doesn't mean you're necessarily going to have that connection with them.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: So for me it was like how can I give work to people around the country, but how can I enable them to set up their own business unit and manage it?
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: So Fiona, for example, in Leeds, proved to me immediately that she was the perfect franchisee for me and she was able to sell our services without me being involved at all.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: So again, that's you know, it was a lovely feeling that I sort of created my baby, my get ahead baby, but I've given it over to other people to to run their own offices regionally and make it a success.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: So if anyone's listening to this and is obviously wanting to set up their own own business and need support as they're setting up, then obviously get in touch with, get ahead and get in touch with becca and you know.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: If you need pa support or admin or bookkeeping, or you know help with the website, whatever, then you know you've got all these experts, haven't you?
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: it's 80 yes, 80, nearly 90, I think now, and, yeah, and, and the freelancers are loving it, because we all know that marketing yourself can be tricky, can't it?
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: so that whole business development piece is um is interesting so you can get, obviously get in touch with rebecca to grow your own business.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Or if you're wanting to plunge into entrepreneurship but don't know quite what you want to do yet, but and want to you know, someone to hold your hand, then a franchise might be the the way to go.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: I would suggest looking at sites.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: You know, if you're thinking setting up your own business and have absolutely no idea, do look at something like British Franchise Association, because on there are so many different businesses that have franchises and that might just give you, as part of your research, some information.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: So last night at a networking I went to, there was a guy offering golf lessons, for example, for kids at school, and who knew that that was even a thing that's yeah, I mean there is loads of franchises I mean we're getting new blinds next week through hillary's and I think that's a franchise yeah, yeah, yeah and I was chatting to him and he, the guy is doing it.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: He'd had a career in it and in the city and yeah, for 20, 25 years and decided then he wanted you know something more local, um, so he bought the hillary's franchise for our area yeah, no, there we go, so that there's so many different yeah, different people running businesses in all shapes and sizes.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: And I think a big message about entrepreneurship doesn't have to be it can just be you as well.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: You don't need to have a team to be you as well, you don't need to have a team to help you.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: But equally, it can be an opportunity to scale and grow something bigger than yourself.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: So it's sort of being actually with the franchise.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: You don't necessarily need the team, because obviously I got hit, booked him through the hillary's website, so it was their marketing yeah, and then he's now got the job and similar we've got um.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Do you have green sleeves where you live, where they um treat the lawn?
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah yeah, and that's another one that we use them and that's a franchise and that's you know.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: He's obviously benefited from their yeah, their machine of marketing, yeah, no, it's really.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: It's fascinating.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: So I think the biggest message is, you know, don't be daunted by it.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: Be excited about what you could be getting involved in.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: I know you offer business mentorship as well.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: I love a bit of mentoring, yes, so always open for any chats about anything like that, because I've hugely seen the benefits and I've got three daughters and the middle one is graduating next week and I thought blimey she was.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: She was six when I set the business up and I have hugely benefited from being around for her for all those years.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: And now she's come out the other end, so do you think any of your children want to be entrepreneurs well, I wouldn't be surprised, certainly the eldest one could potentially be.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be fascinating, isn't it?
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Seeing the world of work over the next decade, where that goes and maybe would you like it to be a family business?
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: But actually one of them does do some support for me already.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: So who knows, liz, who knows, oh?
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: well, it's been a real pleasure to chat with you, rebecca.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me and thank you so much to everybody that has watched today.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to another episode of the work.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: It like a mom podcast.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, and don't forget to share the link with a friend.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: If you're on linkedin, please send me a connection request at elizabeth willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: You can also follow my recruitment site Investing in Women on LinkedIn, facebook and Instagram.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep on chasing your biggest dreams.