Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in career development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Catherine Stagg-Macey, Founder of Conversations at the Edge, located in Petersfield, United Kingdom.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I work with mid-career professionals who have lost their mojo. They feel lost in their career. Or lost and lonely as a leader. I work with them in one of two ways: group coaching or individual coaching. We work together to find a way to get them fired up about life and their career.
Tell us about yourself
I've been on a similar path to my clients, looking for my mojo in all the wrong places. I was stuck in the corporate wilderness for years, never knowing what the 'right' next move was. Twenty years in tech and consulting, and I knew there was another career for me. I found it in coaching and building my own business over ten years. I love being a solo entrepreneur and podcaster. Both allow me to create a life around my values of learning and curiosity.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Surviving the lockdowns of COVID. Most of my work was face-to-face before COVID. Then the world changed. The team coaching didn't translate well to online, so I lost all that business overnight. I had always wanted to build more of a B2C model, so that's what I did. I'm very proud of all I had to learn and put into place at a very challenging time.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The things that are outside of your control, like an economic downturn or COVID. I do like some degree of certainty about life, and it's times like a national lockdown that you realise that the ideal of control is an illusion. It's very humbling to be a business owner.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Know your why. Why are you doing this? What motivates you to do 'this' thing over that? It's going to get hard, and having clarity over your why will help you through those times.
- If you can make it through the first 3 years, you will probably make it to 10 years.
- Know that when you get to year 6+, clients you worked with in the early days call you up again. They will have moved onto a new role and remember what you did for them. And then invite you into their new organisation. Serve your clients well, and they will come back - even if it's several years later.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.conversationsattheedge.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staggmacey/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staggmacey/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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