Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Caroline Rampton, Founder of Up Time, located in Lonehill, Gauteng, South Africa.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My Up Time, Leadership Coaching & Personal Mastery, is about helping others lead their lives, be curious creations, and find wild new ways to own their power.
My customer is anyone looking to explore their lives by embracing change and being guided by inner bravery. You have the opportunity and responsibility to live a meaningful life, achieve your greatest ambitions and be content in your relationship with yourself and others. It’s about YOU and your time to SHINE.
Tell us about yourself
Before starting Up Time in 2005, I had this deep desire to start my own business. It was more than a feeling – it was a calling. I did not know how, but I knew what. That ‘what’ was to help others navigate change. Many years later, Up Time Consulting continues to provide organizations with change management and communication services. And My Up Time, Leadership Coaching & Personal Mastery, started in 2022.
As a Master NLP Practitioner and ICF-accredited Coach, my passion is to share my wisdom and help others unlock their potential and step up to their person. I am an explorer of being brave, conscious, and creative. A sense-maker of internal worlds to move beyond self and respond to the needs of others while staying grounded and true.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
First, starting a business and growing it to be one of South Africa’s most prominent Change consultancies. Secondly, that I have surrounded myself with an exceptionally skilled team to whom I could hand it over so that I can now focus my energy and efforts on My Up Time and, through that help others find their purpose and live an authentic life.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
When you own a business that provides others with work and income, it is a big responsibility. With this responsibility, you need to realise that life has cycles/phases, and people come into a business and move on. Projects start, and projects end. It’s not personal, but we always have to care for people for as long as they are in our circle. We cannot do life and business solo.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- If you feel you are going in the right direction – do it. Don’t allow fear to stop you; you learn as you go along. You have all the resources you need. Do not listen to people who keep pointing out the risks and dangers. Follow your heart and learn from people who are already successful business owners – spend time with the right people.
- Yes, it’s important to ‘think’ about the goals, strategy, ROI, business plans, and profit & loss. However, never lose sight of how you ‘feel’ about people, decisions, money, and plans. When you wake up in the morning, check how you feel in your body about the direction the business is going. If it feels good, Do it.
- As the business grows, you are no longer the business. Keep an eye on being your whole self and separate who you are from what the business does.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://myuptime.co.za/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myuptime/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myuptime
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-rampton-9aa462b/
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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