Jessica Bonnard is the founder of her well-established business, Language For Fun, which offers lovely, lively language lessons for adults via a franchisee set-up.
When Jessica joined the Flourish programme, her business had five employees and she wanted something that would support and nourish her as a business leader. Jessica explains what she was looking for...
“I found I was putting a lot of energy and time into supporting other people and I was looking for somebody to be in my corner and support me. And I also wanted to be held accountable and have conversations to help me see other perspectives.
It was difficult for me to spend money on myself, as I saw it, although actually it's an investment in the business. I think it's quite difficult when you're enmeshed with the business to say, actually this is a business need.
It was worth investing the money to move myself as the business forward.”
The combination of bespoke one-to-one coaching and fortnightly small-group workshops appealed to Jessica...
“I liked the structured format that Lorna offered and the series of workshops that I could attend as often as I wanted to, where I could visit and then revisit stumbling blocks with other people. Because I do find, much as I appreciate the coaching relationship, it's also very useful to chat with peers and to go through their problems and the way that they resolve their issues; it helps me to come up with new ideas on how to sort out my own.”
Having completed the Flourish programme, Jessica considers that the impact on herself and developing her established creative business to be considerable...
“Giving myself the permission to value myself has had the greatest impact. Logically, if I value my time at a much higher rate than the people that I pay, then it makes more sense to delegate.
I understand this is a common issue for female business owners; it’s quite difficult to justify paying yourself more and you put other people first. But if you want your business to grow you need to delegate so that you can focus on the strategic stuff.
Lorna is a very nurturing coach, rather than pushing people as hard as you can, although obviously she can do that as well. And that external validation of me was really useful and it helped, as a fellow business owner, seeing my achievements through her eyes; this was very useful to build value in myself.
Lorna also helped me identify what really makes me tick, and what makes me tick in my business. So, it's not just all setting targets and managing other people, but I actually get the chance to have some fun as well and do what I love doing in my business.”
Specifically, a number of specific practical techniques stand out for Jessica as making a real difference for her straightaway...
“One of Lorna’s confidence workshops looked at how we use our physical posture, and when I want to take control of the situation, I really think about how I present myself to other people physically.
Another of the workshops explored mind scams and this was very powerful.
All of the workshops have a grain of something that I've learned or visited before – none of it is rocket science – but it's presented in a much more digestible way, and it's applied to everyone specifically with feedback from Lorna as a coach and not just as a facilitator.
Each and every time I come to a workshop, I've come away with something really practical to put to use, immediately and I’ve made some quite significant shifts on several fronts.
And in another practical example, I am naturally a very scattered, creative kind of person, so I found it very helpful to explore with Lorna the structure of my day, and the structuring of tasks to make them more achievable.”
There have been many Aha! moments along the way for Jessica, and the several stand out as a result of guided conversations with her peers in workshops...
“The biggest shifts I've had have been from seeing other business owners’ responses to similar issues to me. It's much easier to see in somebody else what you don't want to see in yourself. And you can tell this is procrastinating, or she just doesn't want to confront this, or she's not appreciating what she's doing herself.
It’s a lens to be able to see somebody else doing what you're doing and then realising, actually, this is what I'm doing.
And then listening to Lorna and others feedback to them – often they are very astute - and being able to make that Aha! for me: ‘Aha! this is what’s going on!’”
And the Aha! moments just keep coming...
“Another Aha! moment I had was when I realised I ‘had permission’ to admit to my employees that I don’t have all of the answers or need to know what to do BUT I do have the final say. So I can both say to my employees, “Let’s work out how to handle this together” and reserve the right to make the final decision.
I am much better now at coping with the discomfort necessary when employees present opposing points of view and using that friction to find an even better third way.
I also reinstated our team meetings in a co-operative format so that we took turns running them and taking minutes rather than feeling responsible for the entire meeting.
Finally, instead of imagining what they think about certain projects, everyone is invited to share their opinion much more freely so that I don’t have to imagine what they’re thinking. It’s not always pleasant to have my own ideas outvoted but I’m getting increasingly gracious at accepting constructive criticism that this is part of the values of ‘developing others’, ‘leading by example’ and ’sharing with the community’ that I treasure.”
And there’s more...
“Another Aha! moment for me was about how I get motivated and stay motivated. I reinstated my weekly meetings with various people to move large projects like book-writing forward (translators, co-writers etc.), as I get energy and ideas from interacting with others.
Yes, it costs more than working alone, but the project becomes richer and more valuable and gets done!”
Summarising the difference that the coaching, mentoring and workshops have had on her business, Jessica says...
“I think that the programme really has been a major benefit for me and for the business.
It's helped sustain momentum on several projects, that I had been finding overwhelming. I've either been able to make really good progress with them or discard them because they weren't in line with my values.
It's been really good to keep the business on track with the way that I wanted it to go.
As a business owner, it's made me much more aware of the importance of my business, like how successful it is, how well it is doing. I've taken more pride in it and more recognition of the fact that it is actually quite a significant business, rather than just a little business that I'm running.
And the other day I had an invitation to an event that I’ve turned down for the last four years because I felt I couldn’t justify it. But I saw that Steve Bartlett was talking and I've really moved on in being able to feel that, yes, actually, I am justified in going to that. It's OK. It's part of the business; it's absolutely something that we should be attending.”
Would Jessica recommend Lorna and the Flourish programme?
“Absolutely.
I think, when you're running and managing your business yourself, you need to find ways both to support yourself and to keep yourself accountable. I haven’t found a better way than a coach, and with this programme, in particular, you have the benefit not just with the coach, but also of the workshops and your peers.
I feel that it has helped me become more confident as a business owner and enjoy my business again, which has paid off many times over the investment. So, I absolutely recommend it to anybody.”
Jessica encourages others considering working with Lorna to do so...
“I would say to somebody who's thinking about joining the programme, that actually this is one of the most complete, all round experiences of business support that I have experienced, because you've got not just the coaching, not just the workshops and the peer support, not just the written resources, you've got all round support and a package which you can take at your own pace to suit your life. And you can choose how you spend your time with Lorna.
Although it can be difficult to take that step to invest in your business, it's like anything, it's what you invest in, where you put your energy that is going to grow. And it's certainly been the case for me.”
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...
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