Helena has been a drinks writer and broadcaster for more than 20 years. She wanted to build on this experience and broaden her horizons to include her other passions and give herself an excuse to keep learning. Helena had many big and bold ideas, and her aspiration was to design the perfect business as a lifestyle publisher for a balanced and beautiful life.
“Lorna connected with me on LinkedIn at just the right time. I liked the clarity of what she was offering for a busy person trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her business. I had been putting off asking for help and Lorna’s simple message about how to overcome being an overwhelmed business owner was what I needed to hear.”
Helena had reached a juncture in her career where she could take it in a different direction, and she had a LOT of ideas and opportunities to work through before she could set-up her new business...
“I was pivoting and considering a classic midlife reconfiguration, a second chance to build on what I already do with things that I love but wanting to bring more of me into it and making it more sustainable for the life that I want now.
I wanted to make sense of my nebulous ideas and needed to work out what was important and what was nice-to-have. I was also after a plan and a structure and help to mould it into an actual thing and nail it all down.
The reality of working with Lorna has been great and I’ve got even more than I expected as I’ve learned a lot about myself and how I work – my challenges and my strengths - which has been a real bonus.”
Helena was able to make significant shifts in her thinking by re-evaluating which values were most important to her...
“The values session really made me think. The values I started with weren’t the core values I ended up with! And then exploring how to live my core values... so I’ve made sure that my brand Flock & Hive is actually all of these core values and it’s not lip service; that they are real.
Looking at things through the lens of my core values makes things much easier. My core values remind me of what my Art of Living concept means and help me to define it – artistry and culture, food and drink, appreciation for aesthetic things, travel and adventure, energy and spirituality.”
Having got Helena to better understand her own motivations, Lorna encouraged her to step back from the details of all her ideas and start to think strategically in designing the perfect business for her...
“Developing my vision and looking at things visually, using experimental images helped me see how all the things I wanted could be one thing and still make sense under my Art of Living concept which then developed into my Flock & Hive brand.
It was a real aha! moment seeing the brand as an umbrella rather than lots of unrelated things. The questions Lorna got me to think about, and I have asked myself them again and again, were: who am I for, what is the point of it and how can I explain this succinctly?”
Lorna and Helena then worked on how she could make this vision come to life...
“The planning that we did together gave me a timeline and the structure that I needed. And becoming quite clear about where I’m going helped me to extract myself from my previous situation in a way that worked well for everybody.
This kind of planning is not my natural strength and Lorna kept bringing me back to it and I’m now quite clear about what my 1 year, 5 years, 10 years look like, and that’s been really valuable.”
Overall, Helena says...
“I’m different. I do things differently now because of our coaching conversations.
Knowing where I am and what I’m trying to achieve means I am a lot more efficient. I’ve set myself very clear goals for the next 12-months and I’ve been brutal in stripping things back and prioritising my time doing thing that serve my purpose.
I ask myself about every single opportunity; is it going to fulfil my key criteria?”
And Helena has seen the benefits extend beyond her business development...
“Knowing where I am and what I’m doing has allowed me to build self-care into my routine – like walking, swimming or running during the day and no screen time before bed.
And I’m getting good at giving myself little rewards for my hard work. I’ve been buying plants and now I have a lot of them!”
So, having set-up her new business and, in designing the perfect business and mastering the art of living, has the coaching been worth the investment for Helena?
“The coaching has 100% been worth it.
Having invested in a coach, it really forces you to actually do it, both because you’re invested and because you’re being held to account.
I enjoyed the way you don’t click off at the end of a coaching session. Sometimes it takes a few days as things simmer in the back of your brain and suddenly the structure you were looking for just comes to you in the middle of an email to Aldi! It percolates and feels like it keeps going in between sessions because there are so many interesting questions to ask yourself.
I emptied my handbag of ideas on Lorna, and I got to bounce them around with someone who could help me structure them. And coaching has saved me a lot of time. The toolkit I now have will save me time for years to come.”
Helen encourages others considering working with Lorna to take that leap of trust...
“My advice to anyone considering working with Lorna is to say ‘yes’!
You don’t need a fully formed plan, just the passion and drive and to know the kind of things you want to do. You don’t need it to be pre-wrapped in a pretty package to be taken seriously.
Starting with Lorna earlier on your journey is a good thing rather than halfway through so you won’t have to say ‘God, I wish I’d done this sooner!’”
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...