It’s all about You

You probably know by now that we run a 12 month business growth programme for women running a micro business, social enterprise or charity. Well at the end of each course we do a fun graduation ceremony where women share their journey.

This is one such story…

My Growing Club Journey

I have been running my business in North Yorkshire for  6 years. I came to The Growing Club because I was feeling a bit isolated as a woman in business, looking for support from other women in similar situations and wanting to offer support and share experiences

I was looking for some focus as I had been through a few things that had knocked my confidence, self-esteem and belief in myself that I could do this!

We started off with goal setting and I found the initial task of setting a goal quite difficult at first and had to find it in myself to apply my thinking and concentration! But once I had something written down, it started to make sense. I realised I was scared to put it down on paper for fear of not reaching those goals.

Anyway, the goals were set and on I went!

I have learnt so, so much from being a part of The Growing Club, about running a business and maybe, more importantly for me, about myself  – in particular I have learnt that if you can focus on specific things, and break tasks down into more manageable chunks, they ARE achievable.

Doing a vision board has been incredibly useful for me, and after doing the first one early in the course, I have revisited it numerous times and I have since done another one, that I have added to as I’ve gone along.

I’m absolutely delighted, and to be honest still a little surprised, to tell you all that I have actually achieved my goal from that first task. My initial goal was to increase turnover by £10k, which I then crossed out because I thought it was too challenging! So I broke it down into smaller goals e.g. check supplier costs and prices. But, in fact the yearly turnover did in fact increase by exactly the amount that I’d written!

I feel that I’ve gained additional tools for my business tool kit – confidence to make changes, analytical skills, more observant, questioning. The ability to break tasks that seem daunting into more achievable chunks.

Having reached the end of this course, I find myself in the position of feeling that it’s time to sell my business and head for a new challenge. I’m totally excited to see what the future may be, I’d like to continue in business but in a different industry, exploring my other interests and seeing if I can make a living from them.

I’d like to thank every one of you for the time we’ve spent in each others’ company over the last year, it has truly been a pleasure. Thank you to Jane for enabling this to happen for us and many other women, and for being truly inspirational.

I’m looking forward to continuing being a part of The Growing Club in my future venture.

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If that sounds like just the kind of growth support you are looking for, the next growth programmes start in May in Lancaster, Kendal and Preston.

For full details please email admin@thegrowingclub.co.uk