Me

When I entered the world of business 18 years ago by becoming a small business owner I had no prior experience, no money to invest in my business, and I had never worked in the corporate world.

My decision to become a motivational speaker came out of the blue. I had returned to school to complete a one year course in business administration. As I listened to a guest speaker an idea popped into my head. That idea led me to where I am today.

I had encountered many challenges when I lived in the UK and after I moved to Canada. My lived experiences, and how I had dealt with those issues can be shared with diverse audiences all over the world.

At first I concentrated purely on health and wellness presentations, using my real life story of being a two time breast cancer survivor. My first keynote, Living With Life’s Challenges was very popular then and still is one of my most requested topics.

My Strategy

I had no strategy when I jumped head first into becoming a business owner. But, it soon transpired that I needed to plan and prioritize in order to become organized, so I began by setting goals.

Knowing my short term plan and my 5 year plan was important also, even though I had no idea if I would even make it past the first year.

When deciding on my strategy it centred around my needs in that first year:

  • Research
  • Educate
  • Inform

Researching competitors as well as my target market was an important aspect in ensuring my business would move forward.

Educating myself in many different ways was crucial back then and still is now. For instance I had no idea how to put together a power point presentation. I had never even thought out it before, let alone put one together so to speak! I also needed to educate myself about the world of public speaking. Being a complete newbie meant I had no idea what the work entailed on a daily basis.

Last but not least I had to make informed choices, such as how would I communicate with speakers bureaus, H.R. people, potential clients.

My strategy was very much about building strong foundations for my business. Without a strategy I have seen people forge ahead and fail due to the fact they have tried to run before they can walk.

By planning ahead I knew that being a keynote speaker at various conferences would not be sustainable alone. That’s when my strategy included facilitating workshops.

My brand became known, speakers bureaus now take care of my speaking engagements.

I began to plan ahead and build a successful business consulting portfolio, which worked well due to the strategy I came up with to turn my vision into a tangible offering.

Strategies

Don’t be worried about the word “strategy” it simply means – a plan of action.

There are different needs in every organization, different challenges, so the approach for each client is often quite different.

Clients may have barriers that exist such as people or finance, and as a business consultant my goal is to stay within the perimeters of the organization by taking into account the culture, mission and objectives currently in place. I outline the clearly defined outcomes that we are working towards.

  • Cost Leadership
  • Differentiation
  • Focus

I find business consulting enjoyable, I am in the company of wonderful people to work with.

But, without my own strategy, which I outlined in a very basic organic manner very early on, I would not be in the position I am today.

I am always happy to chat with you, so feel free to contact me info@motivationalsteps.com