Spotlight 46: Superwoman Entrepreneurs - Rosa Edinga

Q. Let's take it back to the beginning: can you tell us the story of your business's first month?

A. I created my leadership coaching practice, Fiamma Coaching and Consulting in 2014. Over the last six years, my practice has grown, but more importantly, I have grown. I have lived a lot, and learned a lot, and developed a deep knowing that there was more for me to do.

I wanted to honour that knowing, and use my skills, experience and desire to support people, namely women entrepreneurs, in a bigger way. So this year I launched Life Unmuted to help women entrepreneurs unmute their voice, confidently articulate their needs, own the value they bring to their clients and create the business and life they KNOW is in them to create. 

For me, the first month was both exciting, and if I am being honest, at times stressful. I think every entrepreneur who creates a business that aligns with their values and purpose wants it to be successful. For me, 2 elements were crucial in my first month (and quite frankly, ongoing): connection and focus.

Connecting to both my internal drive and purpose for creating Life Unmuted and connecting outside of myself to the community I continue to build. To ask for help, seek advice or share laughter. It is easy to get distracted or overwhelmed by the list of things that need attention when launching a business. For me, wholeheartedly focusing on the one thing that will most impact Life Unmuted at any given moment has been vital.

Q. Who was/is a mentor to you, and why?

A. I have never had an official mentor, and have been lucky to learn from many people along the way. 

For me, I have learned so much from my relationships with my bosses, peers, colleagues, family and friends, as well as from studying leaders, entrepreneurs, authors, thought leaders, and athletes that I have never met.  

When I am doing something new and I need wisdom beyond my network, I seek out that knowledge intentionally. As I was creating Life Unmuted, I sought out wisdom from women entrepreneurs both inside and outside my network. Sitting down with 47 fierce women in diverse industries and at different stages of their entrepreneurial journey gave me a richer diversity of thoughts, ideas and advice than any one mentor could.  

Q. What is your biggest challenge right now, and what drives you to keep going?

A. I would say the biggest challenge is managing the duality that comes with being an entrepreneur. That tension between two sometimes opposite ideas. How do I serve more women entrepreneurs while making a deeper impact? How do move faster while I take the time to make thoughtful decisions? How do I balance the needs of my family, my business, my clients and myself? How do I keep all the aspects of the business moving forward without getting mired in the weeds? The list goes on. 

Three things keep me going.

One is knowing that every business has different seasons, and like the seasons in a year, each brings their own value and their own beauty. There is no need to speed up seasons, or have them all occur at once. Not all business decisions have to be made at once. I push myself to see the beauty in the present season of my business, while keeping an eye on the future.

I also know spending too much time and energy on any challenge keeps me stuck in place. And not moving forward in any direction serves no one - not my business, not my clients, not my family and certainly not my desire to be of service. I get more clarity from action, especially action that is aligned to my purpose than I do by standing still.

The last thing that keeps me going comes back to what I mentioned earlier - connection and focus.  Grounding myself in the connection to what I do, my purpose for doing it and the people I am doing it with and for. Then focusing on what I can do to move towards my goals.  

For those that know other amazing women or who are interested in finding out more about joining our Collective, please contact me. I am always happy to grow our community. You can also find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecollective.site/